Halfords chief finance officer to join easyJet April 13, 2015 THE FINANCE chief of Halfords is getting off his bike at the retailer and hopping on a plane instead, after agreeing to take up the same role at easyJet, the companies said yesterday. Andrew Findlay will join the budget airline at the end of October, replacing Chris Kennedy who announced that he was leaving for [...]
Weak Chinese data hits FTSE mining stocks – London Report April 13, 2015 THE UK’s top equity index slipped from record highs yesterday as surprisingly weak data from China weighed on mining stocks, with investors also growing cautious before next month’s General Election. The FTSE 100 index, which touched a record high of 7,095.36 points on Friday, retreated 25.47 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 7,064.30 points by [...]
Halfords finance chief Andrew Findlay flies off to EasyJet April 13, 2015 The finance chief of Halfords is swapping bikes for airplanes, flying off to EasyJet to fill the CFO role at the budget airline. Findlay fills the position left vacant by Chris Kennedy who announced his departure for UK chip designer ARM at the start of the year. It's the second time a senior executive has [...]
Easter “masks” wider problems in supermarket sector as price war continues to take toll on Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons April 10, 2015 Supermarkets experienced their first growth in spend during March – but the early Easter is “masking” the sector's problems, Nielsen claims. Sales rose 0.7 per cent for the four weeks to March 28 against the same period last year. The last time grocers saw an increase in spend was April last year, when Easter distorted [...]
Best of the Brokers for 10 April 2015 April 9, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com CRANSWICK Numis reiterated its “hold” rating on the food producer. The broker described it as a “strongly managed concern with a good track record and decent prospects”, and highlighted a major investment programme due to be commissioned in autumn. Target price was trimmed [...]
Aldi becomes sixth biggest food retailer but sales growth slows April 8, 2015 ALDI has overtaken Waitrose as the UK’s sixth biggest supermarket, according to figures out yesterday that also cautioned that growth among the discounters was slowing. Aldi’s sales grew by 16.8 per cent in the 12 weeks to 30 March compared with a year earlier, taking its market share to 5.3 per cent, data from Kantar [...]
Aldi knocks Waitrose off its spot as UK’s sixth biggest supermarket April 8, 2015 Aldi has overtaken Waitrose to become the UK's sixth biggest supermarket. The budget supermarket, which has recorded double-digit sales growth for the past four years, now has 5.3 per cent of the country's spend on groceries, according to Kantar Worldpanel. Waitrose is still in growth – in fact just one of three to see [...]
Tesco pays £9m for abandoning Somerset store April 7, 2015 Tesco has been forced to pay out a £9m settlement to two local councils after shelving plans for a new store in Somerset, with the retailer likely to face further charges over other store closures. In January, Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis announced plans to close 43 existing stores and pull out of building 49 [...]
Living close to Waitrose could boost your house price by 12pc April 3, 2015 Premium properties within easy reach of a Waitrose can command a 12 per cent (£38,831) higher price than similar properties in other areas. According to research from Lloyds Bank, houses close to supermarkets enjoy, on average, a seven per cent higher price than other properties in the same town. Lloyds compared the average house prices [...]
Why hiring chief executives externally is better for struggling businesses April 2, 2015 It's an age-old argument: when a leader steps down, do you promote from within or bring in fresh blood? Each brings their own benefits – one has a fresh view on business and new ways of working, while the other already has a deep understanding of a company's strengths and weaknesses. Now we might have [...]