Asda needs to ‘dig down into its soul’ and recover sense of purpose, say analysts December 9, 2024 Asda needs to “dig down into its soul” and reshape its pitch to customers if it wants to tackle the rising threat from the likes of Aldi and Lidl following a rollercoaster 2024, analysts have warned. The Leeds-headquartered supermarket giant has not been far from the headlines all year amid debt struggles, strikes, falling sales [...]
Warpaint London to acquire fellow beauty specialist Brand Architekts December 5, 2024 Cosmetics firm Warpaint London has announced the acquisition of fellow beauty brand specialist Brand Architekts. Warpaint London, the company behind makeup brands W7 and Technic, told markets today it has reached an acquisition agreement for the entirety of issued and to be issued share capital of the Brand Architekts. The company said under the terms of [...]
Coventry Building Society to take over Co-op Bank in January November 28, 2024 Regulators have given the green light for Coventry Building Society to acquire The Co-operative Bank in January as consolidation sweeps through Britain’s mid-sized banking sector. The two lenders said on Thursday that the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority had approved the £780m deal, which was agreed in May. The takeover [...]
Tesco Clubcard and Sainbury’s Nectar schemes do help consumers, regulator says November 27, 2024 A year-long probe into UK supermarkets’ pricing practices has found “very little” evidence that shoppers are being treated unfairly with loyalty programmes such as the Tesco Clubcard scheme and Sainsbury’s Nectar points. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe, which has been ongoing since November last year, investigated whether supermarket loyalty schemes cause inflation by faking the [...]
JD Sports: Shares slump as profit at FTSE 100 giant to be at lower end of expectations November 21, 2024 JD Sports has revealed its full-year profit will now be towards the lower end of its expectations after softening consumer demand hit its sales. The Greater Manchester-headquartered FTSE 100 giant had previously set a target for its pre-ta profit of between £995m and £1.035bn but it has now confirmed the total will be towards the [...]
Lidl boss warns retailers are ‘reeling’ after Budget tax raid November 20, 2024 The boss of budget supermarket Lidl has warned retailers are “reeling” following Labour’s tax raid in the Autumn Budget. The German supermarket’s UK boss Ryan McDonnell said the discount brand was staring down the barrel of “tens of millions of pounds” in extra costs. This comes after the Chancellor unveiled a £25.7bn tax-raising package, with [...]
Exclusive: Labour’s relationship with business ‘at a critical point’, retail boss warns November 19, 2024 If a week is a long time in politics, then four months in retail is a lifetime. When Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), last sat down with City AM in late July, she could hardly have been more effusive in her praise for the incoming Chancellor and her business [...]
Retailers ‘right’ to warn of Budget job cuts, says Bank of England governor November 19, 2024 The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has said a group of retailers were “right” to warn of sweeping job cuts as a result of Labour’s punishing £40bn tax raid at the Budget. A group of Britain’s biggest supermarkets and retail chains, including Tesco, M&S, Boots and B&Q, wrote to the Chancellor Rachel [...]
Retail bosses warn of £7bn cost burden after Budget November 19, 2024 UK retail bosses have written to the Chancellor to warn of the wide-ranging damage from the Autumn Budget on their sector, including “inevitable” job losses and price rises. In a letter coordinated by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), 79 signatories, including bluechip retailers Tesco, Next, and Greggs, said they had “significant concerns” about the impact [...]
Insolvencies set to rise as Budget hikes business costs, Begbies Traynor warns November 18, 2024 A combination of elevated interest rates and higher business costs resulting from the Budget is set to lead to a spike in insolvencies, Begbies Traynor has warned. In last month’s Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves increased the amount employers have to pay in NICs by 1.2 per cent, and lowered the wage threshold at which employers [...]