Boots launches Deliveroo partnership from today August 24, 2021 Boots has announced it is exclusively partnering with Deliveroo to provide health and beauty products to consumers’ doors. The partnership will launch at 14 pilot stores across the country including in Edinburgh, London and Nottingham. Sales on the retailer’s website were up 85 per cent between 1 March 2020 and 1 March 2021 compared to [...]
JD.com revenue jumps as pandemic boosts online shopping August 23, 2021 Chinese retailer JD.com has beaten expectations for second-quarter sales as the pandemic continues to drive up demand for online shopping. The tech giant reported a 26 per cent rise in net revenue to 253.8bn yuan (£28.6bn) in the three months to the end of June, beating analyst consensus of 249.27bn yuan. Sales in its product [...]
Workers of the world unite! How the post-pandemic recovery is increasing the bargaining power of labour August 23, 2021 More than 114 million people lost their jobs over 2020, according to the International Labor Organization. Even more saw their working hours and wages cut. The worst affected industries were accommodation and food services where global employment declined by over 20%, followed by retail. These sectors were particularly hard hit by lockdowns, forced closures and plummeting tourism. Women and younger workers were badly affected. You could be [...]
Ocean Outdoor lands £30m Canary Wharf advertising contract August 23, 2021 Advertising group Ocean Outdoor has secured a lucrative contract to operate out-of-home media services for Canary Wharf Group. London-listed Ocean has renewed its deal to run digital screens and billboards in the financial hub, landing a new long-term contract worth £30m. The agreement means the company will retain exclusive rights to sell 40 full-motion digital [...]
Morrisons’ messy and dramatic takeover battle: Where are we now? August 20, 2021 Morrisons agreed a £7bn offer late last night in the latest twist in the UK supermarket chain’s dramatic takeover battle. Shares jumped this morning after investors digested the new deal from US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). It comes weeks after a rival bidder, a consortium led by private equity rival Fortress, [...]
US markets shake off Delta variant jitters as investors seek to end volatile week on a high August 20, 2021 Wall Street shook off concerns that the rapidly spreading Delta variant of Covid could halt the global economic recovery from the crisis to end the week on a high. The blue-chip S&P 500 jumped 0.69 per cent to 4,436.26 points during early trading, while the Dow Jones added 0.5 per cent to 35,06776 points. The [...]
Happy investors: M&S shares jump after lifting full-year profit forecast August 20, 2021 British high street staple Marks & Spencer has lifted its profit guidance to around £350m for the year as its sales have begun to recover, inching towards its pre-pandemic recordings. The upbeat trading update seemingly left investors with a fresh bout of confidence in the retail heavyweight, as M&S shares jumped by 11.14 per [...]
Weak UK retail sales drags FTSE 100 lower – CityAM : CityAM August 20, 2021 London’s FTSE 100 extended yesterday’s sharp losses into this morning as weak UK retail sales figures weighed on market sentiment. The capital’s premier index slipped 0.22 per cent to 7,043.22 points during the first two hours of trading on Friday. The blue-chip index is on track to register its worst week since January. Also Read: [...]
Government borrowing smashes expectations but debt-to-GDP highest since 1960s – CityAM : CityAM August 20, 2021 Government borrowing smashed official forecasts last month as the deficit narrowed by nearly half its levels registered at the height of the Covid crisis, official figures released today reveal. Data released by the Office for National Statistics shows in July of this year, public sector borrowing reached £10.4bn, the second highest figure for the month [...]
End of Euro 2020 dampens retail sales in July August 20, 2021 UK retail sales fell sharply over the last month driven by the end of the Euro 2020 football tournament in July stemming Brits’ spending on food and drink, according to official figures released today. Data from the Office for National Statistics shows retail sales volumes dropped 2.5 per cent between June and July of this [...]