Punch Taverns share price up seven per cent as company’s investment strategy pays off, despite falls in profits April 20, 2016 The share price of Punch Taverns, the UK's second largest pub company, has soared after the announcement of half-year results that show the company's turnaround plan is bearing fruit, despite a blow to profits. The figures Punch's share price jumped seven per cent higher to 104p shortly after the company's half-year results to 5 March [...]
UK retailers hit by drop in Chinese shoppers April 20, 2016 UK retailers are suffering as new European visa rules deter Chinese shoppers. Global Blue, the tax-free shopping services company, said the number of Chinese shoppers in British stores slumped 30 per cent last month, leading to an overall decline of 21 per cent in the first three months of 2016. Read more: Online retail sales growth rate doubles [...]
Health retailer The Hut hails landmark year as earnings soar following a rise in overseas expansion April 19, 2016 Online health and beauty retailer The Hut Group, whose company tagline is "Attention to retail", has posted a rise in underlying earnings of 33 per cent to £30m in 2015. International sales soared to £167m, up 46 per cent after growing its international business and now accounts for more than 50 per cent of the groups sales. The group, backed by ex-Marks [...]
Online retail sales growth rate doubles in first quarter as shoppers ditch surfing on their tablets for smartphones April 18, 2016 Online retailers have enjoyed a strong start to the year after shoppers splurged almost twice as much on their sites as they did during the same period last year. The latest figures from industry analysts IMRG and Capgemini yesterday showed online sales, excluding travel, grew by 15 per cent in the first quarter compared with [...]
Asda toasts £850k deal to stock 25 beers from 13 Scottish craft breweries, including Isle of Arran, Isle of Skye, Loch Ness and Kelburn April 18, 2016 The unstoppable cultural phenomenon that is craft beer has just ratcheted up even more mainstream support. Supermarket giant Asda has agreed a listings deal with 13 breweries to put 25 new craft beers on its shelves in Scotland, in a deal worth more than £850,000. An industry source told City A.M. that if sales in Scotland are robust and [...]
Week ahead: Economic data and miners set to drive FTSE April 18, 2016 Investors will be wading through economic data this week, with the March unemployment report out on Wednesday and the latest retail sales and public finance figures due Thursday. On Friday the FTSE 100 index was down 21.35 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 6,343.75 points by the close, broadly in line with the European market. [...]
UK retail footfall: Shoppers abandon high street at even faster pace in March April 18, 2016 Shoppers abandoned the high street at an even faster pace last month, with the early timing of Easter and the heavy rain brought on by Storm Katie blamed for keeping visitors away. Footfall dropped by 2.7 per cent in the year to March, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and retail analysts [...]
Top economist Howard Archer warns over labour market as economic pressures begin to bite April 17, 2016 The UK labour market is expected to have lost momentum due to heightened domestic and global economic uncertainties, according to IHS chief economist Howard Archer. The challenges, magnified by June’s referendum on UK membership of the European Union, include lacklustre UK economic activity early on in 2016, and the National Living Wage – a 50p [...]
How much are West Ham paying for the Olympic Stadium? Rent, naming rights, repayment clauses and extra fees explained April 14, 2016 Three years after West Ham clinched a deal to become anchor tenants of the £700m Olympic Stadium the details of their agreement with the London Legacy Development Commission (LLDC) have finally been published. The 207-page contract was revealed in full for the first time yesterday after an information tribunal this week ruled against the LLDC, [...]
E-cigarette marketing drawing in young people, University of Stirling study finds April 14, 2016 Enticing marketing campaigns are directly linked to young people taking up e-cigarette "vaping", a new study from the University of Stirling has found. The spike in marketing campaigns of e-cigarettes in shops ties into increased numbers of adolescents reporting they had tried e-cigarettes or intended to try them, researchers found in a cross-sectional study involving [...]