BHS parent Retail Acquisitions appoints property consultants to “review” store portfolio March 18, 2015 Retail Acquisitions has appointed property consultants to review BHS' 171-strong store portfolio, as the new owner gets to grips with its loss-making business. BHS had already taken the decision to shut its Oxford and Foss Park stores ahead of Sir Philip Green's sale of the business, and these will close their doors “in the coming [...]
Shaftesbury secures £130m loan March 18, 2015 Shaftesbury, the property company that owns parts of London's key districts such as Carnaby and Covent Garden, has secured a £130m loan with Aviva, wiping out a £100m debt that was due to expire next September. The new 15-year loan has a fixed interest rate of 3.2 per cent and will be repayable in March [...]
BHS confirms new chief executive is Darren Topp as the retailer makes transition to new owners March 17, 2015 BHS has confirmed Darren Topp as its interim chief executive, following the departure of long-standing head Richard Price. Topp has been at BHS for six years, and steps up from his current role as chief operating officer with immediate effect. The change at the top comes just days after the department store chain [...]
How to win at job interviews, according to Google’s HR boss March 17, 2015 Google's senior vice president of people operations Laszlo Bock wants to help you win at job interviews. He's about to publish a book about succeeding at work and ahead of that has been posting advice on how to get a job at Google (or anywhere). Ahead of publication he is also sharing six tips [...]
French Connection narrows losses as the turnaround nears completion March 17, 2015 French Connection has narrowed its full-year losses once again – but still failed to nudge into the black. The figures Group revenue fell 5.8 per cent to £178.5m for the year to January 31. However, French Connection shut nine underperforming (“non-contributing”) stores, brought more of its costs under control and made “some margin progression” [...]
Here’s how to make the perfect cup of tea March 17, 2015 It's a question that divides the nation more than Margaret Thatcher's legacy or The X Factor versus Strictly. How do you make the best cup of tea? Three quarters of us drink tea every day, so it's no small issue. Some – crazy people admittedly – put milk in first. Some want the water to [...]
No sunglasses, selfies or staring: How to look at the solar eclipse on March 20 without getting a “solar burn” March 16, 2015 You might be tempted to line up a solar eclipse selfie this week – but experts have warned that doing so could put you at risk of causing serious damage to your eyes. On the morning of March 20, we will see a near total eclipse – the best places to see it in the [...]
Rosetta mission: The European Space Agency is hoping comet lander Philae is about to wake up March 16, 2015 The European Space Agency is eagerly awaiting signs that the Rosetta probe Philae – which successfully landed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November – is about to wake up. It was an historic moment last autumn when the signal was received in ESA's German mission centre that the probe had landed on the comet's surface. But [...]
Aldermore Group chairman Glyn Jones steps down from Direct Line board March 16, 2015 Aldermore Group chairman Glyn Jones is stepping down from the board of Direct Line, after the challenger bank's IPO last week. Jones, who is currently a senior independent director at the insurance group, is also chairman of Aspen Insurance Holdings, which is listed in New York. As he is now chairman of two listed [...]
Sweden’s deputy governor Per Jansson to Nobel laureate Paul Krugman: You don’t know what you’re talking about March 16, 2015 Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has got it wrong when it comes to Sweden's fiscal policy, according to the deputy governor of the country's central bank. The influential economist last year compared the country's state to that of Japan, claiming “sadomonetarists” had turned the “rock star of the recovery” into a country plagued by rising [...]
