Arsenal lead English clubs’ Champions League collapse September 30, 2015 Manager Arsene Wenger defended his omission of goalkeeper Petr Cech after a howler from understudy David Ospina left Arsenal’s Champions League hopes hanging by a thread last night. Never before had the Gunners lost their first two group games and they now face a desperate scramble to maintain their 15-year sequence of reaching the competition’s [...]
Why away teams are winning more in the Premier League this season: Only most clinical teams survive in counter-attack savvy top flight September 30, 2015 West Ham have beaten Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City away from home this season, which is typical of a wider trend You might not have noticed, but something strange is happening in the Premier League this season. All across the country, away teams are winning more frequently than home teams, and it’s stopping any single [...]
One year in, Tesco boss has Dave Lewis no room for excuses – The City View September 29, 2015 A year ago this month, Dave Lewis was anointed Tesco’s chief executive after being parachuted in from Unilever and tasked with turning around Britain’s biggest retailer. The supertanker was sinking fast. Lewis’ predecessor Phil Clarke had overseen a disastrous reign littered with profit warnings, a collapse in the share price and falling market share. Tellingly, [...]
UK retail sales beat forecasts in September, reports Confederation of British Industry September 29, 2015 UK retail sales grew at a faster pace than expected in the year to September, with firms expecting business to pick up pace in the run-up to Christmas, research shows. Of the 119 firms polled by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) distributive trades survey, 55 per cent expect sales volumes to increase in the [...]
Flash sale site MySale reports a £5.2m loss September 29, 2015 MySale, the Australian flash sale website, yesterday said sales during the year to 30 June had increased five per cent to AU$235.9m (£109.2m). Carl Jackson, chief executive of MySale Group, said the loss was due to a “number of tactical issues with the product mix, excessive postage-led promotions and too much marketing budget spent on [...]
Dow and S&P close higher – New York Report September 29, 2015 US STOCKS ended higher after a volatile session yesterday as concerns about the health of the global economy kept investors cautious after more than a month of turbulence. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.3 per cent to end with 16,049.13 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.12 per cent to 1,884.09. However, the Nasdaq [...]
Market economy status for China is a disaster for Europe September 29, 2015 What is a market economy? A system in which free trade and enterprise are encouraged to thrive, or one that is closely controlled by a powerful central government, repeatedly guilty of anti-competitive conduct and hostile towards new entrants. That is the question facing Brussels policy-makers, who are currently deciding whether to recognise China as [...]
Justin Bieber and baby names: The proof that our attention spans are getting shorter September 29, 2015 Readers who either had young children or were children themselves in the 1980s will recall the Um Bongo jingle. The advert assured us that it was drunk in the Congo. A survey published last week to mark the 60th anniversary of British television advertising showed that no fewer than 32 per cent of the [...]
Jeremy Corbyn says he backs growth firms – but time will tell what his values mean in practice September 29, 2015 Mark Twain's suggestion that “there is no such thing as a new idea” is particularly true of politics. The Labour leadership campaign injected new energy into the Labour party, and plenty of new members. Jeremy Corbyn yesterday rode the crest of that wave through his first party conference speech, receiving several standing ovations. It [...]
After a turbulent two days for Glencore, could its troubles trigger a Lehman moment for miners? September 29, 2015 David Madden, market commentator at IG Group, says Yes It is getting increasingly difficult for Glencore to avoid comparisons with Lehman Brothers. Both companies expanded aggressively in the good times and, like the collapsed bank, Glencore now finds itself in an environment where its empire-building has left it highly vulnerable. Like Lehman prior to its [...]
