Germany to shake up accounting industry following Wirecard collapse June 28, 2020 Germany is set to overhaul its accounting industry as part of measures to soften the fallout from the collapse of payments fintech Wirecard last week. Wirecard, which premiered on Germany’s main Dax index with a €24bn (£21.8bn) valuation just two years ago, filed for insolvency last week after auditors found a €1.9bn black hole in [...]
Outgoing Tesco boss Dave Lewis sees £6.4m pay packet voted down June 26, 2020 Dave Lewis’ tenure as Tesco’s chief executive looks set to end on a sour note after shareholders voted down the pay report that will give him £6.4m in compensation. Over 67 per cent of shareholders revolted against the report at the grocer’s annual meeting today, but as the vote is non-binding Lewis will still receive [...]
Tesco sales bounce amid lockdown spending spree June 26, 2020 Tesco said its sales for the first quarter rose almost nine per cent in the UK, as shoppers stocked up on essentials and hunkered down during the pandemic. Underlying sales in the UK rose 8.7 per cent in the 13 weeks to the end of May, reaching £9.9bn. It maintained its outlook on profit, saying [...]
Grocery sales surge in lockdown as shoppers go online June 23, 2020 Grocery sales in the UK grew 18.9 per cent in the four weeks up to 14 June, new data has shown, as online shopping and convenience stores continued to attract shoppers through the coronavirus lockdown period. According to data firm Kantar, online sales were the main driver of the rise, increasing 91 per cent over [...]
How do you solve a problem like Wirecard? June 19, 2020 It’s been a wild ride for Wirecard. When the German payments firm premiered on the prestigious blue-chip Dax index just two years ago, shares were priced at €200 apiece. Today, prices hit as low as €20 per share, forcing out chief executive Markus Braun and leaving the future of the digital payments firm in question. [...]
Tesco sells Polish business for £165m due to ‘market challenges’ June 18, 2020 Tesco has announced it will sell its struggling Polish operation for 819m zlotys (£164.6m), as the British supermarket giant seeks to streamline its presence across Central Europe. In a statement this morning, the big four supermarket chain said it will sell Tesco Polska’s 301 stores and associated distribution centres to Salling Group A/S, subject to [...]
Rishi Sunak: Government to take ‘fresh look’ at two-metre rule June 14, 2020 Rishi Sunak has said the government would take a “fresh look” at its two-metre social distancing rule in a review. The chancellor confirmed there would be a “comprehensive review” of the rule as pressure increases from businesses to change it to one-metre. Hospitality bodies have lobbied the government for the change, with businesses worried the [...]
Aldi extends Deliveroo online grocery trial to London store June 12, 2020 Discount supermarket Aldi will extend its trial of delivering groceries to people’s homes via Deliveroo to include a store in Camden, London. Aldi, Britain’s fifth largest supermarket, launched a trial of the delivery model last month over eight outlets in the Midlands. It said the initial trial had gone well, and that it would therefore [...]
Ocado shares slide on plans to raise £1bn amid coronavirus online boom June 11, 2020 Ocado shares fell this morning after the announcement that it plans to raise £1bn to help it capitalise on the online grocery market boom triggered by the coronavirus crisis. The British online supermarket and technology group said yesterday that it would raise about £657m through an equity placing and retail offer, and about £350m through [...]
Major mobile networks suffer UK-wide outages June 9, 2020 Customers are experiencing issues with access to their mobile networks, with outages reported across the UK. Those affected include users of Vodafone, O2, EE, Three and Tesco Mobile. Many customers have reported being unable to use the UK mobile networks for voice call connections, though they can still text and use mobile data. Problems surfaced [...]