Tesco faces legal battle with shareholders over profits scandal January 26, 2016 Angry shareholders are poised to launch legal action against Tesco over the billions of pounds in value wiped off the supermarket chain in 2014 following revelations of its £265m profits black hole. Law firm Stewarts Law said it will shortly be writing to the company on behalf of institutional shareholders as the prelude to formal legal action, which will seek to [...]
These are the worst examples of how Tesco mistreated suppliers January 26, 2016 THE Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) has released a scathing report today into Tesco's treatment of suppliers, concluding that the supermarket "seriously" breached the industry's code of practice by prioritising its own finances at suppliers' expense. Below are some examples of how Tesco mistreated its suppliers. "Aspirational" Margin Targets The supermarket watchdog found that suppliers were often forced to pay [...]
Overseas investor interest in London commercial property slows as prices come under pressure January 26, 2016 Investor interest in the UK’s commercial property market recorded its slowest rate of growth in more than two years, according to a survey of the country’s leading surveyors, as demand from foreign buyers waned. In its latest quarterly commercial market report, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found that buyer enquiries continued to rise in [...]
Plans for five-storey office block above Farringdon Crossrail station win approval January 25, 2016 Plans to build a major new office building above Farringdon Crossrail station have been given the go-ahead by City planners today, with construction expected to start next year. Designed by PLP Architecture – the architects behind Lipton Rogers and Axa Real Estate's 22 Bishopsgate skyscraper – the five-storey building will sit above the station's eastern ticket hall on [...]
McDonald’s fills up on all day breakfast as fourth quarter sales rise January 25, 2016 McDonald’s has served up a five per cent jump in global like-for-like sales in the fourth quarter as efforts to turnaround its ailing US business showed signs of paying off. The fast food giant, which promoted former UK boss Steve Easterbrook to the top spot a year ago, said US fourth quarter comparable sales increased by 5.7 per cent, thanks in [...]
High street retailers steal share of physical entertainment market from Amazon January 25, 2016 Sales of physical DVDs, CDs and video games may be dropping but bricks and mortar stores are still holding their own after taking market share from the likes of Amazon in the quarter. According to Kantar Worldpanel figures, high street retailers took 68 per cent of spend on physical entertainment in the 12 weeks to 20 [...]
UK retailers prove a hit with shoppers overseas as smartphone browsing soars January 25, 2016 The number of international shoppers using their smartphones to browse for UK brands has jumped over the last quarter, new research shows, as growth on mobile devices continued to outstrip tablets. According to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Google, beauty and apparel enjoyed the biggest rise in search volumes on mobile devices, [...]
The Co-operative Group kicks off hiring spree for members’ council January 25, 2016 The Co-operative Group has embarked on a recruitment drive to find 24 candidates to join the representative body for its eight million members. The mutually-owned group, which operates everything from supermarkets to funeral care services, has undergone a radical overhaul over the last two years that resulted in a shake-up of both its governance practices [...]
Outdoor retailer Mountain Warehouse eyes £200m IPO after hiring Rothschild January 24, 2016 Mountain Warehouse is eyeing a £200m stock market debut after hiring investment bank Rothschild to explore options for the business. The outdoor clothing and equipment retailer was founded by former management consultant and Oxford physics graduate Mark Neale, who opened his first shop in Swindon in the late 1990s. It now operates 191 stores in [...]
Land Securities bucks the trend as customers flock to its shopping centres January 21, 2016 Land Securities said visitors to its shopping centres hit record levels in the third quarter, after a change in its strategy to focus on better quality properties paid off. The listed property giant, which owns Bluewater shopping centre in Kent as well as Trinity in Leeds, said footfall rose by 1.7 per cent in the [...]
