George Osborne’s family wallpaper firm blames Brexit wobbles for loss November 25, 2018 The high-end fabric and wallpaper maker run by Sir Peter Osborne, father of former chancellor George Osborne, has pinned a substantial drop into the red on Brexit “uncertainty” and investment. Osborne & Little’s latest accounts, for the year ended 31 March, show a loss before tax of £350,000 on a turnover of £32.1m. In 2016, [...]
Crazy golf club Swingers tees up multimillion-pound investment as it prepares for US expansion November 25, 2018 London-based crazy golf club Swingers has received multimillion-pound funding from a private investment firm as the popularity of competitive leisure activities continues to grow. Cain International today announced it has made a “significant investment” in the golf club’s parent company Competitive Socialising, which it said would allow the leisure brand to open new venues in the US. [...]
Black Friday transactions jump 10 per cent on 2017, according to Barclaycard data November 24, 2018 The number of transactions on Black Friday jumped ten per cent year-on-year but the amount spent plummeted compared to 2017, according to credit card data. Consumers spent 12 per cent less while shopping using Barclaycard yesterday compared to Black Friday the previous year. Barclaycard processed an all-time record number of transactions yesterday, hitting 1,087 transactions a [...]
Black Friday weekend: How to find the best deals and avoid the worst November 23, 2018 British shoppers are set to drop £7bn on products this Black Friday weekend, as they surf the web and hit the high streets in search of the most generous deals. But as price comparison site Finder.com predicts bargain hunters will spend an average of £220 each, with everybody discounting products it’s hard to know where [...]
Asda and Sainsbury’s slash petrol prices as Black Friday shopping event begins November 23, 2018 Asda and Sainsbury’s have slashed petrol prices today as UK consumers participate in Black Friday. Both supermarkets have cut 1p per litre off the price of unleaded and 2p off each litre of diesel following a decrease in the wholesale cost. Customers of the UK’s second and third largest food stores will pay no more [...]
GCHQ shares eight ways to shop Black Friday sales without getting hacked November 23, 2018 The UK's online shoppers are "prime pickings" for hackers and targeted attacks this Black Friday weekend, British spy agency GCHQ has warned. As promotional offers begin to fill up the inboxes of buyers across the country today, the defence agency's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued advice on how to tell the difference between genuine deals [...]
Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot festive advert toy causes shopping hysteria November 23, 2018 Sales of Aldi's Kevin the Carrot plush toys have sent UK shoppers wild ahead of Black Friday, with the toy selling out online and in stores up and down the country less than a day after being made available. The release of Aldi's Christmas advert this year saw the return of Kevin the Carrot and his [...]
Fuller’s preparations for Christmas eat into profits, despite revenue receiving a World Cup boost November 23, 2018 Profits at pub chain Fuller's Brewery have fallen as the firm attempted to brace itself for the Christmas period, despite rising revenues after a long summer and England's performance in the World Cup. Its share price fell more than 1.2 per cent as markets opened this morning. The figures Revenue for the six months to [...]
We live in a material world, so let’s embrace Black Friday – and freedom November 23, 2018 Today is Black Friday: a day that conjures up images of keen shoppers scrambling to be first in the door at 5am to secure that half-price LED 50-inch TV, while scrums of people fight tooth and nail for the last discounted kettle. This is how we usually characterise this annual sales fest, ever since Asda [...]
Shareholders yearn for retail chiefs like Swann November 22, 2018 It has been an annus horribilis for the high street. Closures, job cuts and profit warnings in the last 12 months have all thrown scrutiny on the industry – and its bosses – like never before. Which is why yesterday’s announced departure of SSP chief executive Kate Swann is all the more significant. Swann is [...]