GlaxoSmithKline and British American Tobacco under pressure as FTSE falls February 22, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed slightly lower yesterday, snapping a five-day winning streak, as weakness from defensive stocks countered gains from banks ahead of more results from the financial sector later in the week. The FTSE 100 closed down 6.10 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,352.07, having closed up 0.6 per cent on Friday [...]
Metro Bank in hiring drive February 22, 2010 METRO Bank, the new high street lender set up by US billionaire Vernon Hill, has selected a team of City veterans as non-executive directors to beef up its board, ahead of an imminent final decision from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on its banking licence. The bank – which is led by Financial Services Forum [...]
Google and Tesco to rival estate agents February 18, 2010 TESCO and Google are poised to offer real estate listings in the UK, radically reshaping the landscape of Britain’s housing market. The consumer giants’ onslaught on the property market comes after a report from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) suggested that legislation dating back to 1979 should be relaxed to allow more online estate [...]
Firms look to offload pension liabilities as burden intensifies February 18, 2010 ALMOST two fifths of UK firms plan to offload some of their dangerously bloated pension scheme liabilities within the next three years, paying a massive premium to insurance companies to take them off their books. One in ten expect to completely shift their pension pots to an insurance firm by 2013, according to the research [...]
Future is sweet for Nectar as it ranks top of the loyalty schemes February 7, 2010 NECTAR has become the country’s most popular loyalty scheme, with 16.8m subscribers. A staggering 50 per cent of households now swipe their Nectar card when shopping in stores and online and it has become more popular than both the Tesco Clubcard and the Boots Advantage card. Gwyn Burr, Sainsbury’s customer director, said: “Customers are increasingly [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 7, 2010 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS Christine Cross, a former Tesco director, has joined the accountancy firm as chief retail adviser. Cross currently holds non-executive directorships at High Street retailer Next and Empire, the second largest Canadian grocery chain. She was at Tesco between 1989 and 2003, latterly as business development director. She is also currently a retail adviser to [...]
THE TIPSTER February 7, 2010 IF THERE’S one industry that has not weathered the recession well, it is travel firms. They have suffered from consumers tightening their belts while the weak pound has made Britons even less likely to holiday abroad. But TUI Travel should have benefited from many of its less resilient competitors falling by the wayside. With its [...]
Tesco staff to cash in with share plan February 4, 2010 Thousands of Tesco employees who invested in the company’s saving scheme have each netted a share of £144m. After 12 months’ employment, the supermarket allows staff to invest between £5 and £50 a month in its Save As You Earn share scheme. Those who saved the maximum for the five-year scheme gained a 100 per [...]
Flight to quality in stores February 2, 2010 Intense competition among Britain’s top grocers has hit sales growth at smaller hard discounters Aldi and Lidl, while Asda has suffered most from recent severe weather, market researchers said yesterday. Kantar Worldpanel, the new name for TNS Worldpanel, said sales at Britain’s grocers rose 5.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 24 January, helped [...]
Blank makes comeback as UKTI adviser February 1, 2010 FORMER Lloyds Group chairman Sir Victor Blank has been brought in to advise the government on attracting overseas investment to the UK. Sir Victor, who resigned from the Lloyds board last year in the wake of its ill-fated takeover of HBOS, has taken a seat on a panel set up by Prime Minister Gordon Brown [...]