Legal & General sale of Dutch retail unit possible in 2016, as company sheds non-core businesses after last year’s disposals of Egypt and Ireland ventures January 3, 2016 Legal & General is mulling over the decision to sell its Dutch retail business. The financial services giant is considering a sale in 2016 as part of a wider plan to leave non-core businesses. In November last year, Legal & General, which is headquartered in London and had 10m customers worldwide at the end of [...]
John Lewis sets the bar for Christmas trading with healthy 2.3 per cent growth in festive week December 31, 2015 The high street can breathe a sigh of relief if bellwether John Lewis is anything to go by: sales at the department store during Christmas week were up a healthy 2.3 per cent on 2014. The retailer, which last year celebrated its 150th anniversary, posted sales of £129.2m in the week to 26 December. The shopping [...]
New Year’s Eve 2015/16 tickets for London fireworks on sale from midday – here’s where to buy them December 30, 2015 If you're feeling uncomfortable about the fact retailers have already started promoting Christmas (including putting out advent calendars…), look away now. Tickets for New Year's Eve fireworks in the centre of London are going on sale at midday today (2 October). And you might want to get your skates on because the 100,000 available [...]
Barclays share price falls as wealth management arm Barcap is slapped with $13.75m penalties December 30, 2015 Barclays shares slumped 0.7 per cent to 220.95p per share this morning, after a US regulator found its former wealth and investment management arm made unsuitable mutual fund switches between 2010 and 2015. The US financial industry regulatory authority (Finra) ordered Barclays Capital to pay more than $10m (£6.7m) in compensation to the customers affected, and a [...]
Amazon share price touches record high after adding three million Prime members over Christmas December 29, 2015 Shares in Amazon have touched a record high after a stellar performance over the Christmas period. In morning trading, Nasdaq-listed shares in the online retailer and increasingly jack-of-all-trades touched $694.55, an intraday all-time high, after reporting record sales of devices and Prime membership over the festive season. More than three million members joined Amazon Prime in the third [...]
Fitness trackers, men’s grooming and FIFA 16: Amazon reveals the 6 products that defined 2015 December 27, 2015 We are what we shop, after all, and if our online shopping baskets are anything to go by we’re getting into fitness trackers and male grooming – as well as rediscovering lost skills such as haberdashery. Online retail giant Amazon has just released its annual Winter Report, revealing the bestselling and fastest growing product categories [...]
Boxing Day sales 2015: UK footfall soars to defy online sales which dominated Black Friday and Christmas Eve December 27, 2015 Black Friday and pre-Christmas shopping may have been a letdown for brick and mortar retailers, but Boxing Day certainly delivered. In-store shopper traffic soared by 3.36 per cent year-on-year on 26 December, according to data from retail intelligence firm FootFall, showing that the rise is mainly driven by an increase in shopping centre footfall counteracting [...]
Boxing day sales 2015: UK shoppers expected to spend over £3bn as John Lewis and Selfridges enjoy strong starts December 26, 2015 British shoppers are expected to spend heavily in this year's Christmas sales, with stores such as John Lewis already boasting of strong trading figures. According to figures from the Centre for Retail Research and vouchercodes.co.uk, around 22m shoppers will spend £3.74bn in sales this festive period – a six per cent increase on last year. Department [...]
Sport, cosmetics and the internet: Why it’s time for investors to be more mature about China December 24, 2015 It’s not hard to find bad news stories about China's economy. China's stock market has plummeted 40 per cent from its peak, iron ore prices have collapsed by 75 per cent, Macau gaming revenue has halved in two years, luxury goods profit warnings abound and the yuan has been devalued. While the quality of official gross domestic [...]
Christmas traditions return: Boxing Day is going to outperform Black Friday to be the biggest shopping day of the year December 24, 2015 Christmas is a time for traditions, and Boxing Day is expected to return to its position as the UK's biggest shopping day. All those predictions that Black Friday would be the busiest shopping day of 2015 have fallen wide of the mark: experts are now saying Boxing Day will smash records this year. Sales are expected to [...]