Grocery spending hit record high at Christmas as Brits favour food over gifts January 7, 2025 Grocery spending hit a record high this Christmas as Brits dined out on premium goods and fizz, in a marked contrast to the anaemic growth in retail spending. Overall take-home sales at the grocers rose by 2.1 per cent over the four weeks to 29 December compared with last year. Brits splashed out on premium [...]
Johnson Matthey: US investor ramps up activist campaign January 7, 2025 Johnson Matthey’s largest shareholder has piled pressure on the FTSE 250 chemicals group, calling its response to a demanded strategic review “wholly insufficient”. In an open letter to Johnson Matthey chair Patrick Thomas, today, US industrials investor Standard Investments slammed the group’s “destruction of shareholder value” as part of its activist campaign. Last month, Standard [...]
Next: FTSE 100 retailer hikes profit guidance but warns on costs January 7, 2025 Retail industry bellwether Next has upgraded its profit outlook for the year after sales and growth exceeded expectations during the Golden Quarter. The FTSE 100 company hiked its expected profit by five per cent as sales jumped six per cent in the nine weeks to 28 December, nearly double its previous guidance of 3.5 per cent. [...]
Profit stalls at iconic motorcycle maker Triumph January 7, 2025 Profit has stalled at iconic motorcycle brand Triumph as an economic downturn in China and a fall in the value of sterling impacted its sales. The Derbyshire-headquartered business, which is owned by billionaire John Bloor, has reported a pre-tax profit of £72.6m for the year to 30 June, 2024, up slightly from the £72.3m it [...]
Close Brothers chief executive steps down after medical leave January 7, 2025 Close Brothers group chief executive Adrian Sainsbury has stepped down from his role after four months of medical leave. The FTSE 250 CEO began in the role in 2020 after more than 11 years at the company, joining Close Brothers as chief executive of its commercial arm before becoming director of the group’s main banking [...]
Time to address the elephant in the room: AI’s impact on legal fees January 7, 2025 Last year, the legal sector saw record-level salaries and large mergers, all while rolling out every AI policy under the sun. So what does 2025 look like?
Retail gloom as festive season fails to save 2024 trading January 7, 2025 High street stores showed anaemic growth in the 2024 festive season, despite hopes that Christmas trading would inject some cheer into the sector. Sales grew just 0.3 per cent overall in the ‘golden quarter’, which includes Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Online sales continued to beat in-store, [...]
With expectations so low, Starmer might just carve out a win January 7, 2025 From a news perspective, the Christmas break was more Deck the Halls than Silent Night. Keir Starmer ended last year with approval ratings so low that critics were never going to call off the dogs in the spirit of good will to all men. The PM couldn’t even enjoy a toboggan run in Madeira without [...]
Founder Favourites: Richard Farleigh on what playing chess, investing and starting a business have in common January 6, 2025 Richard Farleigh sits down with Jennifer Sieg and Emmanuel Nwosu, speaking on all things investments, start-ups, ambition and the future of business.
AIM-pocalypse: Number of £1bn firms on junior market falls to nine-year low January 6, 2025 Only six companies listed on London’s junior market AIM are worth more than £1bn, the lowest level for the exchange in nine years. The number of companies worth over £1bn has dropped by 80 per cent since the start of 2022 and almost halved over the last year, according to data from the London Stock [...]