Adidas pledges to fix supply issues after missing sales forecast August 8, 2019 Sportswear giant Adidas promised to fix supply shortages in North America it missed sales and profit expectations in the second quarter. Sales were up four per cent to €5.51bn, below average forecasts of €5.54bn and operating profit rose nine per cent to €643m but below expectations of €651m. Read more: Adidas hikes profit forecast In [...]
Boris bounce continues as poll finds PM Johnson twice as popular as Corbyn August 8, 2019 Boris Johnson is twice as popular as Jeremy Corbyn among UK voters, the latest YouGov polls show – even in Labour’s traditional heartlands. The Prime Minister, who was mayor of London from 2008 to 2016, came ahead of the Islington North MP in every region including the capital (30 per cent versus 24), the South [...]
Ex-Greene King chief exec pockets £850,000 after quitting August 8, 2019 Former Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand received a pay out of £850,000 after he quit the pub chain. The FTSE 250 brewery said the payment – equivalent to about a year’s remuneration – was made after Anand agreed to “various post-termination covenants” that were not part of his original contract. Read more: High yielding [...]
London will retain financial firepower even in ‘worst possible’ Brexit, says Central Bank of Ireland August 8, 2019 London is likely to remain a leading global financial centre even in the most adverse Brexit scenarios, the Central Bank of Ireland has concluded in a new report. The EU-based Central Bank has said that even in the worst possible outcome of Britain’s departure from the EU, the impact on the capital’s financial and related professional [...]
Burford Capital share price surges as it blasts shortseller Muddy Waters August 8, 2019 Burford Capital has strongly retaliated against the accusations made by Muddy Waters, accusing the shortseller of “fallacious insinuations” and “inflammatory rhetoric”. In a strongly-worded statement issued to investors, Burford denounced Muddy Waters’ report into the company as “baseless”, saying it contained “many factual inaccuracies, simple analytical errors and selective use of information”. The company also [...]
Thyssenkrupp issues another profit warning amid manufacturing slump August 8, 2019 Thyssenkrupp, the German steel making giant, today gave its fourth profit warning under chief executive Guido Kerkhoff, who faces mounting pressure to turn the company around. The firm announced it expects to make around €800m (£738m) profit this year, a significant downgrade on its previous forecast for a figure between €1.1bn and €1.2bn. Read more: [...]
New head of global commercial banking at HSBC after top-level reshuffle August 8, 2019 HSBC has promoted Barry O’Byrne to head up the lender’s global commercial banking arm as its previous boss takes the reins as interim chief executive of the company. Read more: Co-op bank narrows losses O’Byrne is taking on the interim role as part of a top-level reshuffle that involved Noel Quinn, HSBC’s former chief executive [...]
Restaurants eat into retailers’ high street share August 8, 2019 Retailers are being edged out of the high street following a spike in change of use requests to convert shops into restaurants. More than a third of change of use applications made to councils last year were to swap retailers for restaurant or takeaways, despite the challenges currently facing the casual dining sector. Read more: [...]
Ocado reveals fire-fighting robot after robot factory blaze August 8, 2019 Online supermarket Ocado has filed a patent for a fire-fighting robot as the grocer seeks to improve fire safety at its distribution hubs. The design will allow the device to work within the grid system at the firm’s robotics distribution centres and will include a spraying mechanism to put out fires. Read more: Ocado bags [...]
Insurer Zurich expects to beat targets as profits jump August 8, 2019 Zurich Insurance Group hailed its best performance in a decade this morning after reporting a double-digit rise in profits and predicting that it would beat previous financial goals it had set. Read more: Aviva confirms strategic review of Asia Europe’s fifth largest insurer reported business operating profits of $2.8bn (£2.3bn) in the first six months [...]