I’d kill to be the chief exec of… Unilever March 22, 2019 Last week, Unilever’s chief executive Alan Jope announced that he would promote his rival for the top job – Nitin Paranjpe – to the newly created role of chief operations officer. He also said farewell to two other executive members – all in pursuit of the ever-elusive goal of three to five per cent top-line [...]
FTSE 100 risers and fallers: Index dips amid fears over global growth March 8, 2019 The FTSE 100 index slipped 0.7 per cent today driven by a plunge in gambling company GVC's shares and poor Chinese export data that has sparked fears over global growth. GVC led the day’s fallers with its share price 13.82 per cent down after dropping as low as 18 per cent earlier in the day after its chief [...]
Chemicals firm Croda stockpiles goods ahead of Brexit February 26, 2019 Chemical manufacturer Croda announced today it is stockpiling goods in mainland Europe and adapting its trading model in preparation for Brexit. Read more: Carney: UK growth 'guaranteed' to fall in no-deal Brexit The British firm, which supplies chemicals to Unilever, Proctor & Gamble and L'Oreal among others, also saw adjusted profit before tax tick up 1.2 [...]
Kraft Heinz share price plunges as SEC probe and losses spook Wall Street February 22, 2019 Consumer goods giant Kraft Heinz’s share price plunged almost 30 per cent this evening as a probe from US investigators and widening quarterly losses spooked investors. Shares in the company plummeted on Wall Street this afternoon as the firm wrote down the value of its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands by $15bn (£11.5bn) and reported [...]
How will the EU act after Brexit? February 21, 2019 | City Talk Britain's planned departure from the EU exposes many issues. A key one is the economic path the UK will choose. Less commonly asked is what will the rest of the EU do. Perhaps this should figure more in the debate. Last year, President Macron suggested the EU move towards a core, built on closer political [...]
Big business needs to step up and take the reins of leadership from the politicians February 6, 2019 I wanna be the leader I wanna be the leader Can I be the leader? Can I? I can? Promise? Promise? Yippee I’m the leader I’m the leader OK what shall we do? Roger McGough did not know how prescient his poem was. The days of Churchill, Thatcher and Mandela are gone. Whether you agreed [...]
Unilever swallows healthy food startup Graze February 5, 2019 Retail giant Unilever has agreed a deal to buy UK healthy snacks firm Graze at a reported valuation of £150m. Founded in 2008, the brand had raised just £2m from London investors Octopus Ventures and Draper Esprit before being acquired by US buyout group Carlyle in 2012. The bidding war for Graze had garnered interest from [...]
Unilever warns of ‘challenging’ 2019 after missing sales expectations January 31, 2019 Consumer goods giant Unilever has warned of a “challenging” year ahead after falling below sales expectations in the fourth quarter of 2018. The Anglo-Dutch group reported sales growth of 2.9 per cent, which was below a consensus forecast of 3.5 per cent. Read more: Unilever scraps proposals to quit London HQ Full year sales growth [...]
Unilever boss looks to mend fences with the City in upcoming results January 27, 2019 The City will be turning its gaze towards Unilever later this week, with the consumer goods giant looking to reassure investors after a turbulent year which ended with the departure of long-reigning boss Paul Polman. The blue-chip firm behind Marmite and Persil is set to post its full-year results on Thursday under the leadership of Alan [...]
There’s a lesson from Dyson’s Singapore move, but it has nothing to do with Brexit January 25, 2019 There’s no question that Dyson’s move from Wiltshire to Singapore will be a loss to Britain. The company boasts profits in excess of £1bn, employs 4,000 in its Malmesbury offices alone, and is one of the UK’s major business success stories. But that doesn’t justify the political backlash we’ve seen. In true polarising fashion, owner Sir [...]