Fontelunga Hotel & Villas review: A beautifully renovated Tuscan guest house, nestled in the quiet hillsides surrounding Cortona August 13, 2018 Tuscany is wonderful. There are maybe only three or four places in the world that are more beautiful than Tuscany, but none of them are so damningly near to our own bleak, grey island. In Tuscany, tall cypress trees stand in long lines like great leafy quills, jabbed into the rolling green countryside by some [...]
Pets at Home share price leaps as lower prices pay off | City A.M. August 3, 2018 Price cuts and instore vets helped Pets at Home to increase sales in the first few months of the new financial year this morning, sending shares higher. The retailer’s share price was at a new low of 113p yesterday, but this morning’s update boosted it by 10 per cent. The figures Overall revenue was up [...]
Retail tech startup behind Tesco and Argos valued at almost £70m, after scoring additional funding | City A.M. July 31, 2018 Virtualstock, a London tech startup which provides cloud-based inventory solutions for retailers like Tesco, Argos and John Lewis, today announced a further £3.4m in funding which has valued the business at almost £70m. Rene Schuster, the former chief executive of telecoms giant Telefonica in Germany, is also joining the firm as its chairman. The funds, [...]
Coinbase announces a new deal to let you pay for your Uber with crypto | City A.M. July 25, 2018 Coinbase has today revealed a new partnership that will allow you to pay for physical goods and services from your favourite retailers with cryptocurrencies. The deal, which will be powered by WeGift, enables Coinbase users to buy an electronic gift card, load it with cryptocurrency from their Coinbase wallet and then use them at over [...]
Debate: After Tesco revealed plans to launch a discount chain, can it compete with Aldi and Lidl? | City A.M. July 24, 2018 After Tesco revealed plans to launch a discount chain, can it compete with Aldi and Lidl? Yes – Tim Smith is head of retail at Konica Minolta Marketing Services. One of Tesco’s strengths is having the confidence to observe and learn from the work of other retailers. After investing in the customer journey and looking [...]
Tesco gets hit with £4bn equal pay bill in first wave of legal challenge | City A.M. July 11, 2018 Supermarket giant Tesco is facing the music over claims it has been underpaying its female staff, as the first 1,000 workers successfully launched a legal challenge against the retailer today. The law firm Leigh Day helped 100 women file a claim against Tesco in February, and has since followed up with a further 900 claims [...]
M&S could cease to exist without radical change, warns chairman July 10, 2018 Marks & Spencer’s management confessed existential dread to shareholders today, as its new chairman warned the retailer could disappear within years if the business is not overhauled. Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM), chairman Archie Norman said: “In decades to come, there could be no M&S.” It marked a blunt first appearance for [...]
Pressure grows on Premier Foods boss as activist investor builds stake July 10, 2018 The pressure on under-fire Premier Foods chief executive officer (CEO) Gavin Darby has increased today after activist investor Oasis Investment upped its stake in the company. Hong Hong-based Oasis has been vocal in its opposition to Darby who it accuses of “shareholder value destruction”. Read more: Paulson triples stake in Premier Foods as AGM showdown [...]
Tesco UK boss Charles Wilson steps down as chief executive after cancer treatment July 10, 2018 Tesco has announced its UK boss Charles Wilson will step down from his role as chief executive following treatment for cancer. He will remain on the executive committee. Shares slipped 1.6 per cent in early trading on the news. Jason Tarry, currently group chief product officer, will now become chief executive of the supermarket giant's [...]
Last Week in the City: Trade wars begin July 6, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (2 to 6 July 2018). The World Cup is “distracting” for participants in global markets, according to Citigroup. "We find that football is indeed distracting, subtly impacting market depth, traded volumes and execution cost,” the US [...]