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.
FTSE 100 close: Ocado delivers bumper gains while Next zips lower March 29, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 was hoisted higher by the UK’s largest retailers surging today, except high street bellwether Next, which stumbled badly. The capital’s premier index bumped more than one per cent to 7,564.28 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, surged 1.28 per [...]
What next for Waitrose? Supermarket quits Planet Organic talks after John Lewis fiasco March 29, 2023 Waitrose has pulled out of secret talks to acquire a stake in rival health supermarket Planet Organic. The high-end supermarket, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership, ceased discussions late last week about a possible agreement, according to reports first published in Sky News, Sources told the outlet that the deal would have meant [...]
Supermarket wars: Lidl and Aldi gain ground on Tesco as bargain-hunting Brits battle grocery inflation March 28, 2023 Lidl is the UK’s fastest growing supermarket as bargain-hunting Brits turn to the discount grocer during the cost of living crisis. With grocery inflation now at 15 per cent, new figures published by Kantar this morning show value outlets have seen an uptick in sales last month. Sales in the German supermarket Aldi rose 25.8 [...]