Celebrate Christmas in style this year December 6, 2012 1. Slava’s Snowshow at the Royal Festival Hall 17 Dec – 7 Jan After a sell-out session last Christmas, Slava’s Snowshow returns to London’s Royal Festival Hall this month. The internationally acclaimed show is ideal for a family day out, featuring performances from clowns and musicians with a finale that leaves the audience knee-deep in [...]
House of Fraser in Xmas spirit December 5, 2012 HOUSE OF FRASER, the department store group, yesterday revealed robust third quarter figures, boosted by the recent revamp of its stores. In an update issued to bondholders, the privately owned chain unveiled like-for-like sales growth of 5.4 per cent in the 13 weeks to 27 October. Online sales jumped by a staggering 50 per cent [...]
West Ham on tenterhooks over stadium December 4, 2012 WEST Ham will today discover whether three fraught years of bidding, lobbying and negotiating have finally won them the right to move into the Olympic Stadium. Mayor Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) in Stratford this morning to discuss the club’s offer for a 99-year lease on the [...]
Soaring food inflation erases effect of falling non-food prices December 4, 2012 ANNUAL food price inflation accelerated in the year to November, but a return to deflation in some non-food prices provided a counterweight to keep overall shop price inflation steady. Food was 4.6 per cent more expensive in November than it was a year before, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), an inflation rate 0.6 [...]
A welcome return to City inboxes as Louise Cooper goes it alone December 4, 2012 WELL-KNOWN City commentator Louise Cooper has left BGC Partners and gone solo by starting her own financial consultancy business CooperCity. Cooper tells The Capitalist that despite “being insane given the current environment” she is looking forward to the flexibility of being her own boss and will still be aiming to inject a little humour into [...]
Christmas countdown for rival high street retailers December 4, 2012 AS we move into the final countdown to Christmas, our high street department stores are pulling out all the stops. Looking back over 2012, the race between Marks & Spencer and John Lewis has never been tighter. YouGov’s BrandIndex highlights how the two brands began the year with six points separating their Index scores – [...]
G-Mac and Kaymer profit from Ryder effect December 3, 2012 CHRISTMAS dinner will taste all the sweeter now for two of Europe’s Ryder Cup heroes, Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer, after they claimed their first individual titles of the year at the weekend. McDowell broke his duck for 2012 with an excellent victory at the World Challenge in California, where his extraordinary chip out of [...]
Retailers post weak sales rise as shoppers delay Xmas spree December 3, 2012 RETAILERS are pinning their hopes on a late Christmas boost, after a mixed November that saw consumers continue to delay parting with their pennies. Like-for-like retail sales edged up 0.4 per cent in November compared with a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG sales monitor showed this morning. While an improvement on [...]
Waitrose rise in sales sparks hope for Xmas December 3, 2012 WAITROSE, the upmarket supermarket chain owned by John Lewis, said shoppers stocking up their pantries with Christmas staples helped drive sales up 7.8 per cent in the week to 1 December. Heston Blumenthal-branded Mulled Cider Gammon and Cropwell Bishop Potted Blue Stilton were among the best-sellers, with sales of the latter up 34.5 per cent. [...]
Ex-investment banker is Cupid for City singles December 3, 2012 LONELY City hearts searching for love this Christmas, look no further than ex-investment banker Salima Manji to play Cupid and gently tug on the heartstrings. Having worked at JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and the now-defunct Dresdner Kleinwort, Manji left the City to set up a matchmaking supper club for singles, the London Dinner Club, and [...]