City Moves for 17 November 2014 | Who’s switching jobs November 16, 2014 Weightmans The law firm has announced the appointment of Nick Richards as partner in its large loss and technical insurance team in London. He was previously a partner at Morgan Cole, and has over 20 years’ experience handling EU cross-border and large loss claims. National Counties Building Society Cameron Amaira has been appointed head of [...]
Homebase set to close one in four of its shops October 22, 2014 HOME Retail Group said yesterday it planned to shut a quarter of Homebase’s 323 branches, blaming excess retail space and the rise of a generation that had fallen out of love with DIY. Chief executive John Walden said the rise of online and growing competition had left the DIY market “over-spaced” while an increasing number [...]
Home Retail Group share price falls as it announces plans to close a quarter of stores by 2018 October 22, 2014 Shares in the owner of DIY retailer Homebase fell 3.8 percent in early trading this morning, after it announced plans to close 25 per cent of its 323 stores by 2018. Home Retail Group, which also owns Argos, said the current estate was too big relative the demands of the UK market and out of [...]
EE set to buy Phones 4U’s mobile business for under £5m October 14, 2014 Phones 4U's retail arm may be done, but EE has just snapped up its mobile business for under £5m, according to the Financial Times. EE beat off competition from Argos and Talk Talk, and the deal is now just subject to approval from administrators. Citing a person close to the talks, the FT says a deal [...]
Argos to launch online workshops October 12, 2014 ARGOS has pledged to help some of the 9.5m Britons who still lack basic online skills by offering training courses at over 120 of its UK stores. In a statement released today, Argos said around 10,000 people will be able to sign up to workshops across the UK designed to teach the basic skills such [...]
Gone Girl tops UK box office as Ben Affleck helps David Fincher land best-ever opening weekend October 5, 2014 Take a best-selling book already established as a worldwide phenomenon, add a Hollywood heartthrob and one of Hollywood’s most critically acclaimed directors and….boom! You have a box office smash. “Gone Girl”, David Fincher’s adaptation of the wildly successful Gillian Flynn novel of the same name, has raced straight to the top of the UK [...]
Britain’s biggest companies call on Westminster for fundamental business rates reform September 16, 2014 Some of Britain's biggest businesses including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco, General Motors and Tata Steel have called on the government to rip up the current business rate regime claiming the current system is “a critical problem for all of British business”. The controversial tax delivers around £25bn to the Treasury every year, but [...]
Best of the Brokers for 15 September 2014 September 14, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com JD WETHERSPOON Investec has kept its “buy” rating, but upped the target price to 885p from 870p. The broker says full year results were just ahead of expectations, and that cash generation remains strong, while the current year has started well with a [...]
Argos boosts Home Retail Group September 11, 2014 HOME Retail Group yesterday reported a ninth successive period of growth at Argos, but said the group’s full-year result will depend on the all-important Christmas trading period. Sales at Argos were up 1.4 per cent to £901m for the 13 weeks to 30 August, while like-for-like sales grew by 1.2 per cent. Higher sales of [...]
RIP iPod Classic: Apple kills off original design September 10, 2014 In the midst of all the fuss about Apple's new launches, the tech giant appears to have quietly killed off its genre-busting iPod Classic nearly 15 years after its creation. The iPod Classic, which was first launched in 2001, is no longer available for sale on the Apple Store, although some branches of Tesco [...]