Why are convenience stores all the rage? August 22, 2024 Earlier this week, Waitrose became the latest UK grocer to announce a big push into the convenience store market. The supermarket giant will open 100 stores in the next five years as part of a $1bn investment plan. Waitrose follows Asda, Morrisons (with its McColl’s estate), Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op in ploughing ahead with [...]
Hilltop Honey secures £10m boost as it plans overseas expansion August 22, 2024 Hilltop Honey has secured a £10m banking package from Santander UK as the brand looks to gain the financial support it needs to expand globally. The banking package includes stock finance, FX facilities, invoice finance and term loan refinancing and is designed to help the start-up accelerate its growth on a global scale. It comes [...]
JD Sports: FTSE 100 retailer beats analyst predictions in a ‘volatile’ market August 22, 2024 JD Sports has reported good global sales growth in the second quarter of 2024, smashing analysts’ expectations and leading to the share price rising by over six per cent in early trades. Like-for-like sales at the FTSE 100 firm rose 2.4 per cent in the 13 weeks to 3 August 2024 or 0.7 per cent [...]
Mark Kleinman: Britain’s fibre infrastructure proves hard to digest August 22, 2024 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City A.M. column. Today, he looks at the UK’s altnet sector, a jilted housebuilder and Thames Water’s leaky boardroom. Britain’s fibre infrastructure proves hard to digest Time to hang up? That’s the way many investors feeling about [...]
Growth in food retail at highest in two years thanks to summer finally arriving August 21, 2024 After a damp start to summer, till sales growth boomed in July to record the strongest growth for food retail in two years. Total till sales at UK supermarkets grew 5.5 per cent in the four weeks ending 10 August 2024, up from 3.6 per cent in the previous month, according to fresh data by NIQ. [...]
Claridge’s Hotel: Major expansion helps sales and profit surge at five-star London icon August 21, 2024 Sales at Claridge’s Hotel surged by more than 20 per cent in 2023 thanks to a “strong” recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the completion of a major expansion project. The five-star London hotel has reported a turnover of £119.3m for its latest financial year, up from the £98.1m it achieved in 2022. According to [...]
Waitrose to ramp up convenience store expansion with 100 new sites August 21, 2024 The premium grocer Waitrose will expand its store portfolio by around a third over the next three years in one of its “biggest periods of expansion” as it ramps up investment into ‘Little Waitrose’ convenience shops. The Berkshire-headquartered company will invest over £1bn in a project to open 100 new stores and revamp a further [...]
Angling Direct: ‘Robust’ performance spurs hope of reeling in £100m revenue target August 21, 2024 Angling Direct has reported a “robust” first half of the year and said it was confident of achieving a 25 per cent increase in UK revenue to £100m in the medium term. The Norwich-based specialist fishing tackle and equipment retailer reported UK growth of 5.9 per cent in the six months ended 31 July 2024. [...]
Klarna swoops in to buy collapsed rival Laybuy August 21, 2024 Buy-now pay-later (BNPL) giant Klarna has snapped up its collapsed rival Laybuy after the Kiwi fintech folded into receivership earlier this year, City A.M. has learned.
JP Morgan nudges up UK growth forecasts after latest GDP figures August 20, 2024 JP Morgan bumped up their growth forecasts for the UK economy in the third quarter of this year following last week’s GDP figures. The investment bank now expects the economy to grow 0.4 per cent between July and September, up from a previous estimate of 0.3 per cent. This equates to an annualised growth rate [...]