Asos share price leaps after report of £1bn takeover bid June 5, 2023 Asos‘s share price jumped 11.8 per cent this morning after a report emerged yesterday that the struggling retail chain received a £1bn takeover bid from a Turkish retailer backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Trendyol, an up-and-coming fast fashion retailer, was understood to have approached Asos in late December, according to a report in The [...]
Craft breweries battered by soaring operational costs June 5, 2023 Soaring operational costs and a greater competition between brands have battered the UK’s brewery industry with the number of beer factories going under tripling over the past year. The number of breweries which have become insolvent has risen from 15 to 45 over the last year, new figures out from audit, tax and advisory firm [...]
Retailers urge rethink on net zero ‘grocery tax’ as public blame Brexit for rising costs June 4, 2023 Top retailers have urged the government to rethink plans for green levies to fund the recycling of food packaging in a bid to avoid a further rise in spiralling food costs. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned the scheme, dubbed the ‘net zero grocery tax’, could push up shopping bills by up to £4bn [...]
‘Feeding time’: Why one retail group is on the hunt for distressed operators June 4, 2023 A business group which rescued upmarket chocolatier Montezuma from collapse has said it is looking to continue on its acquisition spree – noting that the current tough trading climate is “feeding time” for stronger players in the market. “In recent years, there have been so many distressed businesses that we have been able to pick [...]
Simply Be and Jacamo owner hopes for a rebound after bumpy few months June 4, 2023 Investors in online retailer N Brown will be looking for signs of recovery in its full year results this week after the firm paid out a hefty legal settlement and has struggled amid a broader slowdown in consumer spending. N Brown, which owns brands such as Simply Be and Jacamo, reported a 7.6 per cent [...]
Wizz Air to report heavy losses after fuel price spike – but is a recovery on the horizon? June 4, 2023 Analysts expect Wizz Air to report a net loss of nearly half a billion pounds this week as soaring jet fuel costs weigh the budget airline down. Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said while a strengthening Euro offered some relief to rising fuel costs, “these still rose by north of 60 per cent [...]
Cost of insurance against UK debt default has more than doubled over last year June 2, 2023 The cost of insuring the UK’s debt against default has more than doubled in the past year, as rising rates, increased borrowing and a deteriorating economic environment spooked investors. According to exclusive data from reinsurance firm Chaucer, the cost of a credit default swap (CDS) on the UK’s debt has increased 131 per cent. A [...]
Government preparing for legal fight with Covid inquiry (it set up) over Boris Johnson WhatsApp messages June 2, 2023 Ministers are preparing for a high-profile legal battle with the Covid-19 inquiry as the Government seeks to challenge the request for Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks. Bereaved families and opposition parties hit out at the Government after the Cabinet Office took the highly unusual step of seeking a judicial review of inquiry chairwoman [...]
Durex-maker Reckitt shakes up top level with new hire June 1, 2023 Durex-maker Reckitt has shaken up its top level management announcing the appointment of new presidents of its health and nutrition divisions. The new hires come two months after the cleaning-products-to-sexual-health company welcomed the appointment of Kris Licht as head of global business – with Licht taking over the role later this year. Patrick Sly, who is [...]
Prospective buyers hit with fresh blow as mortgage approvals continue to fall June 1, 2023 Prospective buyers continue to suffer setbacks as fresh data reveals that mortgage approvals fell during April. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases fell from 51,500 in March to 48,700 in April, figures from the Bank of England show, with experts predicting that the figure could fall further following the central bank’s decision to hike interest [...]