John Lewis issues profit warning as MD steps down January 9, 2020 John Lewis & Partners issued a profit warning today and said its managing director will leave the struggling business next month after underwhelming Christmas sales. The retail partnership warned full-year profits will be “substantially down” on last year as it revealed significant drops in both John Lewis and Waitrose revenue. Read more: Four problems new [...]
Liberty Steel to axe 355 UK jobs under ‘challenging’ conditions January 9, 2020 Liberty Steel today said it plans to slash 355 jobs from its South Yorkshire and south Wales plants amid pressure from “challenging market conditions”. Liberty Steel also blamed “a lingering reduction in demand for UK steel products” as it made the announcement. Read more: GFG Alliance launches $15bn Liberty Steel Group In a widely reported [...]
All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers posts ‘good, not great’ Christmas sales January 9, 2020 Pub chain Mitchells & Butlers enjoyed a solid rise in like-for-like sales over Christmas, but suffered from strong comparative sales the year before. The core three-week festive period saw the firm’s pub chains – which include All Bar One, Ember Inns and Harvester – enjoy comparable sales growth of 5.6 per cent. Read more: Wetherspoon [...]
Brexit and election uncertainty knock hole in Robert Walters’ UK profit January 9, 2020 Robert Walters’ share price dropped today as it revealed a huge 23 per cent dent to UK profits as a result of a rollercoaster year of political uncertainty in 2019. UK gross profit fell from £26.8m in the fourth quarter of 2018 to £20.7m in the corresponding period last year. Read more: Time too short [...]
Iran plane crash: Ukraine U-turns on engine failure as cause of Boeing 737 crash January 8, 2020 Ukraine’s embassy in Iran has dropped a reference to engine failure as a cause of the Boeing 737 plane crash that killed 176 people earlier today. Iranian state media had initially reported that “technical issues” were behind the disaster after the Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s international airport. Read more: Iran [...]
Spoonbender Uri Geller answers Dominic Cummings’ call for ‘weirdos’ January 8, 2020 Spoon-bending magician Uri Geller has applied to join the civil service after special adviser Dominic Cummings asked “misfits” and “weirdos” to become part of government. Geller, 73, started his cover letter by telling Cummings that his career to date as an entertainer had been the “perfect mask” for work in espionage. Read more: DEBATE: Is [...]
Sainsbury’s Christmas sales slip despite online boost January 8, 2020 Sainsbury’s suffered the biggest drop in Christmas sales of general merchandise since it bought Argos in 2016, as consumer demand for toys and games weakened. General merchandise sales, which includes Argos, dropped 3.9 per cent in the 15 weeks to 4 January, driving a 0.7 per cent decline in total retail sales excluding fuel. However, [...]
Carlos Ghosn to seek Lebanon trial after flight from Japan January 8, 2020 Carlos Ghosn is set to push for a trial in Lebanon after his sensational escape from Japan, his legal team has said. Ahead of the disgraced former Nissan chief’s press conference later today, Ghosn’s legal team has said a Lebanon trial would involve “either a handing over or co-operation” between the two countries’ justice ministries, [...]
Anglo American eyes £386m rescue package for Sirius Minerals January 8, 2020 Anglo American today confirmed it is weighing up a £386m rescue bid for the struggling British miner Sirius Minerals. The 5.5p per share cash offer would offer a lifeline to the cash-strapped North Yorkshire company, which is struggling to build a huge potash mine on the North York Moors. Read more: Sirius Minerals seeks $600m [...]
South Western Railway’s future at risk as losses hit £137m January 7, 2020 South Western Railway is on the brink of collapse, its auditor has warned after it swung to a massive £137m loss in its latest financial year. Deloitte warned there is “significant doubt” over the future of the strike-hit firm, which could be nationalised by the Department of Transport (DfT) in order to keep its rail [...]
