The Body Shop owners sell ‘avant-garde’ skincare brand Aesop to L’Oréal for £2.5bn April 4, 2023 L’Oreal has agreed to buy Australian skin care brand Aesop for $2.5bn (£2bn). The French cosmetics giant snapped up the brand from Natura &Co – owners of British retailer The Body Shop. Since its formation over 30 years ago, Aesop has grown greatly in popularity and is most known for its hand soaps and body [...]
Abu Dhabi is booming. We checked into the Shangri-La to get the lowdown April 4, 2023 Abu Dhabi is booming, so Olivia McEwan checked into one of the best hotels to get the lowdown THE WEEKEND: The Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri occupies a private stretch of beach on the Khor Al Maqta canal, positioned to offer views over the main island of Abu Dhabi from each of its 213 rooms. Its [...]
How Aldi boss intends to see off supermarket rivals and bring discount store within reach of all UK shoppers April 3, 2023 Aldi will not stop the “relentless” roll out of its value supermarkets across the UK, despite attempts by rival supermarkets to scupper its growth, its chief executive has said. Giles Hurley, the head of UK and Ireland operations for the German discounter, told The Telegraph that they are going to bring stores within easy reach [...]
M&S slams ‘inaccurate’ report of looming job cuts at London head office April 2, 2023 High street retailer Marks and Spencer has dismissed a report that it will cut hundreds of jobs at its London head office as “simply inaccurate”. According to a report in The Sunday Times, the household name is expected to drastically downsize its head office in the capital as part of a slew of reforms brought [...]
Is the future of banking online only? NatWest and Lloyds to axe 81 branches, taking this year’s total to 213. Here’s a list of closures: March 31, 2023 Two of the UK’s biggest banking groups have announced plans to make big cuts to their branch networks this year, cutting more than 80 sites from around the country. Lloyds Group and NatWest Group have said that the sites in England, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man will close between July and November this [...]
Your City guide to this year’s must have chocolate Easter eggs: From exploding candy to hot cross bun flavoured treats March 31, 2023 We’ve nibbled, munched and even crunched some of this year’s chocolate Easter egg offerings, and we even tried a donut-egg; you’ll have to read on to find out how that fared. Here’s our review of the best and the worst Easter eggs you can buy this year; we’ve included City-based retailers as well as supermarket [...]
FTSE 100 live: Beazley and Ocado edge London higher on final day of first quarter March 31, 2023 The FTSE 100 nudged higher on the final morning of the first quarter on the back of an early rise for insurance giant Beazley and retail tech firm Ocado. London’s flagship index rose around 0.2 per cent in early trading before settling to be around up around 0.16 per cent at 9:43am. Lloyds of London [...]
Arbuthnot profit leaps after rate hikes but bank backs ‘conservative’ model as UK prospects ‘not clear’ March 30, 2023 Arbuthnot Latham saw its profit surge with rising interest rates boosting its coffers, as the lender sought to distance itself from recent difficulties in the banking sector. Pretax profit in 2022 lept to £20m, up from just £4.6m last year as net interest income grew by over £30m. The boutique bank said this increase [...]
In from the cold: H&M posts rising sales despite retailer putting its spring collection on hold March 30, 2023 H&M sales soared in the first quarter of the year, despite the roll out of its spring collection having been delayed in many markets due to a spell of cold weather. The Swedish fashion brand, which has 194 stores across the UK, said that sales increased 12 per cent to SEK 54,872m (£4.82bn) during the three [...]
Crypto AM Spring Awakening: Announcing MELD as a General Partner March 29, 2023 Crypto AM is delighted to announce MELD as a General Partner for the Crypto AM Spring Awakening event.