Responsible Gambling Trust appoints non-betting industry chair of trustee board June 22, 2016 A leading gambling sector charity has appointed a new independent chair of its board of trustees who has not come from the betting industry for the first time. With the new appointment, the organisation also has a majority of trustees outside of the gambling sector. The Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) has appointed Kate Lampard CBE [...]
Tobacco volumes decline in China for the first time in two decades and bring down global volumes June 20, 2016 Smokers in China stubbing out their cigarettes helped the world's largest tobacco market shrink last year, while Western Europe enjoyed growth. China consumed almost 60bn fewer cigarettes in 2015. As the Asian powerhouse accounted for around 45 per cent of global total volumes, this drove the worldwide total down 2.1 per cent to 5.5 trillion sticks, according to research [...]
Smaller is better… When it comes to food packaging as consumers look to rein in portions and snacking June 20, 2016 If you thought the size of your snacks had gotten smaller over the last few years, you weren’t imagining it. Unfortunately for snackers, the move to “rightsize” to smaller flexible plastic packs (which often hold items like crisps and chocolate) is a “new trend” in 2016. It is also is set to grow in popularity as it [...]
SABMiller chief exec’s earnings drop 17 per cent ahead of megabrew deal June 20, 2016 The chief executive of British drinks giant SABMiller has taken an almost 17 per cent hit to his pay packet after failing to deliver on share price earnings last year. Alan Clark's total remuneration fell from £7.1m last year to £5.9m this year, according to the company's annual report, which was released today. A failure [...]
Vast majority of financial services chiefs expect shareholder rebellions over executive pay to continue, according to report released by Per Ardua June 20, 2016 Finance bosses are braced for more shareholder activism over executive pay, following a string of rebellions so far this year. More than eight in 10 respondents (82 per cent) to a Per Ardua Associates study said they were expecting to see more remuneration-focused activism from shareholders. A quarter (25 per cent) also said their companies were [...]
EU referendum: Diageo chief executive backs Remain in letter to UK employees June 20, 2016 The chief executive of Diageo has written to the company's UK staff outlining his arguments for voting to remain in the EU. Ivan Menezes, who has been at the helm of the British giant behind Bailey's, Guinness and Smirnoff since July 2013, said in the letter sent to all 4,773 British employees this morning that his arguments were clearly a [...]
EU referendum: JD Wetherspoon has printed new Brexit beer mats – this time they’re directed at George Osborne June 20, 2016 Clearly not content with offering just one round of Brexit beer mats, JD Wetherspoon has printed another set – and this time George Osborne is in the firing line. The pub group, led by the staunchly pro-Brexit Tim Martin, has printed 500,000 of the new beer mats for use across its 920 UK pubs ahead of [...]
Social media is driving a surge in mobile spending, with five per cent of Britons now buying something on their phones every day June 20, 2016 Britain is a nation of social media-driven mobile phone shoppers, according to a study released today. Five per cent of the UK's population, or 2.5m people, are buying products or services on their phones everyday, while twice as many between the ages of 18 and 34 (10 per cent) are making daily purchases on their mobiles. Social [...]
Antiques are back as young Britons lament being the “disposable furniture” generation June 20, 2016 It might be time to dust the cobwebs off that old furniture in the attic, as new research shows antiques are officially back in vogue. A majority of Britons prefer the individuality of older items to "disposable", newer furniture, according to a study by The Art & Antiques Fair. More than six in 10 (62 per cent) [...]
Thames Tideway Tunnel: Digging deep to avoid the next big stink June 19, 2016 When asked to think of major infrastructure projects taking place in London, the first to come to mind for many will be Crossrail. But there is another transformational infrastructure development taking place beneath our feet that will arguably change London over the next century more than any single train line ever could and which, for [...]
