Last minute Christmas shopping could lead to £1.3bn being spent on UK high streets, and that’s not the end of it: get ready for the Boxing Day and New Year sales December 21, 2015 If you've left your Christmas shopping to the last minute, you're not alone. Britons will spend £1.3bn on 23 December alone, which is set to be the busiest day on the high street. Expect crowds. Shoppers will make 37 million in-store transactions on Wednesday, up 10 per cent from 2014, and total spending is predicted to rise by three [...]
FTSE 100 set to close out 2015 around 6,000 – London Report December 21, 2015 THE FED “feel good factor” and the Santa rally that historically has resulted in 80 per cent of December trading sessions closing positive have not been enough to sustain positive numbers for the FTSE. On Friday the FTSE 100 closed down 50 points at 6052, bringing to an end the brief surge following the Federal Reserve [...]
UK footfall slumps on Panic Saturday as online retailing wins over high street December 21, 2015 Footfall slumped across high streets and shopping centres this weekend as consumers took advantage of retailers offering even later deadlines for Christmas deliveries to shop online rather than venturing out in stores. The traditional stampede of customers on so-called Panic Saturday failed to materialise to the same extent as last year, with footfall down by [...]
Panic Saturday is here: 12.6m Britons hit the shops for busiest day of Christmas shopping as sales start early at M&S, Sports Direct, H&M, Argos and Sainsbury’s December 19, 2015 Brace yourselves, Panic Saturday is here. If you still haven’t bought your Christmas presents, be prepared for crowds. A stampede of last minute Christmas shoppers are bearing down on UK retailers today, making it the busiest day of this year’s Christmas shopping. 12.6 million Britons are forecast to hit the shops, spending over £1.1bn on [...]
Sports Direct breaks silence on working practices, says Mike Ashley will carry out review of terms and conditions in new year December 18, 2015 Sports Direct has issued an unprecedented statement, rebutting claims made about its working practices as putting forward "an unfair portrayal" and said it will carry out a review of staff terms and conditions. The retailer, which has come under fire for many months because of its widespread use of zero-hour contracts, has issued a lengthy statement to [...]
High street retailers preparing themselves for a pre-Christmas spending rush December 18, 2015 High street retailers are bracing themselves for a pre-Christmas spending boom, with shoppers tipped to splurge around £4.7bn in stores over the next four days, allaying fears that November’s Black Friday bonanza and the rise of online shopping would keep customers away. Brits will splash out around £5.9bn on last-minute presents and food over the four days starting tomorrow [...]
City Moves for 18 December 2015 | Who’s switching jobs December 17, 2015 TOGETHER Andrew Murdoch has joined specialist lender Together as group valuations manager, after 12 years with Eddisons. A Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors-registered valuer and registered receiver, he has extensive experience in valuation, asset management and value enhancement. At Eddisons, he spent eight years specialising in corporate recovery, insolvency and LPA receiverships, including two year-long [...]
Apple Pay, one year later: Why mobile payments have failed to catch on as we’re still looking for something better December 17, 2015 Mobile payments became a hot topic just about the time when first iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs in 2007. Back then experts in payment, retail, telecommunication, and banking industries started thinking about a smartphone as a viable alternative to physical wallets suggesting many different technologies, but no one knew how exactly the winner was [...]
UK retail sales smash expectations in November as the Black Friday effect hits December 17, 2015 UK retail sales performed better than expected last month, partly driven by sales on Black Friday. Retail sales grew five per cent compared with last November, and grew 1.7 per cent from October, the Office for National Statistics reported this morning. James Knightly, a senior global economist at ING, said sales had been expected to rise just [...]
The great liquidity squeeze: How to get SMEs to market December 17, 2015 Asset Match’s Stuart Lucas explains why investors must put pressure on firms when it comes to exit plans. Investors in private businesses – whether they are angels, high net worth individuals, institutions or even sophisticated retail investors – are always, ultimately, looking towards the potential payout that an exit (traditionally an IPO or trade [...]