Next’s share price soars as profit guidance raised and special dividend declared December 30, 2014 Next’s share price has soared this morning on the back of a new forecast, revising its profits back up. Christmas at Next was at the better end of the retailer’s forecast, with sales for the 58 days until Christmas Eve up 2.9 per cent year on year. Much of that came from Next Directory, which [...]
Career boost? Make use of Secret Santa December 10, 2014 You don’t have to splash too much cash to impress your superiors this Christmas. With the Christmas party season reaching its climax this week, Brits are set to spend over £38m on Secret Santa gifts for their colleagues. And according to our recent poll of workers in the capital, Londoners are among the most [...]
Crossrail: These amazing pictures show what is going on under your feet at Liverpool Street, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel and Paddington December 5, 2014 From above ground Crossrail is little more than an annoying eyesore you have to navigate around. But as with the Wombles, it's so much better underground, and here are the pictures to prove it. Crossrail under Bond Street Crossrail has today revealed these amazing pictures to show how far through the project it [...]
Best business podcasts: From Harvard’s HBR IdeaCast to Marketing Smarts and The Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders November 24, 2014 Listen to anything from Stanford lectures to coffee shop discussions If you're not a podcast listener, the chances are that you know someone who is. In 2013, subscriptions to these downloadable audio files (featuring everything from comedy to political debate) hit 1bn through iTunes. And according to podcast hosting company RawVoice, the number of [...]
CLS vacancy rates buoyed by markets November 19, 2014 CLS Holdings yesterday said the vacancy rate across the group reduced to 3.1 per cent by rental income from 3.5 per cent since the end of June, helped by the markets in London and France. CLS said demand from existing and potential occupiers was steady, with good interest in London and France. “Continuing signs of [...]
US Fed set to call time on its stimulus plan – New York Report October 26, 2014 UNLESS it springs a major surprise, the US Federal Reserve will call time this week on its programme of government bond purchases, which at one point was pumping $85bn (£52.83bn) a month into financial markets and the economy. The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) interest rate-setting is meeting on Wednesday. Other indicators include Tuesday’s data [...]
Public sector borrowing: Five charts that perfectly sum up what’s happening to the UK’s finances October 21, 2014 The Office for National Statistics' (ONS) latest public sector borrowing figures make for uncomfortable reading, particularly if you're in the business of running the country. Having entered government vowing to eliminate the budget deficit entirely by 2015, figures published this morning by the ONS showed the UK's budget deficit has risen since last year, from [...]
Why the British love of greeting cards could help this company float on the stock market April 22, 2014 What employs 100,000 people around the country, has sales of £1.6bn and is stocked by one in six retailers around the country? No, not booze, it’s greeting cards. One of the biggest players in the sector, The Card Factory, this morning unveiled plans to float on the stock market. The company has used the British [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 09 April 2014 April 8, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Heartbleed bug threatens web A flaw has been discovered in a encryption method used on about two-thirds of all websites, including Google, Amazon, Yahoo and Dropbox, potentially exposing web traffic, user data and stored content to cyber criminals. The heartbleed bug was found in the OpenSSL software by a team of security engineers [...]
Any Other Business – 21/03 March 21, 2014 THE BUDGET-related gags still hadn’t run out of steam when the Taxpayers’ Alliance held a briefing on Tufton Street yesterday. Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne kicked things off: “We can go and celebrate, buy 350 beers get one free,” he chortled. Lord McFall wasn’t far behind though, likening the chancellor to game show legend Noel Edmonds. [...]