Tech stocks get ready for a rocky road ahead October 24, 2022 BIG TECH braces itself for another testing earnings season, as the biggest names in Silicon Valley post their quarterly figures this week. Kicking off the tumble last Friday, Snapchat posted a rocky quarter, citing squeezed ad spend and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty as the main driver. Not only has Snapchat’s parent firm lost a quarter of [...]
Nightmare before Christmas: Half of shoppers to fork out less for gifts October 24, 2022 Half of shoppers are intending on spending less on Christmas this year as plunging consumer confidence sparks further concern for businesses. One in three of those shoppers said they would slash present budgets for close friends and family by over £25 per person, according to data from market insights firm Kantar. Brits are facing sky-high [...]
Pound’s dramatic drop is biggest shock of this year, says City grandee October 24, 2022 The pound’s dramatic fall in the wake of the mini-budget market turmoil was the group’s biggest shock of the past year as a City insider likened the sterling sell-off to the Turkish lira crisis. Angela Cretu, global chief executive of beauty giant Avon International, said that sterling’s dramatic fall has caused challenges for the group, [...]
La Bohème at The Royal Opera House review October 23, 2022 Richard Jones’s La Bohème, now in its fourth revival at The Royal Opera House, is filled with glittering snow, bright lights, bold colours, and the (all too familiar) invisible hand of death and disease. Apologies for the doom and gloom, but no amount of 19th century Christmas jollity can make up for this Puccini classic [...]
Inside £9bn Battersea Power Station renovation October 20, 2022 It could have become a theme park in the 1990s if developers got their way. But last week the Battersea Power Station building reopened for the first time since the iconic development stopped lighting up London back in 1983. It powered Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament, supplying one fifth of London’s electricity, but [...]
Spam sales up nearly 40 per cent at Waitrose as price hikes bite October 20, 2022 BRITAIN’S DISCOUNT retailers are set for a winter windfall – with even Waitrose shoppers turning to spam and fish heads as the cost of living crisis bites. The sales of both have risen more than a third at the high-end supermarket over the past year, the firm confirmed overnight. Analysts reckon budget grocers like Aldi [...]
Gambling regulator chief says growth has plateaued for booming sector October 18, 2022 Growth in the betting sector has plateaued in recent years as a result of cost of living concerns and safety measures, says top gambling regulator. Speaking at an awards ceremony today in Melbourne, Gambling Commission chief Andrew Rhodes said that the sector is still feeling a pandemic hangover — despite popular belief that betting giants [...]
Fast food fears: Warning of Christmas shortages if 600 supply workers strike October 18, 2022 There could be major food shortages this Christmas at many of Brits’ favourite eat-outs due to strike action. Almost 600 workers for Bestfood, which delivers fresh produce to some of the country’s most-loved chains, are threatening industrial action. The workers are members of the GMB Union, and “bust a gut” to keep outlets such as [...]
Heathrow creates new exec position to mend fences with airlines October 18, 2022 Heathrow has created a new executive position to mend fences with its airline customers following this summer’s travel chaos. The west London hub today appointed director of operations Kathryn Leahy as director of Team Heathrow. “The new position is designed to ensure we build on the close-knit co-operation required between the 400 companies that operate [...]
Khan: Crossrail’s Bond Street station can revitalise “tired” parts of Oxford Street October 18, 2022 London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said the opening of Bond Street’s Elizabeth Line station next week will help revitalise a “tired” part of Oxford Street – and keep big-ticket retailers in the West End. The station is the last of the Crossrail stations to open, having been delayed due to the complexity of the build. [...]