Fund manager Neil Woodford doubles stake in Card Factory despite high street woes May 13, 2019 Former star trader Neil Woodford has doubled his stake in Card Factory despite high street footfall woes hitting the retailer’s sales last year. Woodford Investment Management has increased its stake in the greeting cards retailer to 10.06 per cent, in a significant bet on the company boosting its performance. Read more: Neil Woodford's billion-dollar baby [...]
Embattled Goals Soccer Centres loses second CEO in two years May 13, 2019 Five-a-side football operator Goals Soccer Centres has confirmed that chief executive Andy Anson is stepping down after just a year in the job. Read more: Accounting errors cause Goals Soccer Centres to suspend trading Anson will take the role of chief executive at the British Olympic Association (BOA), where he has been a board member [...]
Barbies and princesses: The game-changer in gender-stereotyped toys May 13, 2019 "Can I be an astronaut if I’m a girl?” That was the question asked by Katy Alexander’s four-year-old daughter, Zabel. To the New Jersey-born mother, this question came as a surprise. “Until then, I’d never really noticed that the characters in the space books she had been reading and the games she had been playing were [...]
Go fish: Angling Direct denies investors a dividend as it doubles down on expansion plans May 13, 2019 Angling Direct boosted sales by 40 per cent in its latest financial year but denied investors a dividend as it doubled down on expansion plans both online and on the UK high street. Read more: Angling Direct shares rise as it reels in record sales The figures Group sales rose 39 per cent to £42m [...]
Retail vacancy rates hit four-year high as shoppers ditch the high street May 13, 2019 Vacancy rates climbed to a four-year high last month, as high streets and shopping centres suffered a year-on-year fall in the number of shoppers during April. Read more: Next credits warm Easter for unexpected jump in retail sales The national town centre vacancy rate reached 10.2 per cent in April, marking a further increase on the [...]
Britain has too many shops – no wonder more and more are being boarded up May 13, 2019 Boarded-up shop fronts are a common sight during recessions. In the early 1990s, they became an eyesore for town centres and the Conservative government alike, an everyday visual reminder of the economic slump that dragged the Tories lower and lower in the polls (albeit not low enough to deliver Neil Kinnock into Downing Street, once [...]
Sir Philip Green loses his billionaire status May 12, 2019 Sir Philip Green has lost his billionaire status, rounding off a torrid 12 months for the scandal-hit fashion mogul. For the first time since 2002, Green can no longer count himself a member of the billionaires club after seeing his personal fortune halve over the course of the last year. The Topshop tycoon and his [...]
Local authorities braced for budget hit as Debenhams demands business rates cut May 12, 2019 Cash-strapped local authorities are set to become the latest victim in the demise of Debenhams, as the embattled retailer embarks on a turnaround plan that includes a controversial move to cut business rate bills that it owes. New research shown to City A.M. estimates local authorities will no longer receive £8.5m of the total £17.3m [...]
Goals Soccer Centres chief executive to quit to join British Olympic Association May 12, 2019 The chief executive of Goals Soccer Centres, the five-a-side football venue operator, is stepping down weeks after the company’s shares were suspended following a £12m accounting error. Andy Anson, who has been in the role for a year, is stepping down to take on the chief executive job at the British Olympic Association (BOA), Sky [...]
Short-sellers smell blood at embattled shopping centre firm Intu May 12, 2019 Short-sellers have been stepping up their bets against Intu in recent months, as they look to cash in on the embattled shopping centre owner’s current retail woes. City punters have been circling the FTSE landlord, which recently appointed Matthew Roberts as its new boss, amid downbeat forecasts that the group’s rental income will slide as [...]