Budget 2020: Business rates cut for more small leisure and retail firms March 11, 2020 Small retail, leisure and hospitality businesses will be exempt from paying business rates for one year as part of an emergency budget to protect the economy from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. All retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will be exempt from paying business rates over [...]
Debenhams appoints headhunters for new chief executive March 11, 2020 Struggling department store Debenhams has reportedly launched a search for a new chief executive as restructuring expert Stefaan Vansteenkiste prepares to step down after less than a year. Vansteenkiste is set to leave the role within months, after taking over in August, and headhunter Spencer Stuart has been brought in to find a replacement, Sky [...]
Puma scraps coronavirus guidance as outbreak spreads March 11, 2020 German sportswear giant Puma scrapped previous coronavirus guidance this morning, saying that its business will not return to normal in the short term. Puma had previously said it expected sales and profits to decline in the first quarter after it was forced to temporarily close stores in China, where the outbreak began. However, today the [...]
Insurance giant Prudential to float stake in US business March 11, 2020 Insurance giant Prudential has confirmed it will float a stake in its US unit following pressure from an activist hedge fund. Prudential this morning said preparations are underway for a minority initial public offering (IPO) of Jackson in the US as it said it is closely monitoring the development of coronavirus. Group chief executive Mike [...]
Wealth management firm Quilter suffers profit slump March 11, 2020 Wealth management firm Quilter suffered a drop in profit last year against a tough market backdrop, and warned this morning that coronavirus could have an “adverse impact” on the company. The figures The company reported profit after tax of £146m in 2019 compared to £488m the previous year. Its loss before tax from continuing operations [...]
Lookers shares dive as suspected fraud delays financial results March 11, 2020 Shares in car dealership chain Lookers plunged this morning after the firm announced suspected fraud had delayed the publication of its financial results. Lookers’ share price dropped more than 18 per cent after it revealed last night that it had “identified potentially fraudulent transactions”. Lookers, which was scheduled to publish its 2019 results this morning, [...]
Health minister Nadine Dorries tests postive for coronavirus March 11, 2020 Health minister Nadine Dorries is in self isolation after testing positive for coronavirus. The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK has hit 382 and six people in the UK have died from the virus so far. It was confirmed yesterday that the latest person to die was a man in his 80s [...]
Iceland’s founding family mulls buying bigger stake March 10, 2020 Iceland’s founder could seek to regain ownership of the supermarket when South African investment company Brait sells its stake. Brait, which owns around 63 per cent of the frozen food specialist, said in November it plans to offload its stake in several British companies, including Iceland, in the next five years. It will also sell [...]
The Westbury Hotel owner seeks £1bn sale of Mayfair portfolio March 10, 2020 Cola Holdings, the owner of the The Westbury Hotel, is seeking a £1bn offer for its Mayfair property estate, which also includes Bond Street’s Burberry store and a private members club. Kurdish-born millionaire Bakir Cola owns the group, which has recently received planning permission to redevelop the five-star hotel in Conduit Street to attract “top [...]
Coronavirus: Hostel firm Safestay suffers spike in school cancellations March 10, 2020 Hostel operator Safestay has warned that it has suffered a sharp drop in bookings and a growing number of cancellations as fears over the Coronavirus outbreak ramp up across Europe. The firm said that group bookings from schools and colleges have been cancelled. Some countries including Italy have temporarily closed schools to stop the spread [...]
