Unilever: New boss promises step-change after ‘flat volumes’ in half-year results July 25, 2023 Unilever made a modest profit in the first half of the year with turnover reaching €30.4bn (£26.2), as it was driven by sales in its personal care and beauty market.
Amazon Warhammer deal spurs Games Workshop to record £170m profit July 25, 2023 Warhammer-maker Games Workshop saw bumper profits this morning as it benefitted from a major December deal with Amazon to turn its popular wargame into a TV series. Profits rose from £156m to £170.6m for the year ending in May, which the firm said was the highest it had “generated since flotation 29 years ago.” Revenues, [...]
Share buyback on the way at Wickes as it puts post-pandemic lull behind it July 25, 2023 An “encouraging” first half of the year for home improvement retailer Wickes has led the company to launch a share buyback scheme The DIY and garden centre firm reported sales growth of three per cent in the second quarter of the year, and 0.7 per cent in the first half overall. Following its positive results [...]
The Notebook: Kokou Agbo-Bloua on fashionomics, inflation musings and our broken food system July 25, 2023 Where interesting people say interesting things. Today it’s Kokou Agbo-Bloua, global head of economics, cross-asset & quant research and UK head of research at Societe Generale Fashionomics: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Since the dawn of time, clothing has been an important part of our human experience. We lost our fur at least [...]
A housebuilding revolution has many advantages – growth being one July 25, 2023 Go to tech conferences, and much of the buzz revolves around ‘Web 3.0,’ a catch-all term for the future of the internet that even when pushed most of its proponents struggle to define. Perhaps, then, we should be grateful that government continues to tootle along with plain-old 2.0. It’s two years or so since Rishi [...]
UK recession risk just got a whole lot lower after inflation undershoot July 25, 2023 From the Bank of England to recession warnings, Jack Barnett gets under the skin of Britain’s economy in his weekly column Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey would not have been the only person in the City last week breathing a sigh of relief after the better than expected inflation numbers. It was the first [...]
Utilita boss: We’ve got ‘no faith’ in Ofgem’s ability to manage the market July 25, 2023 The price cap is still "the biggest single risk to supplier profitability," warned Utilita boss Bill Bullen, as he called for more household support.
Italian banking giant Mediobanca backs London with £10.4m investment in startups July 25, 2023 One of Italy’s largest investment banks Mediobanca has committed €12m (£10.4m) to a joint venture with early stage investor Founders Factory to help scale fintech startups. The joint venture will build and invest in 35 fintech businesses over the next five years. Mediobanca’s investment will help underpin a new fintech venture studio accelerator, enabling innovation [...]
Water bosses’ pay should be decided based on how much sewage they clean up July 25, 2023 Chief executives follow the money and until we link water bosses's pay with the amount of sewage being cleaned up from our rivers, we'll be stuck with the faeces, writes Chris Hirst.
Papa wasn’t a Rolling Stone? You can still be an investor in their top songs July 25, 2023 A Rolling Stone song could soon be a better investment than property, as top hits quickly become an asset class of their own luring in investors, writes Elena Siniscalco