Pets at Home groomed for 2020 glory after record Christmas January 22, 2020 Pets at Home is making progress in its bid to be top dog in the UK pet market, announcing a 12th consecutive quarter of growth in this morning’s trading update. The grooming company, which has said that it wants to generate 50 per cent of its revenue through services, saw group revenue grow 7.9 per [...]
BP’s finance chief steps down after 34 years at oil giant January 21, 2020 After 34 years at the company, BP’s chief financial officer Brian Gilvary today announced his retirement from the oil major. Gilvary, who has been in his post for eight years, will be succeeded by Murray Auchincloss, who currently holds the same job in BP’s upstream division. Auchinloss will join the board on 1 July and [...]
Joules store closures hurt half-year profit after full-year warning January 21, 2020 Joules revealed a dramatic plunge in profit to just £1.7m today as it took a £6.7m hit to close stores and relocate its head office in the six months to the end of November. The figures Joules booked an 82 per cent drop in profit before tax from £9.3m this time last year to just [...]
Jeremy Corbyn has busted the myth of Labour’s moral superiority January 21, 2020 Let’s play a game. Imagine that a Tory-supporting business leader had delivered her company’s worst financial results for more than three decades. Let’s further imagine that the company had then, because of significant overspending, had raised the prospect of firing dozens of ordinary workers — while rewarding said senior executive with a bumper new contract [...]
Over 1000 EU financial firms planning to open UK offices after Brexit January 20, 2020 More than 1000 banks, asset managers, payments firms and insurers from the European Union are planning to open offices in post-Brexit Britain so they can continue to serve UK clients. The new offices would help financial firms counter the loss of business as unrestricted two-way access between the UK and EU comes to an end [...]
The cost of an international office January 20, 2020 From expanding sales to mitigating Brexit risk, many companies are securing presence overseas. Some companies have already set up an office in the EU to avoid trade barriers in the future, others are considering a move or a satellite office in the EU or further afield to take advantage of new opportunities in emerging geographic [...]
Spilling the beans: How coffee chain Grind has carved out its own London niche January 20, 2020 Given how busy life in the capital can get, and how hard the people here work, most Londoners must live on coffee. It’s the only plausible explanation for the explosion in coffee shops in recent years. Independent coffee houses are thriving alongside the big brands like Costa and Pret a Manger. According to research by [...]
Central London property investment soars after General Election January 17, 2020 Investment in central London’s office market soared in December, after the result of the General Election sparked a flurry of deal activity. The £4.9bn invested in the fourth quarter of last year was a 125 per cent jump on the amount invested in the previous quarter and was on par with 2018. The Conservative general [...]
Lekoil fraud scandal firm says it will help investigation January 16, 2020 The consultancy which is alleged to have brokered Lekoil’s loan deal with a Qatari wealth fund has issued a statement announcing its own investigation into the matter. Seawave Invest, which West African oil explorer said it had paid $600,000 for introducing it to the individuals “purporting to be the [representatives] of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)” [...]
Businesses urged to support employees seek settled status, or risk ‘catastrophic’ consequences after Brexit January 15, 2020 Businesses are being urged to ensure their employees apply for settled status as soon as possible, or risk losing up to a fifth of their workforce, with more than a million Europeans still yet to do so. A third of UK-based EU nationals, of which the vast majority are in employment, have failed to secure [...]