London’s drinking hotspots outdid the rest of the UK in May June 16, 2016 Ahead of the annual summer drinking boom London's pubs and bars were buoyed in May, as sales at the capital's drinking holes outpaced the rest of the country. Like-for-like sales at pubs and bars in London were up 3.8 per cent, while the pub and restaurant sector as a whole grew by 0.9 per cent. "With a [...]
Horse racing betting: Hunt Cup is a Breeze for Ivory while Glory Awaits June 14, 2016 Some love them; some hate them, but working out one of Royal Ascot’s fiendishly difficult handicap puzzles rewards punters like nothing else. The Royal Hunt Cup (Wednesday 5.00pm) is possibly the biggest lottery of them all, especially when the ground is soft and the effects of the draw unclear. Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore team [...]
This £5 supermarket Malbec has been named the world’s best red wine June 13, 2016 It looks like it's officially time to embrace supermarket plonk, after Asda rode to a surprise victory with one of the world's best red wines at the Decanter World Wine Awards. The supermarket toasted the success this weekend of its Chilean La Moneda Reserva Malbec after it won the top prize in the single-varietal red under £15 category at the awards, [...]
Mrs M&S tightens her purse strings, as Steve Rowe’s total pay cut by £400,000 June 10, 2016 Marks & Spencer's Steve Rowe has recently tried his hand at profiling to understand what his customer considers value for money, but it's the figures in the retailer's remuneration report that might be more interesting to him at the moment. The retailer's annual report, which was released yesterday, revealed that the new chief executive's pay had been [...]
Boots’ UK boss Simon Roberts set to quit in July June 9, 2016 Boots' UK boss Simon Roberts is set to quit the company in July to "pursue new opportunities". Roberts, who is also executive vice-president of Boots' American owner Walgreens Boots Alliance, said that the pharmacy chain now needs a "new leader to take the business forward". Roberts joined Boots from Marks & Spencer in 2003 and was promoted to president as part [...]
M&S set to reveal former chief executive Marc Bolland earned over £15m June 5, 2016 Marks & Spencer are set to unveil this week that the retail store's former chief executive Marc Bolland received over £15m during his years at the company. The firm's annual report is due out later this week and will include details of Bolland's remuneration since he took the helm in 2010. Bolland resigned in January, but will receive salary, [...]
Lastminute.com founder Lady Martha Lane Fox adds “mother” to her extensive CV June 5, 2016 Lastminute.com's co-founder Martha Lane Fox is adding yet another job to her CV – mother of two. The busy Baroness Lane Fox of Soho, who is also on the board at Marks and Spencer, Twitter and Channel 4, is used to juggling more than one responsibility in her career, so rearing twins should be a piece of cake. [...]
At the close: Opec uncertainty holds the FTSE 100 down June 2, 2016 What was a volatile day on the markets ended rather flat. Big European Central Bank (ECB) and Opec meetings in Vienna failed to move the FTSE 100 far in either direction and it ended down 0.1 per cent at 6,185.61 points. The ECB decided, as expected, to keep interest rates on hold. Though it did raise growth and [...]
Neil Woodford is expected to pick up a stake in Time Out when it unveils its plans to list tomorrow May 30, 2016 Star fund manager Neil Woodford is expected to be among investors in line to pick up a stake in media group Time Out when it unveils plans for its London listing tomorrow. Time Out's long expected float on the London junior Aim market is set to value the company at between £185m and £225m. The company, which has [...]
M&S needed a roar from Rowe, but all it got was a whisper May 26, 2016 It was Steve Rowe's opportunity to deliver something big. Analysts had forecast it, and, most importantly of all, M&S' customers were expecting it. But the man from Croydon adopted the softly-softly approach that you might expect of a lifer rather than the more radical path that newcomers tend to take. There was no Dave Lewis-style [...]