Greggs: Sausage roll-maker passes two milestones despite ‘subdued’ footfall January 9, 2025 Greggs reported a record-breaking year in 2024 as the sausage-roll maker surpassed two key milestones, but warned on headwinds in 2025 after “subdued” footfall. In an update to markets today, the high street bakery reported an 11.2 per cent uptick in total sales, which sprung the company upwards of its sales milestone of £2bn. However, [...]
The femtech revolution is just getting started – but who are the real winners? January 9, 2025 What is so revolutionary about femtech? A once-niche term that, since coined by entrepreneur Ida Tin in 2016, has become synonymous with the future of healthcare and technology. The concept quickly struck a chord with the broader healthtech landscape, tapping into an underserved market for women’s health. The industry has witnessed exponential growth over the [...]
Proxy adviser backs Boohoo vice chair in Mike Ashley row January 9, 2025 Proxy voting adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has backed Boohoo in its row with Mike Ashley and Frasers Group, urging shareholders to vote against firing the company’s co-founder and vice chair Mahmud Kamani. In November, Frasers demanded that Kamani be removed as a director of Boohoo, leading the firm to call a general meeting scheduled [...]
B&M: Festive season of bargain shopping helps ‘undistracted’ value retailer January 9, 2025 Value retailer B&M Bargains reported strong revenue growth throughout the golden quarter as consumers sought out low-discount options to meet their festive shopping needs. However, the caution imposed by a challenging environment ahead for the retail sector due to tax hikes and employment costs caused B&M shares to fall by 8.5 per cent today. In [...]
S4 Capital: Sir Martin Sorrell’s ad giant loses its CFO January 9, 2025 S4 Capital, the ad giant run by Sir Martin Sorrell, is set to lose its chief financial officer Mary Basterfield. Basterfield has been CFO of S4 Capital since January 2022, having previously worked as CFO of Warner Music Group and UKTV, as well as group finance director of Just Eat. She has a twelve month [...]
Hiring falls to 16-month low after Reeves’ ‘tough Budget’, survey shows January 9, 2025 Temporary billings also declined last month, and at a faster pace than typically seen during 2024.
Shein’s ‘evasive’ performance triggers fresh fury from campaigners January 9, 2025 Human rights groups have launched fresh attacks on the fast fashion firm Shein after a representative of the firm repeatedly dodged questions from MPs over where it sourced materials for its clothing. During a Business and Trade Select Committee hearing on Tuesday, Shein’s London-based general counsel for EMEA, Yinan Zhu, repeatedly failed to give a direct answer [...]
Food inflation to hit 4.2 per cent in 2025 as cost pressures loom, BRC warns January 9, 2025 According to projections from the BRC, food prices will rise by an average of 4.2 per cent in the second half of 2025.
UK will launch sanctions against people smugglers, David Lammy to say January 9, 2025 The UK government is set to launch sanctions against people smugglers in a bid to disrupt irregular migration, David Lammy will announce. Ministers are launching a new sanctions regime designed to cripple the people smuggling crime rings and starve them of illicit finance fuelling their operations. Described as a world-first, it will aim to prevent, [...]
Financial M&A surges as banks and insurers hunt for scale January 8, 2025 A wave of banking and insurance tie-ups pushed the volume of UK financial services dealmaking to its highest level in more than a decade last year, new figures show. After a slowdown in 2023, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the UK’s financial services industry rebounded last year with a 26 per cent year-on-year increase [...]
