Student attempting to break cycling World Record, fight cancer and woo employers August 3, 2014 Word has it students have to go that extra mile in order to make themselves stand out from the crowd to employers these days. And one Loughborough university student is taking that to the extreme – cycling 3,868 extra miles. James Bowtell is currently attempting to break the Guinness World Record for cycling across [...]
What does The Engine Group do? July 30, 2014 ■ Nestled in offices behind Oxford Circus, the Engine Group describes itself as an integrated marketing communications group, which owns ad agency WCRS, PR group MHP Communications, digital shop Jam and direct marketing specialist partners Andrews Aldridge, among others. ■ Engine’s UK chief executive, Debbie Klein, stressed that the group would retain its independence after [...]
Payback time but Bank of England’s bonus clawbacks are rife with pitfalls July 30, 2014 Quite literally, yesterday it was payback time for Britain’s banking industry. Regulators’ demands that lenders must force staff to hand back bonuses awarded as long as seven years earlier delivers a belated sense of justice for those clamouring for more robust post-crisis retribution. The Bank of England’s timing could hardly have been better, coming [...]
Shapland is named Poundland chair in retail merry-go-round July 29, 2014 Poundland yesterday named Darren Shapland as its new chairman after losing its current boss to the troubled supermarket Morrisons in the latest round of retail musical chairs. Shapland joined the bargain chain’s board as a senior independent director ahead of its £750m float in March after a brief stint as chief executive of the flooring [...]
Danone in talks to sell medical arm to Hospira July 27, 2014 French dairy group Danone is reported to be in talks to sell its medical nutrition arm to US group Hospira in a deal valuing the business at about $5bn (£2.95bn). Danone has been exploring a sale of the business, which makes food and drinks for people with special nutritional needs, since earlier this year as [...]
Supermarket price wars: Money can’t buy me love…or can it? July 24, 2014 As another CEO falls on his multi-million pound sword this week; the convenient simplification of the problem into pricing and the rampant value-retailer onslaught seems to deliver a somewhat myopic view of the task facing the brooding monoliths that are the big retailers. While Mr. Clarke was seemingly handed a metaphorical deuce to seven [...]
Unilever share price drops on weak emerging markets and food sales growth July 24, 2014 Challenging markets in the first half of the year have seen Unilever sales growth come in soft, despite launching a number of recent product launches. The addition of the Ben & Jerry's Core ice cream range, and innovations in compressed deoderants and oral hygiene ranges haven't been enough to generate the sales growth analysts were [...]
Dividend fears hit Tesco shares July 22, 2014 SHARES in Tesco slumped nearly four per cent yesterday on fears that dividends could be cut as analysts called for a complete overhaul in strategy under its new chief executive. JP Morgan analysts said Unilever director Dave Lewis, due to take over from Philip Clarke in October, would have to reset its UK margins from [...]
Tesco to splash £11m on Dave Lewis and Philip Clarke rescue operation July 21, 2014 Tesco will spend more than £1.8m on its new chief executive Dave Lewis but up to £9.6m on departing boss Philip Clarke as the supermarket puts its faith in the industry outsider to turn its sales around. Clarke’s shock departure and his replacement with Unilever’s president of personal care, who will start in October, comes [...]
Dave Lewis: Tesco banks on first outsider in its 95-year history. Will he make a difference? July 21, 2014 Tesco’ incoming boss Dave Lewis will have no easy task on his hands when he takes the reins at the UK’s biggest retailer and the world’s third largest chain in October. But while he lacks the Tesco genes that Philip Clarke had from spending 39 years at the grocer, Lewis makes up for it in [...]