City Moves for 8 July 2015 | Who’s switching jobs July 7, 2015 Investec The bank has appointed Chris Hare to its economics team, focusing on both UK and global economic issues. He joins from the Bank of England, where he was responsible for monitoring issues such as the impact of economic uncertainty on activity. Santander Asset Management Ileana Salas has been appointed global head of institutional [...]
City Moves for 27 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 26, 2015 Nexus Underwriting Management Group Stuart Rouse has been appointed chief operating officer and chief financial officer (CFO) at the underwriting firm. He has previously served as CFO of Fusion Insurance, CFO of Towergate Underwriting, chief operating officer of Towergate Financial, CFO of Aspen’s managing agency and its insurance division, and latterly group chief operating officer [...]
Thorntons’ share price collapses 25 per cent following profit warning December 23, 2014 Chocolate maker Thorntons has ended the year on a disappointing note, warning falling sales will hit the company's earnings for the full year. The company's share price slumped a whopping 25 per cent when the market opened. Thorntons announced its UK Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) division had faced "challenges" that hit sales performance in [...]
Retailers miss out on festive shopping boom December 22, 2014 MANY British retailers have failed to cash in on the Christmas shopping boom, according to research released today, causing the number of struggling businesses in the sector to increase considerably. According to research by specialist professional services group Begbies Traynor – covering 1 October to 17 December – UK retailers are considerably worse off this Christmas [...]
FTSE rises after Glaxo sets out recovery plan – London Report October 22, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index yesterday ended higher, with motor insurers advancing on news of an increase in car premiums and drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline rising after its results. The FTSE 100 finished 0.4 per cent higher at 6,399.73 points. It had fallen more than 10 per cent in four weeks before making a marginal recovery since late [...]
Supermarket woes deepen over price wars October 21, 2014 THE UK food industry’s troubles were laid bare today after a report revealed the sector had suffered the sharpest rise in financial distress compared with other UK industries. According to Begbies Traynor’s latest Red Flag update, which monitors the health of UK companies, levels of “significant” financial distress among UK food retailers rose by 11 [...]
Sainsbury’s new boss Mike Coupe blames “perfect storm” for sales drop October 1, 2014 Sainsbury's new chief executive said that a “perfect storm” of effects had plunged sales further into the red in the second quarter as the supermarket retailer cut its full-year sales forecast and warned that it might review its dividend. In his first official trading update since taking over from Justin King in July, Mike [...]
Why Tesco’s share price just fell to an 11 year low September 22, 2014 Another surprise announcement this morning from Tesco has further dampened the supermarket’s outlook when it really must have been hoping to move on from recent rough times. Shares fell more than 11 per cent to an 11-year low after announcing a £250m error in its first-half results. Whether its an accounting error or something worse, investigating the [...]
The Wedgwood collection is a key piece of our commercial heritage – let’s keep it together September 4, 2014 We have three months to save a vital piece of Britain’s commercial heritage. The Art Fund, an independent charity which helps buy art for the nation, has already raised a heroic £13m. It is now seeking a final £2.74m in donations by 30 November to keep the Wedgwood collection together in its Staffordshire home. Waterford [...]
Rising rates will kill off the zombie firms – but this may hurt SMEs too August 13, 2014 It’s been a while since we heard about zombie companies – those businesses without much of a future, clinging on mainly because of record low interest rates. There’s an underworld of these poorly performing firms – unable to invest, tired, demotivated, with poorly rewarded staff and new ideas that are thwarted at every turn by [...]