Matalan secures deadline extension for £350m debt payment October 17, 2022 Matalan has announced that its debt payments have been kicked back several months, buying the high street retailer more time to find cash. The discount clothes retailer said that a January deadline to refinance £350m of debt has been pushed back to July. Matalan described the update as “an important milestone” in its recapitalisation plan [...]
Heathrow: Airline chiefs call for John Holland-Kaye’s resignation October 16, 2022 Airline chiefs have called for John Holland-Kaye’s resignation as Heathrow’s chief executive after the west London hub said last week it could introduce measures to manage capacity during the peak Christmas period. “That’s inexcusable. Anybody who says anything like that is the wrong guy for the job,” Emirates’ boss Sir Tim Clark told the Sunday [...]
Young punters protect Boxpark sales from consumer slowdown October 13, 2022 Young Londoners receiving inflation-related salary boosts has helped to protect Boxpark from a slowdown in discretionary spending, its CEO has said. The shipping container hospitality concept has seen sales increase by double digits compared to the previous year, with London sites in East Croydon, Shoreditch and Wembley “trading really well,” Simon Champion told CityA.M. The [...]
Ryanair chief forecasts price increase after ‘surprisingly strong’ bookings October 13, 2022 Ryanair is predicting an increase in prices following “surprisingly strong” bookings, according to chief executive Michael O’Leary. O’Leary said that – despite recent forecasts of 3-4 per cent growth – air fares “will rise by a mid to high single digit figure for the full year” unless alarming reports on Covid and Ukraine come out. [...]
Mirror publisher Reach faced ad ‘blackout’ following Queen’s death despite sales uplift October 11, 2022 Daily Mirror and Daily Express publisher Reach said it faced a temporary advertising “blackout” following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, despite an uplift of newspapers sold. In a trading update, the company posted a 8.1 per cent digital revenue decline in September as a result of the “industry wide reduction” in advertising spend following [...]
Heathrow back at number 1 as airport regains status as Europe’s busiest hub October 11, 2022 Heathrow has said it regained its status as Europe’s busiest hub airport over the summer. Some 5.8m passengers travelled through Heathrow in September. A year ago, Heathrow warned it had gone from being Europe’s busiest airport in 2019 to number 10 on the list, behind rivals in cities such as Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. It [...]
Quiz reaps rewards of return of party season October 10, 2022 Quiz has continued to back its come-back story as the fashion chain posts higher sales after shoppers have rushed to stock up their party wardrobes after the pandemic. In a trading update for April to September, the once struggling retailer posted total revenues of £49.4m, 37.2 per cent higher than the year before. Demand for [...]
Truss has just about survived the rhetoric melodrama, now for the work October 10, 2022 Harold Wilson’s maxim that a week is a long time in politics is in danger of becoming a rule for 2022 too. In the last eight days, we have seen the Conservative Party conference take place in Birmingham, the MPs and activists churn themselves into a maelstrom of high drama, and the government abandon its [...]
Zahawi says it’s ‘extremely unlikely’ UK will have winter energy blackouts October 9, 2022 It is “extremely unlikely” the UK will face planned energy blackouts through winter, Cabinet Office minister Nadhim Zahawi has said. Zahawi said “we plan for every scenario”, but that there is a “buffer” of energy supplies that will get the UK through winter. National Grid said earlier this week that British households should cut their [...]
Every little helps: Tesco reboots ‘kids eat for free’ scheme amid cost of living pressures October 7, 2022 Tesco has announced it will be bringing back its Kids Eat Free scheme during the October half-term, as the cost of living crunch continues to batter Brits. The offer means parents can spend as little as 60p to claim one free child’s meal worth up to £3.25 when showing their Clubcard at checkout. To cover [...]