Supermarket wars: Nisa in talks with Co-op after Sainsbury’s exclusivity period ends August 14, 2017 Convenience chain Nisa is in talks with the Co-op after a period of exclusivity regarding a potential takeover offer from Sainsbury’s came to an end. Sainsbury’s has yet to make a formal offer, which would need to be approved by Nisa’s shopkeeper members. However City A.M. understands that Sainsbury’s is waiting for the result of [...]
Skype billionaire Niklas Zennstrom and LocalGlobe back UK fintech startup Cleo and its Facebook AI chatbot for finance July 26, 2017 The billionaire co-founder of Skype and one of the UK’s top startup venture capital investors are backing a UK fintech behind a chatbot helping people with their finances that could kill off banking apps. Niklas Zennström along with Robin and Saul Klein’s LocalGlobe have invested £2m in a seed stage funding round of Cleo. Cleo’s [...]
UK IPO: Bakkavor – which supplies Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose meals – gears up for London float worth up to £2bn July 23, 2017 Bakkavor, supplier of supermarkets including Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, is readying itself for a stock market float that could value it at up to £2bn. The pizza and ready meal supplier appointed Rothschild to examine its options in January, and has now brought in advisers from HSBC and Morgan Stanley to lead the IPO later [...]
‘Personalised pricing’ could soon make it cheaper to buy your lunch at 3pm July 21, 2017 These days, consumers have generally come to terms with the idea the price they are asked to pay for, say, a train ticket or hotel room can fluctuate – and sometimes quite markedly – depending on when they make the purchase. It would presumably still come as a shock, however, if their local supermarket charged [...]
Amazon Prime Day 2017: ecommerce giant extends dominance as it courts new members with day of deals July 10, 2017 Amazon Prime Day begins at 6pm today, just as new research reveals that 37 per cent of online spend now goes through Amazon, with the ecommerce giant only set to grow as more consumers turn to online shopping. Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of people surveyed by ecommerce consultancy Salmon said they plan to [...]
Big UK banks slip down in global ranking, but Metro and the challengers make ground July 3, 2017 Big UK banks are suffering compared with international rivals, according to a ranking of the world’s 1,000 largest lenders out today. HSBC remains Britain’s biggest bank in the global ranking, coming in ninth for the second year in a row. However, the lender – which topped the 2008 ranking – suffered its worst result in [...]
FTSE 100 history: how the index has changed over 33 years July 3, 2017 The FTSE 100 index has just seen one of its quarterly changes with security firm G4S and real estate investment trust Segro promoted to the top 100. Although perhaps small in themselves, these regular events have changed the face of the UK’s leading index since it was formed in 1984. For the many investors whose [...]
Pride in London 2017: Barclays leads host of Britain’s biggest firms in support of LGBT+ event June 23, 2017 City stalwarts and some of the UK’s largest companies have rallied in support of Pride in London 2017. A raft of the great and the good from the corporate world have stepped up to sponsor the event. Barclays is one of two headline sponsors together with the Mayor of London office. This year’s event takes [...]
LightwaveRF share price jumped 77 per cent on Google Assistant launch May 18, 2017 Smart home tech firm LightwaveRF’s share price soared today after revealing its entire product range had been added to Google Home’s voice controlled Google Assistant. Shares in the Aim listed group climbed as much as 77.4 per cent mid-morning, dropping back to 54 per cent at pixel time. Read more: Now you can do your [...]
WannaCry ransomware NHS cyber attack: A final warning for banks and fintech May 15, 2017 It was the most high profile cyber attack in some time, and one of the largest ever carried out. Governments, hospitals, companies and universities in over 150 countries were affected by the recent ‘WannaCry’ cyber attack, which affected more than 230,000 computers with ransomware and demanded bitcoin payments. Media coverage in the UK focused on [...]