Last Week in the City: England has an 8.5% chance of winning the World Cup May 18, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (14 to 18 May 2018). UBS has used its City analysts’ predictive firepower to try and work out the winner of the upcoming World Cup in Russia – and England came surprisingly high in its league [...]
M&S passes on £1.4bn of its pension liabilities to Aviva and Phoenix May 17, 2018 Nearly £1.4bn of Marks & Spencer’s pension liabilities were today passed to insurers Aviva and Phoenix. It follows a trend of organisations including National Grid, Pearson and Smith Group transferring pensions calculated on worker’s final salaries over to insurers. Read more: Zurich completes deal to cover £2bn of National Grid pension liabilities Around £925m will [...]
We meet Annabel Karmel, the celebrity cook who leaves children hungry for more May 14, 2018 Annabel Karmel comes bounding into the room like a bundle of sunshine. With her yellow dress and immaculate makeup, she seems a world apart from the drab Bloomsbury bar where we meet. For millions of parents, Karmel is a household name, with major supermarkets stocking her baby and toddler food. It was her first book, [...]
Whatever the weather, Next sticks to its guns May 11, 2018 Predicting the weather is notoriously fraught with difficulty, but predicting that retailers will blame the weather for bad performance is a sure thing. Whether it’s too rainy, too snowy or even too sunny, high street operators are renowned for finding a way to pin their poor performance on something other than their own actions. The [...]
TSB crisis may have sting in the tail, Andy Hornby’s near-miss with the Sainsbury’s-Asda merger and the FA’s trophy buyer May 4, 2018 The System’s Broken. Try Surrendering Bonuses. TSB customers who found themselves locked out of their accounts for parts of the last fortnight might have devised less polite acronyms for the custodian of their savings. Conspiracy theorists about recent banking history might also trace the origins of the current meltdown to an ill-fated decision in 2010 [...]
FTSE 100 closes lower as global markets struggle with trade war fears April 6, 2018 The FTSE closed in the red today, as fears of a trade war continued to take their toll on markets around the world and US jobs data disappointed. The FTSE 100 index was down over 15 points at 7,183.64, coming off a low of 7,163.11 earlier in the day. Data on UK productivity this morning [...]
Instagram is launching a shopping service in the UK today March 20, 2018 Instagram today launches a shopping service on its platform, giving retailers the opportunity to turn their posts on the social media site into solid sales. Mobile sales have become a significant source of growth for retailers, and now businesses will be able to direct customers to their own websites through tagged posts on Instagram. Instagram [...]
Lego beats British Airways, Gillette and Apple to top of UK consumer brand rankings March 12, 2018 Danish toymaker Lego has been voted the UK’s number one consumer brand in a survey of British shoppers. The toymaker, which is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Lego brick this year, overhauled airline British Airways to top the so-called superbrand rankings for the first time. Shaving company Gillette took second spot on the list, [...]
No end in sight for high street’s woes as stalwarts like John Lewis struggle March 9, 2018 The UK high street was dealt another blow yesterday as one of the country’s biggest household names posted a sharp drop in profits. Profits at the John Lewis Partnership – which comprises John Lewis and Waitrose – fell 77 per cent to £103.9m in 2017, forcing the retailer to cut its staff bonus to its [...]
John Lewis’ staff bonus has fallen again after a weak performance in 2017 March 8, 2018 The company which owns John Lewis and Waitrose has cut its staff bonus to five per cent of salary this year, after a disappointing performance in 2017. The bonus, which is given out to all staff of the John Lewis Partnership under its employee-owned model, was six per cent last year, down from 10 per [...]