Retailers on a roll but storm clouds looming March 28, 2010 EVEN the worst recession for at least 60 years hasn’t been able to stop the British consumer from flashing the plastic. Snowfall might have deterred the less hardened shoppers from hitting the January sales with full force, but statistics out last week showed we returned to the high street in our droves last month. Retail [...]
EasyJet boss McCall to see pay doubled March 24, 2010 CAROLYN McCall, former Guardian Media Group boss, will see her pay almost double once she takes over as chief executive of low cost airline easyJet. It is understood that McCall, who in 2009 earned a salary of £498,000 at the Guardian, will step into a similar pay package as former easyJet chief Andy Harrison, whose [...]
Sainsbury’s sales hit by slowing growth March 24, 2010 SAINSBURY’S has reported its smallest rise in underlying quarterly sales in almost five years. Britain’s third biggest grocery chain said stores open at least one year rose 1.7 per cent, excluding fuel, in the fourth quarter. That was down from 3.7 per cent in its third quarter and the smallest rise since the first quarter [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 21, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph ITV’S NEW CHAIRMAN: UK FACES ‘NATIONAL CRISIS’ Archie Norman, the chairman of ITV, has said that the UK is facing an economic “national crisis” worse than that faced by Margaret Thatcher at the end of the 1970s. In his first interview since becoming chairman of the broadcaster, Norman also revealed [...]
Four Labour MPs embroiled in cash for influence scandal March 21, 2010 FOUR Labour MPs – including thee ex-ministers – have become embroiled in a cash for influence scandal. Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon and Margaret Moran allegedly offered to lobby colleagues on behalf of a private firm in exchange for thousands of pounds. An undercover reporter posed as an executive at an American company, and [...]
Broadcasting boss Allen takes centre stage March 10, 2010 THE former boss of Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster will add troubled record label EMI to his list of top jobs when he takes over the role of executive chairman at the end of this month. Charles Allen’s media career began in 1991 when the catering group Compass took over Granada, in a merger that finally [...]
Tesco hires new clothing chief March 10, 2010 TESCO has hired the former head of non-food at J Sainsbury in a bid to revive its £1bn clothing business. Richard Jones will replace Terry Green as Tesco’s clothing chief – running the clothing business in the UK, as well as taking charge of its home furnishings division. Green, whose five-year contract for Tesco is [...]
Rose: Cut UK deficit as soon as possible March 9, 2010 SIR Stuart Rose yesterday said the next government should cut public spending sooner rather than later, in comments that appeared to back Tory plans. And the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer said consumers were well-prepared for a period of fiscal tightening to reduce the UK’s yawning £178bn budget deficit. “Our customers, Tesco’s customers, Sainsbury’s [...]
Oil and minerals bolster FTSE index despite banking and drugmaker lows March 8, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index hit an 18-month closing high yesterday, led by oil stocks and miners, while drugmakers fell with AstraZeneca pressured after its cancer drug failed in trials. The FTSE 100 ended up 6.96 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,606.72, its highest close since 2 September 2008. The index gained 4.6 per cent [...]
Record low for food inflation March 2, 2010 FOOD PRICES are increasing at their slowest annual rate in three years thanks to the falling cost of fresh food according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC)-Nielsen shop price index published today. Food prices were just 1.3 per cent higher on a year earlier in February compared to an annual increase of 2.9 per cent [...]