Could the office be staffed by chatbots? May 29, 2018 Whether checking insurance quotes, ordering concert tickets, or seeing if your favourite trainers are back in stock, almost all of us will have encountered a chatbot in our daily lives. Capable of providing fast access to information and offering pre- programmed responses to minimise misunderstanding in communication, businesses have found that chatbots have cut customer [...]
Marks & Spencer in talks with top Dixons Carphone exec to bolster retail expertise May 19, 2018 Marks & Spencer is reportedly in talks with a top Dixons Carphone exec as the troubled retailer seeks to shake-up its board. Katie Bickerstaffe, who recently stepped down as chief executive of Dixons Carphone UK and Ireland, has held discussions about joining M&S as a non-exec director. M&S is facing the risk of a landmark [...]
Fresh wave of shareholder protests set to hit FTSE firms as AGM season gets into full swing May 14, 2018 The boards at several big-name companies will face a barrage of investor questions this week, as shareholders flex their muscle over issues ranging from board diversity to executive pay. British Gas owner Centrica, cinema chain Cineworld and pharmaceuticals titan Astrazeneca are just a few of the firms holding AGMs this week, while oil giant Royal [...]
Walmart acquires India’s largest online shop Flipkart in $16bn deal | City A.M. May 9, 2018 The US retail company Walmart is making their way into the Indian online shopping market after acquiring Bengaluru-based e-commerce company Flipkart in a $16bn (£11.8bn) deal. Walmart will invest $16bn in Flipkart, which is India’s largest online shop, for the controlling stake of more than 77 per cent. This includes buying out SoftBank, which is [...]
The sour notes from the Sainsbury’s boss show that business must do better May 4, 2018 “We’re in the money.” Lyrics made famous by Ginger Rogers and 42nd Street, more recently appropriated by Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe in an unguarded off-mic moment at ITV. But whereas the musical focused on the travails of those trying to make it on Broadway in the depths of the Great Recession, for Coupe it came [...]
Shareholder revolt: More than a third of Unilever shareholders oppose director pay May 2, 2018 Unilever faced a significant shareholder revolt today at its London AGM, as a sizeable chunk of investors voted against its directors’ pay packets. Over a third (35.8 per cent) of votes cast opposed the remuneration policy, which sets a target annual bonus of up to £2.16m for chief executive Paul Polman. The company acknowledged the [...]
Employee advocates could become the next generation of online influencers as brands search for new marketing methods April 30, 2018 RECENT scandals around the use of private personal data and incoming regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation are pushing companies to find new methods of promoting their brands. One approach gaining ground is advocacy. Getting consumers to become an online advocate for a product and spread positive sentiment through the internet can [...]
Tech and Brexit: The challenges and opportunities facing the FTSE 100 April 25, 2018 The challenges that are facing the blue chip businesses forming the FTSE 100 index have been laid bare by a new survey from global legal services firm DWF. The 2018 “City of London: Blueprint for Growth” report contains polling results from 150 c-suite executives from FTSE 100 companies, across a range of business sectors and [...]
Dealmaking involving British firms hits highest since the millennium April 23, 2018 A spate of large deals drove the strongest start to the year for British merger and acquisition (M&A) volumes since the millennium, according to new data. M&A activity with UK involvement rose to $274.9bn ((£196.4bn) in the first quarter, its highest since the year 2000, figures from Thomson Reuters shown to City A.M. reveal. Deal [...]
Pay at Persimmon could cause shareholder revolt as investors baulk at boss’s £100m bonus April 22, 2018 Housebuilder Persimmon could take a battering at its annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, as disgruntled investors prepare to turn down a pay report which handed its chief executive a £100m bonus. Though Jeff Fairburn will only receive £75m of the reward, having pledged in February to give up £25m to a charitable trust, several [...]