LondonMetric buys Eddie Stobart shed January 20, 2015 LONDONMETRIC said yesterday it has bought an east London warehouse leased out to logistics group Eddie Stobart for £56.5m. The property group said it acquired the 28-acre site in Dagenham from Meaalofa Developments Holdings. It is let entirely to Eddie Stobart at a rent of £3m per year for 17 years from August 2014. The [...]
Sky and Talk Talk are the latest in the frame to buy O2 from Telefonica January 20, 2015 Sky and Talk Talk are the latest to join the queue of apparent bidders to snap up UK mobile business O2 from Telefonica. Talks between the Spanish telecoms firm and Sky and Talk Talk are said to be taking place, according to reports, just days after it was revealed China’s Hutchison Whampoa, the owner of [...]
Finsbury Foods share price soars as Disney Frozen cakes remain Christmas hit January 19, 2015 Disney’s Frozen cakes usually fly off the shelves for birthdays, but their success this Christmas helped sales soar at Finsbury Foods. The cake and bread manufacturer said total sales in the first half to 27 December jumped 24 per cent to £107.6m, thanks to strong demand for the Disney-themed sponge as well as its seasonal [...]
Market lifted by upbeat view of Christmas retail – London Report January 19, 2015 BRITAIN’S main share index rose yesterday, extending a strong run, with retailers such as Tesco among the biggest gainers from a more upbeat view of the sector after a better-than-expected Christmas period. Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone rose 4.4 per cent, the top riser on the FTSE 100 index, with traders citing optimism ahead of the [...]
Ex Tesco-chief Sir Terry Leahy: Supermarket suffered “failure of leadership” under Philip Clarke January 19, 2015 The man widely credited with turning Tesco into Britain's biggest supermarket chain has criticised his successor, saying there was a "failure of leadership." "People tried very hard to do the right thing, it clearly has not worked," former chief executive Sir Terry Leah said in an interview to be broadcast on the BBC's Panorama programme tonight. "In [...]
Tesco share price rises as much as two per cent after Morgan Stanley upgrades it to “overweight” January 19, 2015 Tesco's share price rose as much as two per cent after its turnaround plan was given the thumbs-up by Morgan Stanley, which upgraded it to "overweight" from "equal weight" this morning. The embattled retailer's ability to improve its profit margins is being underestimated by the market, according to analysts at the investment bank. "We believe [...]
Ex-Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy backing staff discounts app Work Angel January 18, 2015 Former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy is reportedly leading a £3.3m funding round for smartphone startup Work Angel. Work Angel helps firms retain and reward staff with discounts and deals via a smartphone app. It was founded by serial entrepreneur Jamie True, who made an estimated £15m from the sale of his mobile app [...]
Defined benefit pensions axed from big firms January 18, 2015 Fewer of the UK’s largest firms are offering substantial defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. The number of FTSE 100 companies offering sizeable DB schemes dropped from 65 to 56 in the 12 months to September, according to figures released yesterday by consultants JLT Employee Benefits. A DB scheme is defined as sizeable if the costs [...]
LiteBulb Group’s Simon McGivern and James Phillips talk Mary Berry, cashpoint encounters and woodwork January 18, 2015 It's not every day that you bump into an old friend at a cash machine in Fulham and end up hatching a business – but then Simon McGivern and James Phillips, the founders of LiteBulb Group, are not your average pair. They went to school together (although they didn’t know each other very well) and [...]
Tesco boss Dave Lewis given dressing down over “toxic culture” as he pulls controversial plans for Ealing Green store January 16, 2015 Tesco has pulled its plans for a controversial new store on Ealing Green – despite it not being on the list of those dropped under Dave Lewis' new strategy. But that still hasn't stopped the new chief executive coming in for a dressing down by an angry campaigner over Tesco's “toxic culture”, claiming [...]