Who’s facing the axe in 2016? Bookmaker offers odds on CEO sackings January 3, 2016 Let's face it; everyone dreads the first day back at work. To keep stress levels especially high at the top, bookies Ladbrokes have been drawing up odds on which CEOs will be clearing their desks by the end of the year. Only two chiefs can afford to relax, according to the firm; Easyjet’s Carolyn McCall and Taylor [...]
EU referendum: warring words among campaign groups over trade benefits of Britain’s EU membership January 3, 2016 A new fight has emerged in the European Union debate, with sparring campaign groups exchanging harsh words over whether a so-called Brexit would hurt British exporters. Britain Stronger in Europe, a pro-EU campaign, published new research today showing that the EU is the UK’s largest trading partner, taking in 50 per cent of all British [...]
Boxing day sales 2015: UK shoppers expected to spend over £3bn as John Lewis and Selfridges enjoy strong starts December 26, 2015 British shoppers are expected to spend heavily in this year's Christmas sales, with stores such as John Lewis already boasting of strong trading figures. According to figures from the Centre for Retail Research and vouchercodes.co.uk, around 22m shoppers will spend £3.74bn in sales this festive period – a six per cent increase on last year. Department [...]
Little festive cheer for investors as FTSE 100 finishes flat December 24, 2015 It seems Santa didn't have much in his sack for equities investors this year, after the FTSE finished the day's session flat at 6,254.64 points, just 0.22 per cent higher. It was a disappointing outcome, after the bluechip index showed signs of a late Santa rally yesterday, closing 2.6 per cent higher as mining stocks rebounded. But trading during this morning's [...]
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and even Lidl supermarkets slash Christmas 2015 advertising spend December 22, 2015 Britain's beleaguered supermarkets have slashed the amount of cash they are spending on advertising over Christmas this year, with Tesco and Sainsbury's cutting budgets by as much as 30 per cent. Troubled Tesco made the biggest cuts to its festive advertising, spending almost £3m less in a four week run up to the big day compared to last [...]
Panic Saturday is here: 12.6m Britons hit the shops for busiest day of Christmas shopping as sales start early at M&S, Sports Direct, H&M, Argos and Sainsbury’s December 19, 2015 Brace yourselves, Panic Saturday is here. If you still haven’t bought your Christmas presents, be prepared for crowds. A stampede of last minute Christmas shoppers are bearing down on UK retailers today, making it the busiest day of this year’s Christmas shopping. 12.6 million Britons are forecast to hit the shops, spending over £1.1bn on [...]
London airport expansion: 50+ business leaders including Michael Spencer, Sir Martin Sorrell and Martin Gilbert tell David Cameron to “get a grip” December 16, 2015 More than 50 business leaders, including dozens of chairmen and chief executives of blue-chips, will hit out at the government tomorrow over its failure to make a decision on airport expansion. In an open letter to be sent to Prime Minister David Cameron, ICAP chief executive Michael Spencer, WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell and Aberdeen [...]
The Mog effect? Sainsbury’s share price climbs as grocer outperforms Tesco, Asda and Morrisons as Kantar supermarket figures December 15, 2015 Could it be the Mog effect? Sainsbury's has beaten Tesco, Asda and Morrisons to become the best performing supermarket among the Big Four. In fact, Kantar Worldpanel figures show that Sainsbury's was the only grocer among the top spots to post a growth in sales for the 12 weeks to 6 December, up 1.2 per cent. Tesco and Asda had [...]
As Apple’s iPhone 6S lands will mobile payments change the way we live? December 11, 2015 Today’s smartphones can do incredible things. Need a ride around London? Just tap the Uber app. Fresh flowers or food from a local restaurant delivered straight to your door? Try Bloom & Wild or Deliveroo. These apps are fantastic, but there's a new smartphone feature set to fundamentally revolutionise the high street and how [...]
Syria airstrike vote 2015: Here’s how your MP voted December 3, 2015 Last night MPs voted in favour of the UK beginning airstrikes against Islamic State (Isis) with an overwhelming majority of 397 votes to 223, following a gruelling 10-hour debate in the House of Commons. The move was controversial, with huge numbers of people protesting against military intervention. Some Labour MPs claimed they were being intimidated to [...]