RETAIL BANK OF THE YEAR | The Shortlist day seven June 27, 2011 Retail banking in Britain is in the throes of monumental change this year, as the big-name players grapple with the reforms being drawn up by the Independent Commission on Banking. The shifting landscape has also allowed newcomers to gain a foothold in the market, giving our list of top retail banks this year a fresh [...]
FTSE up but investors jittery over Greek crisis June 27, 2011 The FTSE 100 was up this morning but investors remained wary ahead of yet another chapter in the Greek financial crisis. Greek MPs are due to debate a fresh package of austerity measures later. The euro slipped as confidence in the eurozone continued to be sapped by Greece’s debt pile. Meanwhile France’s Christine Lagarde was [...]
Mary Portas to meet Tesco boss June 26, 2011 Mary Portas, the TV celebrity retail expert appointed by the government to oversee a review of Britain’s changing high streets, will this week meet with the UK chief executive of Tesco. Portas, best known for her Mary Queen of Shops TV series, will meet with Tesco UK boss Richard Brasher to examine the future of [...]
Micro Focus falls after a weak outlook June 23, 2011 TROUBLED Micro Focus dived more than seven per cent yesterday after disappointing investors with a weaker than expected profits forecast for the coming year. Revenue inched up nearly one per cent to $436.1m (£273m) but adjusted operating profit fell almost nine per cent, in line with forecasts. The slow forecast comes as another blow for [...]
Electrical retailers face bleak future June 22, 2011 LOCATING the source of Kesa’s woes is fraught with difficulty, but its problems aren’t particularly new. Electrical retailers have been trading on wafer-thin margins for many years now, a fact that was disguised by the boom years when the property bubble meant TVs and white goods sold by the lorry load. When the crisis hit, [...]
Tesco lays out plans to revamp Europe business June 22, 2011 TESCO said yesterday it planned to double returns from its central and eastern European business by buying more goods regionally, opening a variety of stores and selling more services. At its annual results in April, the British supermarket group set a target to boost company-wide returns to 14.6 per cent by 2014-15 from 12.9 per [...]
Goldman Sachs picks up a broking slot with Autonomy June 21, 2011 INTELLIGENT software company Autonomy yesterday announced it had appointed Goldman Sachs as a third joint broker. Goldman, which now has 11 FTSE 100 broking clients, will work alongside existing brokers UBS and Citi. The Goldman pitch was headed up by Phil Shelley, the former UBS broker who was recruited in December to help strengthen the [...]
Tesco Bank admits glitch June 20, 2011 Some of Tesco Bank’s 6.5m customers have been unable to access their accounts during an update of computer systems, the bank has confirmed. The bank, which operates in stores, online and by telephone, said problems occurred when transferring savings and loans products in-house, from its previous joint operation with RBS. It apologised to customers and [...]
Asda exec King in shock exit June 20, 2011 Chief operating officer at supermarket giant Asda, Simon King, has quit after only six months. King joined Asda on 10 January this year, moving from Saudi Arabia where he was chief executive of supermarket operator Panda Retail, a subsidiary of The Savola Group. Prior to that he was chief executive of Tesco Kipa in Turkey, [...]
SIR TERRY LEAHY BUYS BRITISH AGAIN June 19, 2011 FORMER Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has backed a small British technology start up. Sir Terry, who ploughed £2m of his personal wealth into software start up MetaPack last week, has now led a £1.5m cash raising for mobile coupon firm Eagle Eye Solutions. He and two top-ranked City retail analysts, Bill Currie and Iain [...]