Sports Direct’s CFO leaves company after presiding over three profit warnings October 13, 2016 Sports Direct has said this morning that its acting chief financial officer will leave at the end of the year. Matt Pearson became CFO last June and has presided over a tumultuous year for the company, including a parliamentary inquiry into working conditions and wages and three profit warnings. Most recently, the company issued a profit warning [...]
Time to take a hint: A weak currency means a weak country October 11, 2016 As the global elite (the “dirty” word du jour) descended on Washington on Friday, working the corridors of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, there was one thing they couldn’t ignore. It wasn’t weak growth, it wasn’t negative rates. It wasn’t even Donald Trump. It was Brexit and the pound’s dramatic flash crash. In [...]
Caterham Seven Sprint review: This limited-edition car isn’t as old-fashioned as it looks October 10, 2016 Whether it’s retro cars, vintage clothes or Instagram filters on photos, making new stuff look old has never been so popular. Perhaps we yearn for simpler times – or maybe we’ve just run out of ideas. Either way, if the retro-future looks half as good as the Caterham Seven Sprint, I’m all for it. The [...]
Retail lobby group British Retail Consortium urges government to protect consumers from rising costs post-Brexit October 10, 2016 The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has urged the government to secure a Brexit deal that avoids rocketing prices for consumers. Writing to Liam Fox, the secretary of state for international trade, the BRC said that the retail industry, as the UK's biggest importer, needs tariffs and import costs to remain low. Read more: Retailers in Mayfair [...]
Working 9 to 5? Actually, 14m of us are now independent workers October 10, 2016 As many as 14m people in the UK are classed as an independent worker employed outside the traditional 9 to 5 job, new research reveals. The figures calculated in a new report by McKinsey pegs the number of freelancers, temporary workers, and those selling items on eBay or renting out a room on Airbnb as part of the so-called [...]
How low can the pound go? All your questions about the flash crash answered October 10, 2016 Currency markets opened yesterday evening after a turbulent end to last week for the pound. Sterling has slowly trundled steadily south since Britain’s decision to leave the EU. But last Friday sterling plummeted by six per cent in just two minutes during the early hours of the morning – it was dubbed a “flash crash”. Read [...]
Flash crash and extreme trading slams sterling October 7, 2016 Sterling has been rocked by an extreme day of trading about a freak flash crash overnight rattled markets and sent investors running. After dropping at least six per cent against the dollar in a matter of minutes, the pressure failed to lift and sterling had its worst week of trading since the referendum. A fresh sell-off had the currency down [...]
Sports Direct to lose £15m in sterling flash crash October 7, 2016 As if Mike Ashley didn't have enough troubles to deal with at the moment. Fresh from his Sports Direct warehouses being likened to a "Victorian warehouse" and a gaffe-ridden open-doors day at the retailer's Shirebrooke factory, the firm has been caught up in the fallout from sterling's flash crash. A trading update from the firm issued [...]
Amazon’s unstoppable expansion continues with new warehouse in Northamptonshire October 6, 2016 Amazon has announced plans to open a new warehouse in Daventry, Northamptonshire, in 2017, creating 300 new jobs. The tech giant said it is responding to growing demand for its services and wants to use the opening to offer more products to its customers. Read more: ASOS says "it isn't very practical" to run a warehouse like the Victorians [...]
Sports and second screens: How stadium designers and broadcasters are dealing with the smartphone revolution October 5, 2016 Pep Guardiola isn't the only figure in elite sports for whom the prevalence of smartphone use has disrupted business as usual The Manchester City manager has cut off 3g and Wi-Fi connection from the club's training complex in order to pull his players' gaze away from screen and back onto the team. Yet for broadcasters, rights holders, club [...]