Fall in UK retail sales eases October 27, 2011 The decline in retail sales eased off in October, but the underlying trend remains weak despite and expected pre-Christmas pick-up, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry showed. The CBI distributive trades survey’s reported sales balance rose to -11 from September’s -15, which economists had forecast to see repeated. Analysts had forecast a steady [...]
Record drop in retail jobs as consumers spend less October 26, 2011 LOW consumer spending has led to the fastest drop in retail employment since the British Retail Consortium (BRC) started monitoring data in 2008, a study released yesterday showed. Employment fell by 23,000 in the twelve months to September. Part-time staff were worst hit, while full time employment in the third quarter fell 5,780 on the [...]
Amazon to open massive new London warehouse October 26, 2011 AMAZON says it will create an eighth high-tech warehouse on the outskirts on London as it prepares to increase its product range and meet an expected rise in demand for online shopping. The plans will see the retailer create up to 4,000 new jobs in the UK by Christmas next year, with its core market for [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 25, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SHAREHOLDERS IN EVOLUTION BACK BID BY INVESTEC Investec’s £202m takeover of Evolution Group will go ahead despite last-minute resistance from Evolution’s biggest shareholder after the broker’s other big investor backed the bid. Aberforth Partners, which owns 10.8 per cent of Evolution, said last week it had withdrawn its support for the all-share offer [...]
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE WORK HARD TO WED October 25, 2011 BACK ON the soapbox for BeautifulPeople.com, the dating service that axed 5,000 members for putting on weight last Christmas. The site has launched a “comedic” YouTube video (right) to defend its looksist agenda. “You can’t argue with millions of years of evolution,” the site’s managing director Greg Hodge told The Capitalist, speaking from an Los [...]
FedEx expects record shipments October 24, 2011 E-commerce will drive record holiday shipments this year for FedEx Corp, the world’s second-biggest package delivery company said yesterday. FedEx expects to deliver more than 260m packages globally between Thanksgiving on 24 November and Christmas, up 12 per cent from a year earlier. FedEx said it will add about 20,000 seasonal workers to help handle [...]
ROTHSCHILD GIVES STAFF ITS TURKEY OF A BONUS October 23, 2011 EVERY little helps, as the Tesco slogan goes. So the price-conscious supermarket giant will be pleased to learn that the competitively remunerated London employees of Rothschild receive daily luncheon vouchers for the sum of £3 that can be refunded in any of its stores. But Rothschild’s solicitous attempts to ensure its workforce is well fed [...]
RACEHORSE OWNERS DO THE DOUBLE AT GREEN’S October 20, 2011 IT HAS been two years since Lloyds Bank on Cornhill became the City outpost of Green’s. And to mark the occasion, the restaurant’s co-owner Simon Parker-Bowles threw a “double celebration” for his horse racing associates at the mezzanine Runner Bar. Double, because Parker-Bowles also unveiled the collection of silks donated by his friends: the colours [...]
Pub chief Ian Dyson to exit in high spirits October 20, 2011 IAN DYSON, chief executive of Spirit, the managed pub operator that demerged from Punch Taverns this year, will step down as chief executive on 16 December and hand the reins to his deputy, Mike Tye. The former Marks & Spencer finance chief was parachuted in to run Punch Taverns in September last year and decided [...]
Home Retail hit by Argos sales decline October 20, 2011 HOME Retail Group chief executive Terry Duddy yesterday called for the chancellor to do more to help cash-strapped families as falling sales at the company’s Argos chain took their toll on the share price. Denying the company’s business model was “broken”, Duddy fired a broadside at George Osborne, challenging him to increase tax relief for [...]