Quiz losses deepen after pandemic store closures September 29, 2021 Fashion retailer Quiz has posted deepening losses after the pandemic deterred consumers from buying occasion wear and forced shops to shut for months. Group revenue dropped 66 per cent for the year ended 31 March 2021 , which the retailer said was down to the impact of the pandemic on trading conditions. The retailer posted [...]
Evergrande rushes to sell assets to pay off debts September 29, 2021 Embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande is rushing to sell assets in a bid to raise cash to pay off its debts. The property giant has sold a £1.1bn stake it owns in Chinese commercial bank, Shengjing Bank, to a state-owned company. The money raised will be used to pay off debts Evergrande owes to Shengjing. [...]
Amazon offers ‘options’ to truck marshals facing pay cuts September 29, 2021 Online giant Amazon has said it is offering “a number of options” to truck marshalls who face a pay cut of almost a quarter at its delivery stations. The role involves people managing hundreds of trucks and drivers at the online retailer’s delivery stations and warehouses. Two marshals told Business Insider they were told this [...]
FTSE 100 climbs as London markets shake off inflation fears September 29, 2021 London’s FTSE 100 jumped during opening exchanges today driven by investors in the capital shaking off inflation concerns that rattled global markets yesterday. The capital’s premier index added 0.74 per cent to reach 7,079.97 points in the first hour of trading today. Global markets sold off yesterday as investors rejigged their portfolios in preparation for [...]
Starmer will vow to get Labour ‘back in business’ in conference speech September 29, 2021 Sir Keir Starmer will today vow to get Labour “back in business” while rejecting the Jeremy Corbyn era in his make-or-break party conference speech today. The Labour leader will use the speech to attack the Conservatives by claiming the government is “lost in the woods” and announce a string of new policies, including a teacher [...]
Crunch time: Morrisons takeover battle to culminate in one-day auction this weekend September 29, 2021 A months-long multibillion pound takeover battle for Morrisons will culminate in a one-day auction on Saturday, the UK’s takeover watchdog has confirmed. The stock market’s Takeover Panel said it would run a bidding process of up to five rounds this weekend because neither of the private equity bidders Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and the Fortress [...]
UK housing market still steaming despite looming stamp duty break cut off September 29, 2021 The looming end of a watered down tax break on house purchases has not cooled the UK’s rampant housing market, according to official figures released today. Brits took on £21.5bn in mortgage debt last month, up sharply from July’s figure of £16.6bn, shows Bank of England data. A record low interest rate environment has propped [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Pandemic era etiquette for the common cold September 29, 2021 So London has been hit by the plague. No, not Covid – how desperately 2020. It’s the monster common cold, which most of us have managed to dodge for the last 18 months thanks to social distancing. Now it’s back with a vengeance. After aggressive messaging telling us to protect our loved ones by staying [...]
Ongoing worker shortages loom over UK economy September 29, 2021 Endemic worker shortages putting the UK economy in a vice are set to persist for months to come. Businesses’ demand for workers jumped three percentage points to 25 per cent, according to data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). Hiring intentions over the next four to 12 months also strengthened to 30 per cent. [...]
Talent war and transport costs hit shop prices September 29, 2021 A toxic combination of rising transport costs, severe worker shortages and soaring commodity prices is fuelling food price inflation. Food prices rose for the first time on an annual basis in six months in September, up 0.1 per cent, according to research from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Supermarkets have been raising pay for HGV [...]
