Eddie Stobart reports jump in losses as it recovers from difficult year July 6, 2020 Annual losses at logistics group Eddie Stobart have jumped significantly, following a £169m charge in December as a result of an accounting blunder. Losses before tax rose to £238.9m for the 12 months to the end of November 2019, up from £22.3m a year earlier. Exceptional costs were reported of £200.2m, up from £5.1m, to [...]
For the sake of our economy and our culture, we need to save London’s theatres July 3, 2020 Tomorrow, large parts of London’s economy will start to reopen. Pubs and restaurants will fling wide their doors, hotels will begin to welcome guests, and museums and art galleries will once more be open for business. But not all of London will be switching back into gear. Live performances are still banned, placing immense pressure [...]
B&M maintains strong growth as sales pass £1bn during lockdown July 1, 2020 B&M European Value Retail hailed a “strong” first quarter as sales passed £1bn amid the coronavirus lockdown. The figures In the period between 29 March and 27 June, B&M reported 27.7 per cent growth in group revenue from £904.6m to £1.15bn. B&M UK revenue for the period jumped 33.7 per cent to £987.8m, with like-for-like [...]
Flexible thinking has got small businesses through this crisis — now we can shop local to support them June 30, 2020 Over the past few months we have seen and heard countless stories of small, local businesses hit hard by the economic lockdown. Covid-19 has triggered businesses to reassess how they can engage with customers in new and innovative ways, and many have had to adapt quickly to survive. Art workshops and yoga classes are being [...]
Nintendo shares level up to 12-year high June 18, 2020 Shares in Japanese gaming giant Nintendo surged today as investors took stock of the company’s successes during the coronavirus pandemic. The firm’s share price reached ¥50,180 during trading, before closing at ¥50,110. Analysts pointed to news of a new Pokemon game as piquing traders’ interests, as well as hopes that Nintendo will continue to benefit [...]
Acacia Research offloads bargain Woodford stocks June 18, 2020 The US buyer that snapped up cut-price assets from Woodford’s failed Equity Income fund has offloaded the stocks just days after the deal. Acacia Research has started to sell some of the assets it agreed to buy earlier this month. In one instance, the US firm generated a profit of £750,000 from a sale of [...]
Bafta Awards: Sky production push pays off as Chernobyl leads nominations June 4, 2020 Hit Sky series Chernobyl has picked up 14 nominations at the Bafta Television Awards 2020 as the media giant reaps the rewards of its production push. The critically-acclaimed miniseries, which is based on the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, led the field at this year’s awards. It is now one of the [...]
UK grocery sales surge at record level after two months of lockdown May 27, 2020 UK grocery sales rose 14.3 per cent during the 12 weeks to 17 May, the fastest rate since comparable records began in 1994, as Britons adapted to the national lockdown, data from market researcher Kantar showed today. The UK has been in lockdown since 23 March though restrictions are being gradually eased. Of Britain’s big [...]
TfL needs a bailout, but nobody should give the Mayor a blank cheque May 5, 2020 As Londoners start to look forward to the end of the lockdown, TfL is in need of a bailout. Otherwise, according to Sadiq Khan, it will run out of cash. On the face of it, there’s nothing remarkable about TfL needing a bailout. Tube ridership is down 94%, buses down 85%. Even if passenger numbers [...]
Sketch: The tech giants dance to their own tune in Zoom parliament April 30, 2020 “Have you ever met Mark Zuckerberg?” the culture select committee asks, wasting no time in getting to the real issues about the spread of fake news during the coronavirus crisis. Facebook’s UK public policy manager, a bespectacled millennial sat predictably next to a potted plant, looks nonplussed via webcam. “I have seen him,” he says [...]