Thorntons is hit by a fresh drop in profit September 8, 2010 CHOCOLATE retailer Thorntons yesterday posted a 2.4 per cent fall in half-year profit as it prepared to name a replacement for outgoing chief executive Mike Davies. Chairman John von Spreckelsen said talks with a prospective new chief were well advanced but he reamained tight-lipped about who the candidate is. Acting chief executive Mark Robson will [...]
DSG revertsto Dixons in name swap September 8, 2010 DSG International will revert to being called Dixons Retail after shareholders yesterday approved the plans at the electrical group’s AGM. The rebranding to DSG was aimed at being more appealing to an international market but the move has fallen flat. The company, which owns Curry’s and PC World, has been forced to restructure its overseas [...]
Virgin ends strike threat September 8, 2010 VIRGIN Atlantic averted the threat of the first strike in its 26-year history yesterday, after it reached an agreement with pilot’s union Balpa over the time off its members take. Under the deal Virgin pilots remain entitled to “at least 120 days off” a year, equivalent to an office worker’s weekends and bank holidays. Virgin’s [...]
Commodities drive surge in food inflation September 7, 2010 FOOD price inflation surged to its highest level in more than a year as rising commodity prices fed through into the supermarkets, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will say today. The BRC’s monthly shop price index shows that annual food inflation increased to 3.8 per cent in August from 2.5 per cent in July, the [...]
Johnson warns banks to heed anger over pay September 6, 2010 MAYOR of London Boris Johnson, one of the very few politicians who until now has defended the City, has called on bankers to cut back on their Christmas bonuses. Johnson said the spectacle of traders taking home large payouts would create a “combustible contrast” with the first wave of public sector job losses, which are [...]
Unite: BA strike ballot is inevitable September 6, 2010 UNITE, the union representing British Airways (BA) cabin crew, has warned that a further strike ballot is “inevitable” with the Christmas holidays the next likely target for industrial action. Yesterday up to 2,000 members of the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (BASSA), the BA crew branch of Unite, met at Kempton Park Racecourse to [...]
Scent yourself straight to the top September 6, 2010 AS THE worst economic crisis since the Great Depression broke in 2008, French designer Paco Rabanne released the most inappropriate scent possible: 1 Million, a male perfume in a bottle the shape and colour of a gold bar. Yet this grossly ill-timed slice of hedonism and opulence wound up being one of the UK’s best-selling [...]
Waterstone’s man plots £100m return September 5, 2010 THE founder of the Waterstone’s book chain could launch a bid of more than £100m to take the business private if owner HMV decides to sell, it is understood. Tim Waterstone, the novelist-cum-entrepreneur who started the company in 1982, is reported to have lined up financing from backers including a London-based hedge fund. Waterstone has [...]
Metro Bank vows to employ 500 staff by next year as it opens second branch September 2, 2010 HIGH STREET upstart Metro Bank said it would employ more than 500 staff by the end of next year as it opened its second branch in the UK. Chief executive Craig Donaldson told City A.M. the retail deposit taker, which aims to attract disillusioned customers from other major lenders, would have 200 employees by Christmas. [...]
DSG nets a World Cup boost September 2, 2010 DSG International said yesterday its total group sales were up three per cent after a boost from World Cup TV purchases and the success of the iPad. In an update on trading for the 12 weeks to 24 July the company, which owns Currys and PC World, said its online sales had surged by 12 [...]