Kurt Geiger sold to New York’s Steve Madden for £289m February 13, 2025 Private equity firm Cinven has announced the sale of Kurt Geiger to shoe brand Steve Madden for £289m. Cinven bought the footwear and accessories brand in 2015 for £245m, and has since greatly expanded the business in the US. In America alone, sales surged by 58.7 per cent to over £110m from February to September [...]
UK economy: Mixed signals for Rachel Reeves as GDP beats expectations February 13, 2025 You can tell it has been a bleak midwinter when quarterly growth figures of 0.1 per cent sets the pulses racing.
Birkenstock predicts further UK sales success after latest surge February 12, 2025 Birkenstock has forecast its UK sales will take another huge step forward during its current financial year thanks to growing demand. The footwear brand has revealed its sales have so far been “above initial expectations” in its year which will finish at the end of September. The continued rise in its UK revenue has been [...]
BP to target shareholder returns as firm plans fundamental reset February 11, 2025 Oil and gas giant BP has promised to “fundamentally reset” its strategy and improve its performance after profit crashed last year. On Tuesday, the group reported a near 50 per cent decline in profit for the fourth quarter due to a collapse in profit at its refining arm. The results prompted boss Murray Auchincloss to [...]
Dunelm chief steps down after guiding firm through transformation and Covid February 11, 2025 Dunelm’s chief executive Nick Wilkinson will step down after seven years after leading the company through a strategic change, digitalisation, and the pandemic. Wilkinson will remain at FTSE-listed Dunelm until a successor is appointed. Sales at Dunelm have been consistently rising over the past few years as its personalised, relatively low-cost homewares go down well [...]
Discounting helps retail sales post strong rebound in January February 11, 2025 The survey suggested that price cuts managed to entice consumers to the high street, as in-store sales rose at the fastest pace in nearly two years.
BP shares top the FTSE 100 as Elliott stake ignites breakup chatter February 10, 2025 BP shares jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 this morning as a rumour emerged that an activist hedge fund had taken a position in the stock. Shares in the blue-chip oil giant jumped eight per cent in early deals on the news activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management had built a position in [...]
M&S revamps leadership team in next chapter of transformation February 7, 2025 Marks and Spencer has announced significant changes to its non-food leadership team as it enters the next phase of its turnaround project. Clothing and home director, Richard Price, will be replaced by ex-Boohoo CEO, John Lyttle. Lyttle headed Boohoo for five years, but left last Autumn amid claims of “corporate espionage”, with allegations he was [...]
Amazon shares plunge after tech giant misses earnings February 7, 2025 Amazon missed expectations for its cloud computing arm, raising concerns about the tech leader’s investment in artificial intelligence (AI). On Thursday, the tech behemoth told the market that its cloud division, Amazon Web Services, reported a fourth-quarter revenue of $28.7bn (£23.1bn), slightly below Wall Street forecasts of $28.84bn. The miss disappointed investors, who were already [...]
Watches of Switzerland: Rolex retailer bolstered by US sales February 6, 2025 Watches of Switzerland has expressed optimism about the European luxury market and noted momentum in the US, in the latest signs the global luxury market is beginning to recover from a two-year downturn. The watch retailer said the luxury market, which has been under pressure from lower disposable income and changing trends, has stabilised. The [...]