Sport Comment: Hoddle is right, Friday fixtures can reverse English teams’ Champions League struggles March 19, 2015 SKY Sports turned their cameras on one of their own last weekend with a revealing profile of Glenn Hoddle, a fabulously talented footballer who was mistrusted by England managers and then mistreated by the Football Association when he took charge of the national team himself. Hoddle never quite got over the shock of being forced [...]
Bonus at John Lewis drops on Waitrose sales March 12, 2015 JOHN Lewis Partnership slashed staff bonuses to 11 per cent of pay, the lowest level for 12 years, after profits fell at its grocery chain Waitrose. The partnership’s 93,800 employees will receive a total pay out of £156.2m, which is equivalent to nearly six weeks’ salary. The supermarket price war, a deflationary market and a significantly [...]
St Patrick’s Day 2015: From Greenwich Dance’s Ceili and The Shard’s silent disco to the St Patrick’s Day parade, here are the best things to do this weekend March 12, 2015 It's that time of year when your liver either cries and begs you to stay in for the night, or rubs its hands with glee at the thought of getting some of the black stuff. Whether you hate the crowds of drunks staggering around in oversized hats, or indeed are one of those said staggerers, [...]
John Lewis Partnership poised to reduce bonus payout to staff March 9, 2015 THE JOHN Lewis Partnership will this week seek to cut its bonus pot for staff for a second year in a row after the supermarket price war took its toll on sales at its upmarket grocery chain Waitrose. Waitrose has grown sales and market share faster than its traditional supermarket rivals in recent years, thanks [...]
AO World profit warning sends shares crashing February 25, 2015 AO WORLD shares crashed 32 per cent yesterday after the online electricals giant warned its final quarter had been tougher than expected, blaming the extra publicity it received around its float in the same period last year. Founded in 2000 by former kitchen salesman John Roberts, AO World has become one the most successful players [...]
Morrisons share price edges up as it names former Tesco man David Potts as chief exec February 25, 2015 Shares in embattled supermarket Morrisons opened one per cent higher this morning, after it named its new chief executive: former Tesco Asia boss David Potts. The supermarket launched its search for new boss in January, after chief executive Dalton Philips announced his departure. The appointment is part of a fresh start for the company: chairman Andrew [...]
Bundestag ready to vote on Friday over new rescue plan February 24, 2015 GERMANY’S parliament will hold a vote on Friday morning to decide whether or not to agree to Greece’s request for an extension of funding from its fellow Eurozone states. Other states may also allow MPs to vote on the issue. Yet while scepticism towards Greece’s plans remains strong in countries such as Finland and Slovakia – [...]
Smartphones and tablets keep luring shoppers to buy online February 24, 2015 Britons buying with their tablets and smartphones has reached 40 per cent of online retail sales after a boom in activity over the last three months to the end of January. Quarterly figures from industry analysts IMRG and Capgemini yesterday showed mobile sales rose at their sharpest rate since the same quarter last year, when [...]
Four times the FTSE 100 has broken records before February 23, 2015 Britain's benchmark index whizzed past its closing record of 6,930.2 today, which it first set back in 1999. This was during the dot-com bubble, as markets busily inflated on over-hyped tech stocks, before the bubble burst at the start of the new millennium. Here's four times it's been admitted (for better or worse) into the [...]
High street sales drop as retailers slash prices February 20, 2015 Get ready for another round of "it wasn't us, it was the weather" from retailers. Official figures published today showed retail sales fell 0.3 per cent in January, despite feverish price-cutting by high street stores. The figure is a larger drop than anticipated – economists had expected 0.2 per cent. And ostensibly, it's also a [...]