Matalan drops Korean clothes supplier amid rumours of a pricing row October 30, 2016 Matalan has dropped one of its long-term suppliers amid rumours of price concerns. Korean firm JJ Global will no longer manufacture clothes for the discount retailer, following a n alleged dispute between JJ Global boss Kenny Kim and Matalan chief executive Jason Hargreaves. The Sunday Times has claimed that Kim and Hargreaves argued over pricing, as [...]
Bargain-hunters drive up profits at TK Maxx, as new store plans are revealed October 30, 2016 Discount fashion retailer TK Maxx has reported soaring profits as it announces plans to open a slew of new stores across the UK in 2017. The US-owned firm saw profits jump by 11 per cent jump in the 12 months ending January 30 2016, increasing from £2.2bn to £2.4bn. Pre-tax profits also rose by 11 [...]
Alibaba wants a chief cuteness officer (no dogs allowed) October 28, 2016 Forget the days of shelling out money to get Kim Kardashian to promote your products. Alibaba has come up with the idea of recruiting for a "chief maimeng officer" (that translates as "selling its cuteness") to help sell its products and promote its bumper sale on Singles' Day next month. The Chinese e-commerce giant is hoping the successful [...]
Persistent headaches: Five problems facing RBS chief exec Ross McEwan October 28, 2016 Ross McEwan may have been pleasantly surprised as he peaked through his fingers to see what had happened to the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) share price this morning. Read more: RBS shares jump up and down to the noise of loss-making quarter Unfortunately for the chief exec of RBS, an initial jump of five per cent wobbled [...]
The government’s Lloyds sale ignores its primary duty: The public October 28, 2016 Say what you like about Margaret Thatcher, but she knew how to say thanks. Critics will crow about the poll tax – but they are the same people who were given the chance to own a slice of British Gas as part of the Tell Sid campaign. Today’s Treasury leaders could learn a thing or [...]
City Moves for 28 October 2016 | Who’s switching jobs October 28, 2016 Capgemini Consulting Capgemini Consulting has appointed Kristofer le Sage de Fontenay as the head of financial services in the UK. Kristofer joins from Atos Consulting where he held the role of head of global financial services. Kristofer has over 20 years’ experience at Atos Consulting where he specialised in the financial services industry, in particular [...]
Permanent TSB completes EU deleveraging plan with sale of second slug of its mortgage book to Cerberus October 27, 2016 The fund that has spent billions hoovering up some of the UK's banks' most distressed mortgage portfolios, today splashed out €2.4bn (£2bn) to snaffle Permanent TSB's Irish housing book. US distressed debt investor Cerberus Capital Management already owns 50 per cent of Capital Home Loans, a subsidiary of Permanent TSB, and this deal completes the part state-owned lender's €8.4bn [...]
Brexit, what Brexit? UK economy grows by 0.5 per cent – slower than the previous quarter but better than economists had expected October 27, 2016 GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter of the year, in a sign the economy has – so far – shrugged off the effects of Brexit. The statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are the first to cover the full three months after the UK voted to leave the [...]
Shares in Debenhams leapt this morning on solid annual results. But analysts are still waiting to see what the new chief exec will do October 27, 2016 Department store Debenhams' share price headed north by nearly four per cent this morning after revealing a decline in full year profits that still beat analyst expectations. The figures Gross transactional values, basically the company's sales before taking into account discounting, were up by 1.3 per cent to £2.9bn. However revenues – what it says on the [...]
Lloyds’ share price flops after financial institutions buy up another government slice: Hammond promises to give taxpayers their money back October 27, 2016 A further slug of Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds) shares have been off-loaded by the government, taking the Treasury's interest in the lender to less than nine per cent. Having flagged his intention to re-ignite the government's sell-off earlier this month, Chancellor Philip Hammond highlighted that this was a further step towards taxpayers getting all their money back [...]