New Look landlords lose legal battle against retailer’s restructuring plan May 10, 2021 New Look landlords have today lost their legal battle against the high street retailer’s restructuring plan. The High Court ruled against the group of landlords that had challenged New Look’s company voluntary arrangement. The retailer launched its second CVA within two years last September after its sales suffered during the coronavirus pandemic. New Look’s proposal [...]
Hotel Chocolat to return furlough money after Easter and Mother’s Day sales beat pre-Covid levels May 10, 2021 Hotel Chocolat has pledged to return furlough money to the government after sales soared despite the closure of the British chocolatier’s stores during lockdown. The firm said this morning that revenue for the eight weeks ended 25 April- which included Mother’s Day and Easter – was 19 per cent higher than the comparable period in [...]
BrewDog: Best in show May 10, 2021 BrewDog is reinventing what it means to be a modern British business. CFO Niall McCallum CA tells Laurence Eastham why purpose drives the Ellon-based beer maker’s success. This article first appeared in ICAS’ CA magazine. BrewDog is a great Scottish success story. The brewery and bar chain, founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin [...]
Square Mile’s largest employers embrace hybrid working, the details May 8, 2021 The majority of the largest employers in the City of London have vowed to continue with some sort of hybrid approach to working, after pandemic-led restrictions forced the biggest home working experiment in history. With Covid-19 cases falling and millions of people successfully vaccinated, staff are trickling back into London’s offices, and companies are turning [...]
US job growth crashes below expectations amid labour shortages May 7, 2021 US job growth was far slower than expected in April as labour shortages left employers scrambling to meet booming demand as coronavirus restrictions ease. Non-farm payrolls increased by just 266,000 jobs last month, well below estimates of 1m, according to figures from the Labor Department. It also marks a significant slowdown from the 770,000 jobs [...]
Supply chain pioneers, CORE (UK) Ltd win The Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade May 7, 2021 We’ve launched our 5 step guide to building a digital supply chain which you can download here https://www2.core-uk.com/5-steps-to-advance-your-digital-supply-chain/ UK’s most prestigious business accolade awarded to independently owned digital supply chain management pioneers CORE (UK) Ltd for growth and commercial success in international trade Software innovation is at the heart of CORE’s international growth success. Their [...]
Divido and conquer May 7, 2021 Divido’s co-founder and chief executive, Christer Holloman, has stated that the company’s long-term goal is to be the world’s largest white label platform for retail finance software. One might be forgiven for thinking that 12 months into a global pandemic that ambition may now be a little ambitious, even for one of the world’s brightest [...]
Ex-John Lewis MD to lead Sainsbury’s £7.8bn clothing and homewares unit May 6, 2021 Former John Lewis managing director Paula Nickolds has joined Sainsbury’s to lead the supermarket’s general merchandise and clothing business. Nickolds left John Lewis in January last year, after 25 years with the firm, as the department store chain issued a profit warning. She had been set to become executive director of brand and marketing as [...]
UK funds back in favour off the back of successful vaccine rollout May 6, 2021 After a long period of neglect, investors are finally warming to UK funds again off the back of the success of the vaccine rollout. The latest set of Investment Association figures show savers invested £472m into funds in the UK All Companies sector. It comes as the country starts to open up and investors pin [...]
Next raises profit outlook on strong winter sales May 6, 2021 Next has raised its profit outlook for the second time in two months as the high street retailer reported stronger than expected sales for the winter period. The group raised its pre-tax profit guidance for the year to £720m, up from £700m forecast in April. Shares jumped 0.9 per cent to 8,200p at market open. [...]