Black Friday 2019: Sales up in November after discount event December 3, 2019 Retail sales increased last month thanks to a bumper Black Friday, as shoppers made the most of the pre-Christmas discounting event. November sales figures – adjusted for Black Friday, which fell outside of the British Retail Consortium’s standard recording period – showed 0.9 per cent growth compared to last year. Read more: Black Friday spending [...]
Food delivery apps serve up extra £400m in restaurant revenue December 2, 2019 Food delivery apps such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats are serving up an extra £400m in revenue for European restaurants, according to a new report. Third-party platforms, that customers can use to order food from a variety of restaurants, have also increased profit across the Europe’s restaurant sector, with venues in London seeing [...]
Unions protest outside Amazon’s London HQ on Cyber Monday December 2, 2019 Union members demonstrated outside Amazon’s London headquarters this morning and accused the e-commerce giant of failing to pay the correct amount of corporation tax. The GMB union estimated that the retailer should have paid £103m in corporation tax last year, but claims the company’s biggest UK arm paid £14m of tax on £2.3bn worth of [...]
Ted Baker share price sinks into acquisition territory after £25m balance sheet error December 2, 2019 Ted Baker has warned investors that it is set to take up to a £25m hit after overstating the value of inventory on its balance sheet. The retailer has appointed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to investigate the issue and told shareholders that it estimates an impact on the value of the clothing stock of between £20m [...]
Ocado offers £500m in bonds after Aeon warehouse deal December 2, 2019 Online grocer Ocado today announced a £500m bond issue as it seeks cash to fund tech arm Ocado Solutions’ commitments. The company said that the guaranteed senior unsecured convertible bonds, due 2025, are expected to carry a coupon of between 0.75 per cent and 1.25 per cent a year. Read more: Ocado shares soar on [...]
Cat Rock says Prosus will have to raise Just Eat bid to 925p per share December 2, 2019 Activist investor Cat Rock has said it will throw its weight behind Just Eat’s Takeaway.com merger unless Prosus raises its offer to 925p per share. The Dutch food delivery firm has had a £5bn bid accepted for Just Eat but tech group Prosus has come in with a rival 710p per share offer. Read more: [...]
Black Friday spending has beaten 2018’s outlay, says Barclaycard November 29, 2019 Black Friday spending has risen 12.5 per cent on 2018’s total, Barclaycard said today. Spending was higher as of 10am this morning and “sustained” that high level throughout the day. The bank said the number of transactions then reached a “new peak” between 1pm and 2pm on Black Friday. Read more: Black Friday outages: Natwest [...]
Black Friday backlash: Amazon and GMB dispute protest numbers at UK warehouses November 29, 2019 Staff at Amazon warehouses are staging walkouts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in a row over the “appalling” treatment of workers. The demonstrations are taking place today and on Monday at Amazon’s head office in Shoreditch, as well as seven other locations across the UK, the GMB union said, and involve “100, if not [...]
Flight Club founders unveil new shuffleboard venue in Canary Wharf November 29, 2019 The founders of popular darts bar Flight Club today unveiled a brand new venue promising a fresh take on the traditional pub game shuffleboard. Electric Shuffle has now opened in Canary Wharf, allowing after-work boozers to dabble in some competitive socialising. Read more: Crazy golf club Swingers tees up multimillion pound investment as it tees [...]
Ocado shares soar on Japanese robot warehouse deal with Aeon November 29, 2019 Shares in online retailer Ocado jumped more than 11 per cent today after it announced a deal to help Japanese retailer Aeon launch a new online business. Ocado uses robot technology in its customer fulfilment centres (CFCs) to automate many processes. Read more: Ocado to build sixth warehouse as online grocer accelerates growth It said [...]