Shop Direct is back in black as it moves online October 29, 2013 SHOP Direct said plans to haul itself into the digital age and shift away from its roots as a traditional catalogue business were paying off as the group posted its first pre-tax profit in 10 years. The online and catalogue retailer, which owns brands such as Very.co.uk, Littlewoods.com and isme.com, said yesterday it had swung [...]
Westfield turns five years old October 29, 2013 WESTFIELD London is celebrating its fifth birthday today having racked up £4bn in retail sales and 130m visitors since it first opened its doors 2008. The Australian retailer recently won consent to push ahead with £1bn plans to extend the shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush, with John Lewis understood to be close to agreeing to [...]
Bill Grimsey tells MPs business rates are boost to supermarkets October 29, 2013 FORMER Focus DIY boss Bill Grimsey renewed calls yesterday for a revaluation of the UK’s costly business rates, which he warned were benefiting supermarkets at the expense of high street shops. Speaking at a select committee hearing in the House of Commons yesterday, Grimsey said the government’s decision to delay the 2015 re-evaluation of business [...]
Norwegian turns his Bitcoins into prime real estate October 29, 2013 FAST-GROWING cryptocurrency Bitcoin has been described as a fad used notably by those indulging in illicit endeavours. But try telling that to Norwegian Kristoffer Koch, who has just taken advantage of their rocketing price to buy a house in Oslo for less than 150 Norwegian Krone (£15.80). Koch’s interest in encryption led him to spend [...]
Ghoulish get-together at the DfT October 29, 2013 AFTER something of a nightmare hosting several dozen sceptical hacks for a briefing on High Speed 2, the Department for Transport had an event to look forward to yesterday afternoon: a Halloween-themed team building exercise. Deep in the bowels of the Westminster offices, HR invited DfT staff to a spooky morale-booster in the very conference [...]
Any other business – 30/10 October 29, 2013 Archaeologists have hailed a Roman sculpture uncovered in the City of London as one of the finest of the era. The statue, from the 1st or 2nd century, was dug up by experts from the Museum of London Archeology at a site at Minories, near Aldgate, ahead of the development of a 16-storey hotel by [...]
Regus expects investments to hit 2013 results October 29, 2013 OFFICE space supplier Regus reported a 26 per cent rise in third-quarter revenue yesterday, but said full-year results would be hurt by the additional investments it was making to open new centres. The company, which provides meeting rooms, business lounges and office spaces for rent, said it now planned to open between 420 and 440 [...]
Tullow Oil plugs and abandons poor quality well in Norway October 29, 2013 TULLOW Oil yesterday said that it has plugged and abandoned the Wisting Alternative well, located off Norway in the Barents Sea, due to “poor quality” reservoir rock. The FTSE 100-listed oil explorer said evaluation work on its neighbouring Wisting Central discovery would continue. “The material Wisting Central oil field, discovered in the same licence in [...]
Tata Steel set to cut UK jobs October 29, 2013 TATA Steel, Europe’s second-largest steel producer, could cut around 500 jobs under plans to restructure the part of its British business that supplies the construction and engineering industries. Changes to its long products business – which makes tubes, rails and rods, used in many industrial sectors – will affect management and administrative jobs at sites [...]
Expansion in the United States helps revenues at Stagecoach October 29, 2013 RAIL and bus group Stagecoach got its investors revved up yesterday after it said trading had been good since April. Stagecoach said its UK buses outside of London had delivered five per cent like-for-like growth in the 24 weeks to 13 October. In London, extra revenues from transporting spectators during last year’s Olympics sent like-for-like [...]
