Asda: Will 2026 be the year supermarket giant bounces back? December 26, 2025 This time last year, analysts warned that Asda needed to “dig down into its soul” if it was to turn around its fortunes. After a rollercoaster 2024 in which it struggled with debt, strikes and falling sales, the Leeds-headquartered supermarket giant was hoping the new year would begin to reveal green shoots of recovery. Under [...]
Provenance Appoints Sarah Arana-Morton as CEO to Lead Trust-First AI Shopping Era December 17, 2025 Provenance today announces the appointment of Sarah Arana-Morton as Chief Executive Officer, strengthening the company’s mission to make product claims trustworthy and transparent in an AI-driven retail world. Previously Chair at Provenance, Arana-Morton brings more than 25 years’ experience building data systems where accuracy and trust are non-negotiable. At dunnhumby, she helped pioneer Tesco Clubcard’s [...]
Can Spotify and Lloyds and Uber and Deliveroo and Apple and everyone stop wrapping my year, please! December 17, 2025 From Spotify to banking, data 'wraps' are taking over the festive period and exposing all our bad habits. Anna Moloney wants out.
Woodford Reserve teams up with fashion house Markarian for 2025 holiday bottle December 9, 2025 Kentucky Bourbon brand Woodford Reserve has launched a limited edition 2025 holiday bottle, created in collaboration with New York fashion designer Alexandra O’Neill. Best known as the founder of luxury label Markarian, O’Neill’s design features a classy take on traditional sprigs of mistletoe and festive stars. The palette – with a backdrop of sage green [...]
Deloitte’s big Christmas quiz 2025 December 9, 2025 The 2025 Deloitte Christmas Economics Quiz by chief economist, Ian Stewart and team The Christmas quiz offers a test of your knowledge of the festive season, economics and politics, in 12 questions. The answers and a brief explanation of the factors at work are provided at the end. 1) Which British politician (past and present) [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Budget to send borrowing costs soaring; New AIM IPO December 4, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Sir Keir Starmer has asked the British public to judge his premiership on the government’s ability to “make people feel better off”. Well, in the capital the Prime Minister shouldn’t be expecting a warm reception from young Brits, who are feeling the pinch of the [...]
The best (and worst) Christmas sandwiches in supermarkets, from Tesco to Pret December 3, 2025 Has there ever been a more exciting way to pep up a working lunchtime than with a Christmas sandwich? Probably. Still, take a moment out of your day this week to celebrate the arrival of December by treating yourself to a seasonal sarnie (if you’re a seasonal Scrooge, here is our pick of the most [...]
Christmas adverts 2025 reviewed… Part 2 December 3, 2025 To see part one of our Christmas adverts review click here Are you starting to feel Christmassy yet? It tried it’s damndest to snow last week didn’t it? And what with the lights getting switched on all over town ‘the season’ is increasingly hard to avoid. To be honest I gave in this week, and had [...]
Paragon Banking chief eyes acquisitions after capital boost December 3, 2025 The boss of Paragon Banking Group has acquisitions in mind after the lender received a major tailwind from regulatory reforms this year. Nigel Terrington has said the loosening of banks’ capital requirement rules, known as MREL (minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities), will open up further growth prospects for mid-cap lenders. The boss [...]
Candy Kittens: ‘We want to be the Unilever of challenger brands’ December 2, 2025 When Ed Williams and Jamie Laing first set up Candy Kittens in 2012, they dreamt of being bought by Unilever. Now – 13 years later – they’ve bought healthy snack brand Graze from the consumer giant for a fraction of what Unilever paid for it in 2019. “Everybody’s supermarkets are dominated by big players,” co-founder [...]