Whole Foods to axe 1,500 jobs in eight weeks – but not in the UK September 28, 2015 Whole Foods, the upmarket US food chain, announced it will cut around 1,500 jobs over the next eight weeks as part of a cost-cutting drive designed to free up cash to invest in the business. The supermarket group, which has around 424 stores and employs over 80,000 people, said the cuts were designed to free [...]
Land Registry: UK house price growth in August at lowest level in two years September 28, 2015 House prices rose by 4.2 per cent year-on-year in August, according to the latest survey from Land Registry. This is the weakest annual pace since November 2013 and compares with an annual growth of 4.7 per cent in July. The average value of all properties across the UK – now £184,682 – was up 0.5 [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015 and faster delivery times helps House of Fraser as half-year sales jump September 26, 2015 Department store chain House of Fraser has hailed a jump in sales over the first half, boosted by further improvements to its online offer including faster delivery times. The company, which was taken over by Chinese consortium Nanjing Xinjiekou last year, said like-for-like sales were up 6.5 per cent, with gross total value (GTV) rising to £574.2m in the six [...]
WH Smith agrees to cut hospital store prices September 23, 2015 WHSmith has agreed to lower prices of some products in its hospital stores after an investigation revealed that the retailer was charging significantly more for some items than on the high street. The chain came under fire from Labour MP Paula Sherriff, who sits on the House of Commons select committee, following reports by the BBC this summer that WHSmith [...]
Chancellor George Osborne announces North Powerhouse deal as part of China visit September 23, 2015 George Osborne unveiled a deal this morning for a major Chinese investment into three Northern Powerhouse schemes that will create 10,000 new homes, after a controversial visit to a Chinese region at the centre of a human rights row. The chancellor became the first serving government minister to visit Urumqi, in the region of Xinjiang, northwest China, [...]
AO World share price falls despite being on track for revenue jump September 21, 2015 Shares in AO World have fallen 3.9 per cent despite the online electricals giant saying it is on track to report a 20 to 21 per cent jump in second quarter sales. Speaking at a Capital Markets Day being held at its Bolton headquarters today, chief financial officer Mark Higgins said AO.com sales are expected [...]
Here’s what a new City office scheme with five garden roof terraces will look like at 80 Fenchurch Street September 17, 2015 Work on a new office tower that will boast the biggest number of roof gardens in the City got underway this week, as developers began knocking down the old site. Partners Group, a Swiss private equity firm, is developing a 245,000 square feet office tower at 80 Fenchurch Street together with joint venture partner Marick Real [...]
One third of Brits have already started Christmas shopping September 17, 2015 If you haven’t already done your Christmas shopping, then you might want to get stuck in because a third of UK shoppers are already one step ahead of you this season. A survey conducted by New York-listed technology company Rubicon Project found that 30 per cent of us have already started Christmas shopping. Among parents [...]
Nestle suffers setback over KitKat trademark as European Court of Justice rules that four-fingered shape cannot be copyrighted September 16, 2015 The European Court of Justice is not giving KitKat a break. If anything, it's giving the chocolate brand four fingers. Nestle’s five-year battle to protect the shape of its KitKat chocolate bar has suffered another setback after European judges ruled that it did not merit a trademark. The ECJ said that the four-finger shape alone [...]
Westfield and Hammerson’s £1bn Croydon shopping centre clears another hurdle after secretary of state approves compulsory purchase order September 16, 2015 Westfield and Hammerson’s plans to turn the Whitgift Centre in Croydon into a new £1bn retail destination have cleared another hurdle after secretary of state Greg Clark approved a compulsory purchase order (CPO) of the site. The developers are working together to convert the tired 1960s shopping centre and the neighbouring mall Centrale into a two million [...]
