Amazon to close its online store in China after failing to gain a foothold April 18, 2019 Amazon is set to close its online in store in China after failing to gain a real foothold in the country where JD.com and Alibaba reign supreme. The e-commerce giant will shut its operations in China down from 18 July, it announced today. Read more: Unilever shares rise on first quarter sales growth Rivals JD.com [...]
Unilever shares rise as sales grow in first quarter of 2019 April 18, 2019 Unilever’s turnover slumped in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the year before, it revealed today. Read more: Unilever warns of 'challenging' 2019 after sales miss Turnover fell 1.6 per cent to €12.4bn between January and March compared to the same period in 2018. The maker of Marmite and Dove soap blamed the disposal [...]
Tesco turnaround marks the milestone for Drastic Dave April 10, 2019 In the never-ending debate about executive pay, examples of failure are cited more frequently than cases of good value for money. Recently the likes of WPP, Persimmon and Ted Baker have all demonstrated how the actions of the top boss can dent the fortunes of a company and frustrate shareholders. But despairing investors now have [...]
Crowdsourcing platform Limitless secures £5m in series A funding April 10, 2019 Brand ambassador platform Limitless Technology has secured £5m in funding as it looks to develop its machine learning technology. The company, which uses crowdsourcing to help businesses turn their customers into brand ambassadors, said it has bagged the funds in a series A round led by Albion VC. Read more: Grab looks to raise further $2bn [...]
Lloyds Bank private equity arm LDC invests £17.6m in recruitment services firm Amberjack April 7, 2019 LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, has invested £17.6m in graduate recruitment services firm Amberjack to support a management buy-out. The company, which provides careers services and software to major employers such as Unilever, Network Rail and BP, will use the equity to improve its software and technology products and explore acquisitions. [...]
Six tips to protect your portfolio during a market downturn April 3, 2019 When equity markets took a turn for the worse towards the end of last year, the onslaught of predictions about the end of the 10-year bull run came flooding in. With the markets creeping upwards since the start of 2019, it now seems that expectations of a bear market were premature. Even experienced fund managers [...]
Nine UK shares that tick all of Warren Buffett’s boxes March 26, 2019 By Kyle Caldwell from interactive investor. Looking for equity-based ISA inspiration? We run through the investment checklist of the Berkshire Hathaway chairman to identify UK shares that pass his stockpicking rules. American investor Warren Buffett is to the world of investment what Lionel Messi is to football: the greatest of his generation in the profession [...]
MPs call for crackdown on ‘excessive’ bonuses after Persimmon pay row and Royal Mail boss’ ‘golden hello’ March 26, 2019 MPs have called for a crackdown on excessive bonuses in a bid to avoid repeats of “shaming” pay packets, such as the £75m given to former Persimmon boss Jeff Fairburn. The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee called for companies to introduce an “absolute cap” on remuneration to avoid unpredictable long term incentive awards. It [...]
Kodak shows how to compete with startups if you’re a heritage brand March 25, 2019 The digitalisation of our world has given with one hand and taken away with the other. It has created opportunities for new companies, and made household names such as Amstrad computers and Woolworths entirely redundant. Technological advancements have facilitated the emergence of startups that thrive on disrupting traditional business models. However, the decline of established [...]
I’d kill to be the chief exec of… Unilever March 22, 2019 Last week, Unilever’s chief executive Alan Jope announced that he would promote his rival for the top job – Nitin Paranjpe – to the newly created role of chief operations officer. He also said farewell to two other executive members – all in pursuit of the ever-elusive goal of three to five per cent top-line [...]