Blackstone mulls £1.5bn takeover of drinks bottler December 7, 2014 US PRIVATE equity giant Blackstone Group is considering a £1.5bn takeover bid for Refresco Gerber, Europe’s largest soft drinks bottler, it emerged yesterday. The US investment specialist is among several interested parties weighing up bids for the Anglo-Dutch company. Blackstone’s private equity rival KKR and CVC Partners are also rumoured to be circling, with bids [...]
Andrew Tyrie’s claim about banks’ back-door lobbying is holed December 4, 2014 There are few things bankers dread more than being summoned for hours of intellectual flagellation by Andrew Tyrie, the relentless chairman of the Treasury Select Committee. He has scored several notable victories, including a blueprint for regulators to hold reserve powers to break up major UK banks. On his latest target – [...]
Business ethics: Does your firm cut it? December 3, 2014 The right incentives and senior management taking the lead will make all the difference. In recent months, six of the world’s biggest banks have been accused of rigging foreign exchange rates, while the UK’s dominant retailer has admitted misstating profits by a quarter of a billion pounds. It’s easy to be cynical about [...]
More bad news for Tesco bosses as Harris + Hoole makes big loss December 2, 2014 COFFEE chain Harris + Hoole, which is part-owned by troubled supermarket giant Tesco, announced a £12.8m pre-tax loss yesterday on filing its annual accounts. The company, which was forced to close six branches earlier this year following disappointing trading figures, said the results represent a period of investment for the fledgling coffee business, and reported [...]
YouTube ranking: John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Burberry and Marks and Spencer have the best Christmas ads of 2014 December 2, 2014 It’s only the second day of December, but we've already been treated to a sneak peak of the joy ahead for the Christmas season via the medium of advertising. This year, retailers battled it out with penguins, soldiers and celebs in a bid to get the public into the festive spirit and spend their pennies- although [...]
Which supermarket wine wins top of the shops? Corks pop as M&S nets 73 medals December 2, 2014 Here's one thing the discounters aren't winning at. Aldi may just have launched its own range of fine wines, but this Christmas we'll be raising a toast to Marks & Spencer, which has just netted 73 medals at the International Wine Challenge (IWC). The supermarket won five gold medals, 21 silvers and 47 bronzes for [...]
Goodbye Christmas jumpers – hello Christmas suits? The must-have self-purchase for 2014 revealed. Maybe December 2, 2014 Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a novelty outfit of some sort. The Christmas jumper has been a long-time favourite but, as with the Shoreditch beard that has grown in popularity over a similar period, it's safe to say we've now reached peak-jumper. Last year every retailer from Tesco to John Lewis jumped on the [...]
2014 Black Friday, Cyber and Manic Mondays set to break all UK records December 1, 2014 Black Friday became a weekend-long shopping spree yesterday as consumers were set to spend about £650m during Cyber Monday. Yesterday marked another pre-Christmas internet shopping frenzy, and industry body IMRG estimated that about £451,000 was spent per minute – making it the busiest online shopping day ever and a 26 per cent increase on last year. Market [...]
Lewis shakes up Tesco management structure December 1, 2014 TROUBLED retailer Tesco yesterday announced a new management structure that will see group chief executive Dave Lewis temporarily take over the day-to-day leadership of the UK operation. In other changes that will take effect on 1 January, Robin Terrell, its multi-channel director who stepped in to lead the UK business in September after the discovery [...]
The best take-away Christmas lunch: From Benugo’s hot roast turkey sandwich to Itsu’s “aggressively disgusting” pot of chicken December 1, 2014 December is upon us and it’s now perfectly acceptable to buy a take-away Christmas lunch – our sandwich committee checked out some of the most popular. Fred’s at Tesco Thanksgiving Sandwich Turkey, vegetable crisps, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, brie ★★★☆☆ Full marks for presentation but zero for practicality; trying to fit this [...]