Retail administrations fall sharply in 2015 as Christmas claims less casualties January 28, 2016 Retail administrations fell by 19 per cent in 2015, new research shows, as the Christmas trading period claimed less victims than in previous years. The number of retailers collapsing into administration fell to 96 from 119 the previous year, according to accountancy firm Deloitte. Company administrations in all sectors in England fell by 12 per [...]
Saudi Arabia under stress: Opec leader is adapting to $30 Brent crude prices and its widening budget deficit by privatising state-run oil company Aramco – and will not cut oil supply January 28, 2016 No-one thought oil prices would stay this low, for this long. When the price of Brent crude first halved to $50 a barrel in June 2014, most commentators thought it would be back up again by Christmas. Eighteen months later and oil has continued to go south. It is now priced 70 per cent cheaper than [...]
Literally everything you need to know before you start filling in your online self-assessment tax return January 28, 2016 Congratulations, you survived Christmas and New Year: time to put your feet up while waiting for the Rio Olympics? Nope. The deadline for submitting your self-assessment tax return (SATR) online is 31 January. And there are penalties if you don’t make it, or if HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) takes the view you haven’t taken [...]
Don’t be late: Self-assessment tax return deadline date is Sunday 31 January, so here’s a list of things you might want to know about avoiding that £100 late filing penalty January 28, 2016 We hope you've marked this Sunday 31 January in your diary – it's filing deadline day for self-assessment tax returns. But, if you need a break from your yearly paperwork, why not distract yourself with these seven facts about self-assessment? 1. It seems endless battles with train delays have left capital dwellers with a warped sense [...]
eBay share price dives 10 per cent as profits and revenues slip January 27, 2016 Shares in online retailer eBay have plunged by more than 12 per cent in after hours trading, after the company revealed a 28 per cent drop in profit for the fourth quarter of 2015, down to $523m (£367m) from $729m at the same time in the previous year. This comes despite the firm swinging from a loss [...]
Tesco angers investors as storm clouds gather January 27, 2016 Just two weeks ago, Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis was hailing a “strong Christmas” as evidence of the retail giant “making progress”. UK like-for-like sales had risen 1.3 per cent in the six weeks ending 9 January, and Lewis was particularly pleased with international growth. When good news is hard to come by, every little [...]
Tesco’s not out of the woods yet January 26, 2016 Tesco is still very much paying for the sins of the past, but it has started to turn the corner on the slow road to recovery. The coming weeks are likely to contain some unpleasant tidings for the embattled supermarket. The slap on the wrist from the grocery watchdog for failing to treat suppliers fairly is [...]
Carphone Warehouse to close 134 stores as Dixons Carphone merger success continues January 26, 2016 More than 130 standalone Carphone Warehouse stores are to be closed, as the business continues to merge its retail arms. Parent company Dixons Carphone said it had decided to roll its three-in-one store format, which includes PC World and Currys alongside the phone specialist, out across the whole UK and Ireland market having received a big thumbs up from customers [...]
Dixons Carphone share price falls despite beating expectations for Christmas, as its warns on full year currency impact January 26, 2016 Dixons Carphone announced a five per cent increase in group sales over the Christmas period this morning, beating expectations. Like for like sales in the UK and Ireland were up five per cent for the 10 weeks ending 9 January. This beat consensus expectations of a four per cent rise. Last year the group's UK sales [...]
The amount of equity withdrawn by remortgaging properties reached £837m in December 2015, while equity release lending hit £1.61bn in 2015 January 26, 2016 Equity release activity became frenzied in the later months of last year, with both equity withdrawn by remortgaging properties and total equity release lending levels reaching dizzying heights. According to figures released today by Legal Marketing Services (LMS), a total of £837m was extracted from properties through remortgaging in December 2015, up 32 per cent compared to £635m in December [...]