Top business books of 2015: From Walter Isaacson’s Innovators to The Untold Story of Bitcoin, here’s your Christmas reading list It’s been another roller-coaster year for businesses in 2015. From plummeting oil prices to an impending interest rate hike, authors have done their best to educate their readership on… well, pretty much anything. Here are our favourite reads of 2015. You’ll find a little bit of everything for everyone – from advice on time-management to inspiration on becoming the next big entrepreneur. Innovators: [...]
No kidding: Britons feel ripped off at Christmas The holiday season is a time for cheer, but it’s also a time for scepticism, impulse decisions and stress, if new figures are to be believed. More than half of Britons feel that they’re more likely to be ripped off when buying Christmas presents, according to the study by Trustpilot, a global online review community. The report also found [...]
Mortgage lending leaps as buy-to-let investors rush to buy November’s mortgage lending figures rose 23 per cent on last year, showing signs of a stabilising recovery in the housing market, figures published this morning showed. The Council of Mortgage Lenders' (CML) November report showed gross mortgage lending rose to £19.9bn last month, nine per cent lower than October, but up on last November's £16.1bn. Mohammad [...]
UK retail sales smash expectations in November as the Black Friday effect hits December 17, 2015 UK retail sales performed better than expected last month, partly driven by sales on Black Friday. Retail sales grew five per cent compared with last November, and grew 1.7 per cent from October, the Office for National Statistics reported this morning. James Knightly, a senior global economist at ING, said sales had been expected to rise just [...]
Ford invests billions in electric vehicles as it adds 13 new electric vehicles to its line December 11, 2015 Ford has just announced a major investment into electric cars, aiming to have 13 new models hit the roads by 2020. The American automaker announced a $4.5bn (£3bn) investment in electric vehicles, the largest-ever investment in the eco-friendly solution in a five-year period. That means that by 2020, the company will be adding 13 new electric-powered [...]
Brazil’s inflation hits 12-year high as food prices climb December 9, 2015 Brazil’s annual inflation rose to 10.5 per cent for November, marking a 12-year high on the back of a spike in food prices and the rising cost of electricity. This higher-than-expected figure for consumer prices marks an increase from October, when the country's inflation stood at 9.9 per cent, and September, when it was 9.5 per cent. Brazil's [...]
Class action suit brought against Barclays, BNP Paribas and eight more November 26, 2015 Big-name banks including Goldman Sachs, Barclays, UBS and the Royal Bank of Scotland have been accused of conspiring to limit competition by a pension fund in the US. The class action lawsuit filed yesterday says that the banks, which also include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Credit Suisse Group, BNP Paribas and [...]
Blame it on the rain: bad weather can mean bad news for £8.7bn of grocery market November 26, 2015 It turns out there is actually some science behind retailers complaining about the British weather. A new report released today by The Weather Channel took a look at the relationship in the UK and found some evidence supporting the theory that bad climate means bad business, with 6p for every £1 spent in the grocery sector dependent upon [...]
Cake maker Finsbury posts sweet performance after munching on new bakeries November 25, 2015 Celebration cake maker Finsbury Food Group reported a huge jump in revenue during its first four months of the financial year thanks to recent acquisitions of rival bakeries. The company, which supplies major baked goods as well as Peppa Pig and Disney Princess celebration cakes to retailers including Morrisons and Marks & Spencer, said sales revenue [...]
Ted Baker posts dramatic jump in third quarter sales November 19, 2015 Retailer Ted Baker's sales soared double-digits in the third quarter thanks to a popular autumn/winter line and international store openings, the company reported in an statement this morning. Sales rose 20.5 per cent in the last three months while store sales jumped 18 per cent with openings in Stansted Airport, Amsterdam, Malibu, Toronto and Hawaii. [...]
