From City currency trader to football manager: the rise of Mark Warburton January 21, 2015 The City's trading floor is not the archetypal breeding ground for Premier League managers but Brentford’s Mark Warburton stands on the cusp of trailblazing his way to English football’s top-flight and completing a sporting odyssey. Just under half the season remains in one of the most unrelenting and competitive divisions in Europe and Warburton and [...]
Sky and TalkTalk join the list of bidders circling Telefonica’s O2 January 20, 2015 EUROPEAN pay-TV broadcaster Sky has been named among the growing list of parties interested in bidding for Telefonica’s UK mobile network O2, which was spurned by BT before Christmas in favour of a £12.5bn bid for rival EE. Talks between Telefonica and Sky, as well as interest from UK value player TalkTalk, were first reported [...]
The get-fit diary of an out of shape office worker: Six months later January 20, 2015 So last year I got ripped. Not quite Cristiano Ronaldo ripped, but close enough. I even had the Cristiano Ronaldo tan, courtesy of a nice woman at London Bridge who set about me with a spray can. It’s a shame journalism doesn’t offer the same opportunities as football for taking your top off – I [...]
Christmas sugar rush boosts Thorntons’ high street sales January 19, 2015 HIGH street sales at chocolate retailer Thorntons surged over the Christmas period as consumers tucked into its advent calendars and Snowman-themed treats. The company said like-for-like retail sales rose by five per cent in the 14 weeks to 10 January and by 7.8 per cent in December – a turnaround from the 3.7 per cent [...]
Finsbury Foods share price soars as Disney Frozen cakes remain Christmas hit January 19, 2015 Disney’s Frozen cakes usually fly off the shelves for birthdays, but their success this Christmas helped sales soar at Finsbury Foods. The cake and bread manufacturer said total sales in the first half to 27 December jumped 24 per cent to £107.6m, thanks to strong demand for the Disney-themed sponge as well as its seasonal [...]
Naked Wines to pour £70m into its independent winemakers January 19, 2015 Naked Wines said it will pour £70m of funding into its independent winemakers this year after enjoying a bumper Christmas and growing its community of angel investors. The boutique online retailer, whose customers, or angels, invest over £2m each month towards future orders, said group sales were up nearly 40 per cent over the Christmas [...]
Christmas cheers up Greene King after gloomy sales year January 19, 2015 Suffolk-based pub chain and brewer Greene King revealed yesterday it saw restrained like-for-like sales growth of 0.6 per cent in first the 36 weeks of its year, despite a two per cent sales boost over the Christmas period. The company underperformed in Scotland over the six-week festive period due to a combination of the country’s [...]
Market lifted by upbeat view of Christmas retail – London Report January 19, 2015 BRITAIN’S main share index rose yesterday, extending a strong run, with retailers such as Tesco among the biggest gainers from a more upbeat view of the sector after a better-than-expected Christmas period. Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone rose 4.4 per cent, the top riser on the FTSE 100 index, with traders citing optimism ahead of the [...]
UK house prices rise unexpectedly: Stamp duty to the rescue? January 19, 2015 Are these the first signs of a bounce back in the property market? Data from Rightmove, a property portal, has shown that average asking prices have risen by 1.4 per cent in January. This may not sound like a huge leap back to the heady heights of last summer, but January is not traditionally a [...]
Overcoming Blue Monday blues: There are plenty of reasons to be cheerful about the future January 19, 2015 Today is supposedly the most depressing day of the year. It's dark, it's cold, all the festivities are over and our bank accounts are suffering for it. Now it's just a long wait until the gradual arrival of spring. It's no wonder the Monday of the last full week in January is labelled [...]