Inside Track: The EU’s rules to cap bankers’ bonuses aren’t working January 15, 2014 CREATE a loophole and bankers will leap through it quicker than you can say “deferred compensation”: that seems to be one of the axioms of the aftermath of the financial crisis. Examine the consequences of the European Commission’s cap on the multiple of salaries that banks can dish out in variable pay, though, and the [...]
Apple falls out of favour with UK consumers January 15, 2014 APPLE fell out of favour with UK consumers in 2013, losing its coveted spot last year as one of the UK’s top ten brands. In 2012 Apple’s iPad held the No 6 slot on YouGov’s BrandIndex report, but this year the technology giant is nowhere to be found. “Samsung has risen the most places as [...]
Apple falls out of favour with UK consumers January 15, 2014 Apple has fallen out of favour with UK consumers, losing its coveted spot as one of the UK’s top 10 brands. Last year Apple’s iPad held the No 6 slot on YouGov’s BrandIndex report, but this year the technology giant is nowhere to be found. UK Top Brands 1. BBC iPlayer (no change)2. John Lewis [...]
Lindt benefits from UK taste for posh choc January 14, 2014 SWISS luxury chocolate maker Lindt & Sprungli enjoyed sales growth of more than eight per cent last year. The bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer, famous for its Lindt bunnies and Lindor truffles, said increased production and its new Hello brand had boosted annual turnover to SFr2.88bn (£1.9bn). Lindt’s UK and North America businesses both grew sales in [...]
Bottom Line: Supermarket needs to focus on web and sales, not real estate January 12, 2014 THE debate being waged over whether Morrisons should sell some of its freehold estate surely misses the point about the grocery chain’s future. There is nothing wrong with the structure of Morrisons’ estate that a little tinkering can not remedy. And it will remain, as it has insisted, “overwhelmingly freehold” – that is as long [...]
Food retailers are getting crushed this morning January 9, 2014 It's not been a great morning for the supermarkets. Food retailers Ouch!!!! pic.twitter.com/OZwHAdNE1P — Alastair McCaig (@AMcCaig_IG) January 9, 2014 Morrisons, the third biggest grocer on the FTSE 100, is leading the index lower after an shock Christmas update – like-for-like sales were down 5.6 per cent. Shares have fallen over five per [...]
2014 brings bad news for Britain’s supermarkets January 9, 2014 Tesco has announced a disappointing set of results for the Christmas and New Year period. In the UK like-for-like sales were down 2.4 per in the six weeks to 4 January. Group sales for the period fell by 1.2 per cent. Chief executive Philip Clarke commented: We continued to invest in the most compelling offer [...]
2013 Christmas quiz – The Answers December 20, 2013 1. Between spring and autumn 2013, which of these countries received the largest upgrade to its 2013 GDP growth forecast from the IMF? a. Indiab. United Statesc. United Kingdom ANSWER – United Kingdom. In April, the IMF forecast the UK would grow by 0.7 per cent in 2013. By October, the IMF had raised this [...]
2013 Christmas quiz: Test your knowledge December 19, 2013 Ian Stewart, Deloitte’s chief economist, poses the trickiest economics questions of the year 1. Between spring and autumn 2013, which of these countries received the largest upgrade to its 2013 GDP growth forecast from the IMF? a. Indiab. United Statesc. United Kingdom 2. Which luxury asset class saw the biggest increase in value between 2003 [...]
Supermarkets slump as half of UK shoppers head to discounters December 17, 2013 FOR THE first time ever, more than half of the UK shopped in either an Aldi or Lidl in the last three months, putting pressure on bigger retailers as the shift toward discount shopping continues unabated. Sales at Aldi surged by 30.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to 8 December while its smaller discount rival [...]