45,000 homes could be delivered by developing vacant town centre space February 14, 2019 Tens of thousands of new homes could be built by developing space left empty in Britain’s struggling town centres, according to new research that comes amid calls to solve Britain’s high street and housing woes. Vacant retail spaces in town hotspots across the UK could be replaced by a minimum of 45,000 residential properties, data [...]
Debenhams secures £40m cash lifeline in fight for survival February 12, 2019 Embattled department store chain Debenhams saw its shares jump 35 per cent this morning after it secured a £40m cash injection, as it fights to keep afloat amid crunch debt talks with lenders. The retailer, which has issued three profit warnings in the last 12 months, said that the agreed £40m loan will "act as a bridge to facilitate a [...]
Oddbins falls into administration for the second time in eight years February 1, 2019 Oddbins today became one of the first high street casualties of 2019, as news emerged that the off licence’s owners have fallen into administration for the second time in eight years. Administrators Duff & Phelps confirmed that the companies behind Oddbins and a string of high street alcohol stores are now insolvent. Read more: Oddbins set [...]
Banks suffer hundreds of high street closures during 2018 January 31, 2019 Walk-in banks suffered more net closures than any other type of retailer last year, as fast-growing digital rivals lured shoppers away from traditional high street heavyweights. While beleaguered department stores have been stealing the doom-and-gloom headlines for the retail sector in recent months, Britain’s bricks-and-mortar banks saw the greatest retrenchment last year, with some 716 [...]
Treasury under fire following allegations it had ‘influence’ over RBS GRG unit January 30, 2019 The Treasury has been accused of a “flagrant breach” of the arms-length relationship it had with RBS during the financial crisis following allegations that a Whitehall agency exerted influence over the bank’s controversial restructuring unit. On Tuesday allegations came to light via a legal claim by one of RBS’s former customers, Oliver Morley, that the [...]
Personal insolvencies reach seven-year high as credit squeezed and wages stagnate January 29, 2019 The number of people in England and Wales turning to insolvency to deal with debt problems has risen to a seven-year high as consumer credit tightens and wages stagnate. There were 34,108 individual insolvencies in the fourth quarter, an increase of 34.8 per cent on the third quarter. In 2018 the number of people who [...]
Oddbins owner appoints administrators with hundreds of jobs at risk January 28, 2019 The owner of wine retailer Oddbins is preparing to appoint administrators for the second time in less than a decade. European Food Brokers, which owns subsidiaries Wine Cellar Trading and Whittalls Wine Merchants, said it has filed a notice of intent to appoint Duff & Phelps as administrators to fix an insolvency, Sky News reported tonight. EFB, [...]
Here’s what happened to the UK professional jobs market in 2018 and what to watch out for in 2019 January 24, 2019 It is not unusual after the rest and relaxation of Christmas for people to consider their current career path and decide to search for new opportunities. But it’s also important for these prospective jobseekers – and hiring managers – to look back at the previous year, in order to learn about the current state of [...]
Scammers cost savers £202m in blow to pension pots January 21, 2019 More than 3,000 savers have lost a combined £202m to pension scammers in recent years, whose companies were later shut down by the government. The Insolvency Service warned investors today to guard their pension savings from investment scammers and negligent trustees, after it applied to the courts to wind up 24 companies that have carried out a [...]
Late payments: Public sector outsourcers fail to pay cash-strapped suppliers for six weeks January 14, 2019 The government’s most frequently-used outsourcers took more than six weeks on average to pay their suppliers in 2017, 11 per cent longer than two years earlier, data published today reveals. Many of these suppliers are small businesses operating with a limited cash cushion, meaning late-paying clients could easily wipe out their short term liquidity or [...]