Saudi Aramco international listing still ‘on the cards’ January 22, 2020 Saudi Arabia’s finance minister has said that the kingdom is still mulling listing state oil giant Saudi Aramco on an international bourse. Speaking to Bloomberg at Davos, Mohammed Al-Jadaan said that a float is “still on the cards”. However, he added that he “didn’t think it’s going to be anytime soon.” In December Aramco listed [...]
Ted Baker reveals £25m accounting error actually cost it £58m January 22, 2020 Ted Baker’s torrid time continued this morning after the designer brand said that it had overstated the value of its inventory by £58m. Last month the luxury clothing firm said that it had appointed magic circle law firm Freshfields to investigate the issue, which it expected to cost £25m. Big four auditor Deloitte has now [...]
Record number of customers switch energy supplier in 2019 January 22, 2020 A record number of consumers switched household energy supplier in 2019, with almost 6.4m switches over the course of the year. As the UK market caters to roughly 30m households, that means one in every five customers changed supplier in the last 12 months. On average, there were 530,000 switches a month, with April seeing [...]
Amazon breaks $200bn mark as world’s most valuable brand January 22, 2020 Online retail titan Amazon has defended its position as the world’s most valuable brand for a third year in a row, with the firm becoming the first to break the $200bn (£153bn) mark. Jeff Bezos’ company is worth $220.8bn in total, over $60bn more than second-placed Google, which is worth $159.7bn, according to the annual [...]
Pets at Home groomed for 2020 glory after record Christmas January 22, 2020 Pets at Home is making progress in its bid to be top dog in the UK pet market, announcing a 12th consecutive quarter of growth in this morning’s trading update. The grooming company, which has said that it wants to generate 50 per cent of its revenue through services, saw group revenue grow 7.9 per [...]
WH Smith in the sun as travel division drives growth January 22, 2020 WH Smith defied the winter woes that have affected many of its fellow retailers, with revenue up seven per cent for the 20 weeks to Christmas. The growth was largely driven by an especially strong performance by the high street stalwart’s travel business, which runs stores in airports and rail stations. In total, the division [...]
Burberry raises full year guidance after sales rise January 22, 2020 Designer brand Burberry this morning raised its guidance for the year after a quarter in which the luxury brand saw revenue rise three per cent. Revenue in the third quarter hit £719m, up from £711m twelve months ago, as the firm’s focus on the far eastern market looked to be paying off. In response Burberry [...]
Lekoil receives stay of execution as operator delays payment deadline January 21, 2020 Investors in embattled Lekoil, which was last week embroiled in an extraordinary saga involving a fake investment fund, could breathe a sigh of relief today the operator of the Nigerian oil field the fake loan was meant to support said it would delay the deadline of Lekoil’s payment of $9.6m for costs. Optimum, which operates [...]
RBS’ digital banking chief to step down in coming months January 21, 2020 The chief executive of Bo, RBS’ digital banking platform, is one of a number of executives who will leave the company in the coming months as part of a reshuffle under new boss Alison Rose. Mark Bailie, who was considered a potential challenger to Rose before her appointment in the autumn, will step down just [...]
BP withdraws from Iraqi oil field as expansion falls through January 21, 2020 BP has withdrawn from Iraq’s Kirkuk oilfield after it failed to come to a new agreement on the giant field’s expansion. The oil major’s contract, which expired at the end of last year, was worth $100m (£76.6m), and the British firm informed Iraqi officials it would pull staff out of the site in December, sources [...]
