Dragons Den star Peter Jones opens Jessops inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets October 8, 2014 Jessops, the camera chain brought out of administration by Dragons Den star Peter Jones last year, has opened its first store inside a Sainsbury’s supermarket. The retailer yesterday launched in Sainsbury’s superstore in Newport, South Wales, and plans to open a further two stores in Waterlooville, Hampshire, and Maidenhead, Berkshire, within months. “This is a [...]
Tesco suspends Kevin Grace: Fifth executive leaves over £250m profit miss October 7, 2014 Tesco has suspended a fifth director over a shock discovery last month of an error in its accounts which meant first half profits were overstated by £250m. Kevin Grace, Tesco’s group commercial director, was asked on Monday to step aside as Deloitte and Freshfields carry out their investigation into what went wrong in Tesco’s accounts. [...]
Karen Hester: From part-time cleaner to Adnams director October 7, 2014 Karen Hester was scouring for a job that would allow her to juggle being a full-time mum to her two young children when she came across a vacancy at the Suffolk brewer Adnams for a part-time cleaner. It was 1988 and Hester had returned to the UK after living in Germany with her former husband, [...]
Indian summer hurts shop sales in September October 7, 2014 HIGH street sales growth came to a grinding halt last month for the first time since February after Britain’s Indian summer put shoppers off stocking up on winter clothing, according to new research out today. Accountancy firm BDO’s monthly high street sales tracker shows sales dipped by 2.9 per cent in September, ending the first [...]
Tesco share price rises as Richard Cousins and Mikael Ohlsson join board October 6, 2014 Tesco brought some relief to its unhappy investors yesterday after announcing that it had beefed up its board by hiring the chief executive of catering giant Compass and the former boss of Ikea. The embattled retailer said Richard Cousins, a turnaround specialist who had led Compass since 2006, and Mikael Ohlsson, who was chief [...]
City says Asos a takover target October 6, 2014 ASOS shares soared nearly 15 per cent yesterday after analysts at UBS said the troubled online retailer was “ripe” for a takeover, with rival Amazon the most likely suitor. The company, which has issued three profit warnings in the past seven months, has been subject to previous takeover speculation, with eBay and Amazon cited as [...]
Battersea Power Station to put Frank Gehry and Norman Foster flats on sale October 6, 2014 Hundreds of homes designed by renowned architects Norman Foster and Frank Gehry will go on sale at Battersea Power Station this month, the owners revealed yesterday, with prices starting at £495,000. Gehry Partners and Foster + Partners have designed two schemes for the third phase of development at Battersea Power Station, with 1,305 [...]
Property returns to record high October 6, 2014 BRITAIN’S commercial property market is on track to deliver its strongest returns in 25 years, thanks to rising confidence in the UK economy, new research from M&G Real Estate shows. In a report published yesterday, the real estate fund manager hailed 2014 as an “exceptional year”, fuelled by increased liquidity, rising investor confidence and improving [...]
Student housing deals to reach record £2bn by the end of 2014 October 6, 2014 THE STUDENT housing market is set for a record year after research out yesterday predicted that over £2bn of assets will go under offer in the final quarter of the year. Property experts JLL said £220m of student properties were under offer at the end of the third quarter, with a further £360m being marketed [...]
Property tech hub launched October 6, 2014 CUSHMAN & Wakefield and Spire Ventures have teamed up to create Europe’s first property-focused tech accelerator in Shoreditch. Property Innovation Labs (Pi Labs), aims to help startups become the next Zoopla or AirBnB by providing them with access to investment and mentoring, the two companies said. The pair will also team up with David Cameron’s [...]