Marks & Spencer in talks with top Dixons Carphone exec to bolster retail expertise May 19, 2018 Marks & Spencer is reportedly in talks with a top Dixons Carphone exec as the troubled retailer seeks to shake-up its board. Katie Bickerstaffe, who recently stepped down as chief executive of Dixons Carphone UK and Ireland, has held discussions about joining M&S as a non-exec director. M&S is facing the risk of a landmark [...]
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 [...]
Ocado’s tech prowess must be celebrated May 18, 2018 It took a mega deal with a US grocer for Ocado to prove that it’s no basket case. The online grocer saw shares soar more than 80 per cent during trading yesterday after it announced that Kroger, one of the world’s biggest grocery chains with annual sales of $122bn (£90bn), will now use Ocado’s technology to [...]
Private equity firm 3i’s annual return slips but its portfolio value rises as star assets keep performing May 17, 2018 Listed private equity firm 3i saw its total return to shareholders slip slightly this year, though the value of the underlying investments in its portfolio continued to climb. The London-listed firm returned a total of £1.4bn to investors in the year to March, as opposed to £1.6bn a year prior. However the value of the [...]
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 [...]
All eyes on Bank of England governor Mark Carney as rates decision due tomorrow May 9, 2018 The chances of the Bank of England (BoE) not raising interest rates in May seemed inconceivable just a few months ago. Back in February, BoE deputy governor Ben Broadbent said that it would not be a “great shock” to the economy if the Bank raised interest rates twice this year. Now, it will be a [...]
Jaguar Land Rover sales spike in April despite impending job and production cuts May 9, 2018 Jaguar Land Rover’s sales jumped by more than a quarter in April despite its plans to cut jobs and production as demand falters amid Brexit concerns. The figures Tata Motors, the parent company of Jaguar Land Rover, reported retail sales of 45,180 vehicles in April 2018, up almost 12 per cent from the year before. [...]
Retailers suffer biggest drop in consumer spend on record: BRC May 9, 2018 Retail spending suffered the sharpest decline since records began last month, according to the British Retail Consortium. Year-on-year consumer spend dropped by 3.1 per cent in April, following a 2.3 per cent rise in March, adding to downbeat data that makes a Bank of England interest rate hike this week even less likely. The drop [...]
Walmart takes on Amazon in battle for Indian Flipkart with $15bn bid May 7, 2018 Walmart is set to take on Amazon to buy a stake in India’s biggest online retailer Flipkart, in a deal worth $15bn (£11.06bn). Reports today say that the American retailer will buy three-quarters of Flipkart’s shares at a valuation of just under $20bn. Sources close to the deal told the Financial Times that Walmart boss [...]
London’s iconic Burlington Arcade in Mayfair sold to billionaire brothers Simon and David Reuben for £300m May 7, 2018 Billionaire brothers Simon and David Reuben have bought the iconic Burlington Arcade for £300m from New York property group Thor Equities and European private equity firm Meyer Bergman. The Mayfair arcade was bought by Thor Equities and Meyer Bergman for £104m back in 2010. Read more: Mayfair landlords are no longer mostly aristocrats in rental [...]