Debenhams set for shareholder leadership coup September 28, 2015 Debenhams is facing further shareholder unrest, with several more of its biggest investors joining broker Cenkos in its attempts to unseat the retailer’s top bosses. Milestone Resources, Schroders and Old Mutual are said to have teamed up with Cenkos, which was last week revealed to be in talks with other shareholders about possibly replacing chairman [...]
Sale of Tesco’s Clubcard business to WPP on the verge of collapse September 27, 2015 Tesco is likely to be forced to give up on the sale of its loyalty card business Dunnhumby as talks with WPP look set to collapse. The advertising agency has struggled to agree a price, according to the Sunday Times. Tesco hired Goldman Sachs earlier this year to look into selling a portion or all [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015 and faster delivery times helps House of Fraser as half-year sales jump September 26, 2015 Department store chain House of Fraser has hailed a jump in sales over the first half, boosted by further improvements to its online offer including faster delivery times. The company, which was taken over by Chinese consortium Nanjing Xinjiekou last year, said like-for-like sales were up 6.5 per cent, with gross total value (GTV) rising to £574.2m in the six [...]
Apple iPhone 6s launch: Pope Francis visit to the US to delay deliveries of new smartphone in Washington, New York City and Philadelphia September 24, 2015 Unwitting Apple customers, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their brand new iPhone 6s on Friday, may just have to wait a little bit longer after a bigger arrival to the US: Pope Francis. The Pope's security arrangements are – as one would expect – going to block up the streets, causing major disruption. And not [...]
Strong dollar and hot weather hit H&M’s summer sales and see share price fall September 24, 2015 Swedish retail giant H&M's share price fell this morning, despite promising third quarter results. The figures Sales at H&M Group – which includes facias Cos, & Other Stories and Monki as well as the mainline brand, were up 11 per cent to SEK 132bn Swedish Krona (£10bn) in the nine months to the end of [...]
Breaking down vertical banking silos: Our outdated payments industry should look to Apple and BMW’s supply chains September 24, 2015 We depend on payments as the underpinning fabric of almost every aspect of cross border commerce. Yet the payments industry is still fundamentally built on a model which suited the needs of a world circa fifty years ago, rather than the dynamic, agile, hyper-connected world of 2015. The problem behind this is that individual financial [...]
The Beatles’ John Lennon’s school detention slip up for sale September 24, 2015 There’s a divide amongst the City’s better known CEOs. First there’s the Cambridge mafia; those with old school ties, spotless school records and fine art collections. Then, of course, there’s the boys-done-good, who left school at 16 and worked their way up from the bottom. While you’re more likely to find the City’s university alumni [...]
WH Smith agrees to cut hospital store prices September 23, 2015 WHSmith has agreed to lower prices of some products in its hospital stores after an investigation revealed that the retailer was charging significantly more for some items than on the high street. The chain came under fire from Labour MP Paula Sherriff, who sits on the House of Commons select committee, following reports by the BBC this summer that WHSmith [...]
Amazon might be planning to launch online food service Fresh in the UK – but against Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and other major players, has it bitten off more than it can chew? September 23, 2015 If there were an award for the company that most shaped the retail zeitgeist over the past 10 years, then Amazon would most certainly be a contender. Its innovations have changed the way we shop. Such a pioneering status inevitably creates a great deal of interest. However, along with the interest come some hype: including the [...]
Card Factory delivers a record profit but warns on wage rise September 23, 2015 Discount greetings card chain Card Factory reported a bumper first-half yesterday but became the latest retailer to warn that the government’s minimum wage rise could weigh on margins next year. The Wakefield-based company, which made its market debut in May last year, said pre-tax profits soared 72.3 per cent to reach £25.7m in the six [...]