Solid John Lewis Christmas trading not enough to nudge profit expectations up January 6, 2016 The John Lewis Partnership has reported a solid Christmas period, with sales across the group up 4.1 per cent for the six weeks to 2 January to £1.81bn – but it's not enough to shift the group's full year decline in profits. The figures The department store business was the strongest driver of growth, with sales up [...]
Tesco, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Asda and Sainsbury’s: What to expect from the supermarket sector’s Christmas results January 5, 2016 Supermarkets were going for broke this Christmas, after a poor year of trading for the likes of Tesco, Morrisons and Asda, with Sainsbury's the only one of the Big Four in growth in the run-up to the festive period. But with challengers Lidl and Aldi stealing market share from the price conscious, while Marks & Spencer and [...]
Advertising Association chief: Why banning sugary food advertising won’t tackle obesity January 4, 2016 Ministers were urged to impose a “sugar tax” and crack down on the marketing of sugary products to children in a Public Health England (PHE) report, published in October. Since then, many have questioned whether tougher regulation of marketing would really help to tackle childhood obesity, and whether UK advertisers should be made the whipping [...]
Christmas quiz 2015: How much do you remember of the year in business, politics and economics? December 23, 2015 Deloitte chief economist Ian Stewart asks some of the trickiest business, politics and economics questions of the year. Answers can be found below. 1 According to the OECD, Mexicans work the longest hours. In 2014, the average Mexican worker put in 2,228 hours, equivalent to a 43-hour working week with no holidays. Which country’s workers [...]
John Lewis Partnership bonus scheme 2015: Three charts showing just how generous it is historically despite it being cut this year December 22, 2015 The bonus pot for staff working at Waitrose and middle England's favourite department store John Lewis has shrunk by 22 per cent compared to 2013, its largest cut in at least five years. Some 93,800 partners will share a total payout of £156.2m, the equivalent of 11 per cent of each person’s annual salary, or an additional [...]
How much tax do you have to pay on a partridge in a pear tree this Christmas? December 22, 2015 It's the question you all wanted to know the answer to. If you were going to give your true love a partridge in a pear tree, and the rest, what are the tax liabilities? How much would the taxman make, and are the gold rings deductible? Well, with the help of the Institute of Chartered [...]
The Mog effect? Sainsbury’s share price climbs as grocer outperforms Tesco, Asda and Morrisons as Kantar supermarket figures December 15, 2015 Could it be the Mog effect? Sainsbury's has beaten Tesco, Asda and Morrisons to become the best performing supermarket among the Big Four. In fact, Kantar Worldpanel figures show that Sainsbury's was the only grocer among the top spots to post a growth in sales for the 12 weeks to 6 December, up 1.2 per cent. Tesco and Asda had [...]
Waitrose targets 1,500 new jobs as part of store expansion plans December 13, 2015 Waitrose is ramping up its expansion with plans to launch 14 stores from the spring of next year, creating 1,500 jobs. The upmarket grocer said the new openings will include five supermarkets in towns such as Truro in Cornwall and Worcester in the Midlands. They also comprise of nine new little Waitrose convenience shops, one of [...]
What are the best companies to work for in the UK? Expedia, Hays and AKQA triumph ahead of Google and Goldman Sachs December 9, 2015 Move over Google. Its treats such as slides, sleep pods and snacks have failed to win over staff, and the mighty tech company has been toppled from its perch as the best company to work for in the UK while home grown firms climbed ahead. Flying to the top spot from number 25 last year was online travel [...]
How business can play its part in defeating poverty – and rebuild the public’s trust too December 8, 2015 A huge amount of study has been undertaken into the causes of poverty, and the routes out of it. Time and again, education comes out as the number one factor that can make the most difference to people’s futures over the longer term. It’s no secret that more children from poorer backgrounds struggle in school, [...]