Morrisons share price falls as it announces 23 store closures after losses mount and sales drop March 12, 2015 A bad morning for Morrisons. The supermarket announced it will close 23 stores and cutting its future dividend pay-out after reporting a large full-year loss and falling quarterly sales. Shares in the retailer opened one per cent down this morning. The trading environment is a tough one, Morrisons said, and it isn’t expected to get [...]
Cameron looks to increase defence spending – for free March 11, 2015 There is more than one way to skin a cat – and, it seems, plump up a defence budget. David Cameron has instructed ministers to find out whether the budgets of intelligence agencies can be lumped in as part of defence spending. The UK has come under pressure recently from the US to maintain its [...]
Cheltenham specialist Champagne Fever to score Festival hat-trick March 10, 2015 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE BETWAY CHAMPION CHASE AND CORAL CUP THE BETWAY Champion Chase (3.20pm) is quite simply the race of this year’s Festival. There are so many potential stories and the build-up, with injury concerns about the last two champions, has created a huge buzz. Sprinter Sacre is probably the most talented racehorse we [...]
Bijoux – that is, tiny – flat in Mayfair rented in record time March 9, 2015 YOU COULD probably just about swing a cat in a one-bedroom Mayfair flat that was yesterday let at record speed. Boasting just 301 sq ft, the “bijoux” flat in Pollen Street, between Hanover Square and Regent Street, took just 40 minutes to let for up £1,560 per month. The new tenant, an “executive in the hospitality [...]
Only Iran will resolve this phoney oil war – CNBC Comment March 9, 2015 What is the biggest trade in the markets just now? The one-way bet on European fixed income, with ECB QE set to obliterate anyone who challenges ludicrously low yields? The tech bull position, with the Nasdaq around the highs of 2000? Or could it be the brutal battle being fought in the oil market? Let’s [...]
Tesco loses Harris + Hoole and Giraffe chief Michael Holmes amid Dave Lewis restructure March 9, 2015 Tesco has lost another senior executive, after the man in charge of its Harris + Hoole coffee shops and restaurant chain Giraffe stepped down. Chief executive of new food experiences Michael Holmes, the man behind Tesco’s strategy to offer dining experiences in-store in a bid to pull in customers, has fallen on the wrong side [...]
Film review: Unfinished Business is a bit like watching paint dry March 6, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Unfinished Business might sound like a badass film in which Charles Bronson guns down the fat-cats whose corporate greed killed his daughter, but sadly it’s about Vince Vaughn (pictured), Tom Wilkinson and James Franco’s little brother trying to score a contract to sell metal shavings to a multinational conglomerate. It’s not [...]
Sport Comment: Johnson arrest to KO Sunderland March 5, 2015 Winger’s absence likely to cost Black Cats dear in battle to avoid relegation THERE are moments in a football season where the campaign turns on a dime – or one key moment. We might have seen one on Sunday when Chelsea, a dominant force anyway, turned on the afterburners for the rest of this term [...]
Why Ferrari’s 458 Spider is a true Italian stallion March 5, 2015 I was in Paris the other week to attend the sale of France’s most talked-about barn find; the classic car collection of Roger Baillon, who made and lost a fortune building trucks. Discovered last year in appalling condition were about 100 of the rarest and most beautiful cars of the 20th century. For four-wheel aficionados, [...]
Rangers seeks second tranche of Sports Direct loan – but warns it might not be approved March 4, 2015 Rangers is applying to draw down the second tranche of the Sports Direct loan to keep its head above water – but has warned that it might not receive the cash. The struggling football club was lent £10m by Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley at the start of the year for its urgent capital needs. [...]