Land Securities buys Bluewater shopping mall stake for £656m June 25, 2014 LAND Securities has bought Lend Lease’s 30 per cent stake in Britain’s fourth largest shopping centre Bluewater for £656m after a heated battle for the site. The acquisition is a coup for property giant, which has been selling several of its regional shopping centres in order to make way for acquisitions in the south east [...]
City Moves for 02 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 1, 2015 Savills The property adviser has appointed Natasha Demirbag as neighbourly matters director in its building and project consultancy team. She has 17 years’ experience in property, and has previously held roles at Watts and Partners, Drivers Jonas, and Orpwood Associates. Brown Shipley The private bank has appointed Jim Willens as chairman. He has been a [...]
Tesco pays out £1.2m to former chief executive February 3, 2015 TESCO has reluctantly agreed to hand over more than £2m in payments withheld from its former chief executive and former chief financial officer in the wake of last year’s shock £263m profit scandal. Britain’s biggest supermarket said yesterday that it will pay Philip Clarke £1.22m and Laurie McIlwee £970,880 in “liquidated damages” after lifting suspensions [...]
Tesco: Here’s what the City and analysts are saying about record annual losses April 22, 2015 As the details of Tesco's losses and its turnaround plans sink in around the City, here's the initial take from analysts, business experts and even the man funding shareholder litigation against Tesco over the profit overstatement last year that triggered it all. Louise Cooper, CooperCity – "Tesco is like Miliband – it has two kitchen [...]
Mary Queen of Shops flagship scheme failing to make an impact August 2, 2014 Mary Portas' government funded scheme to restore the high street has failed to have a significant impact, reports Sky News. Portas' high street revival project received £1.2m in public funding and focused on 12 town centres. Wolverhampton was one those chosen to pilot the scheme and received £100,000. The results were mixed, with five retail [...]
Philip Clarke, Euan Sutherland and Dov Charney – the bosses who left us in 2014 December 19, 2014 This year has had its fair share of disasters – from the Co-op’s continued struggles to Tesco’s melting share price. But what of the people behind the stories? We’ve got the best, worst and most surprising people moves of the year. 1. Philip Clarke makes an unceremonious departure from Tesco Clarke stepped down at [...]
Employee owned businesses in the UK booming July 4, 2014 The number of employee-owned companies in the UK is on the rise, outstripping growth in all other businesses. According to a recent report, the employee-owned sector grew 10 per cent in 2012, the last period for which figures are available, compared to 3.1 per cent for all businesses. Employee-owned businesses now account for 3 per [...]
TSB promises modest bonuses as it aims for a cleaner image June 5, 2014 REVIVED high street bank TSB yesterday tried to differentiate itself from other banks by vowing to keep bonuses relatively low – yet these could still be 100 per cent of base salary for executives. The bank claims its policies are inspired by market leaders such as John Lewis – for instance, all staff will be given £100 [...]
Apple Pay launches: Why mobile payment is about take off October 21, 2014 Apple Pay, the tech giant's mobile payment service, has launched in the US offering users the ability to pay for items using just their mobile phone. It kicks of the most high-profile launch in the nascent mobile payment space, which could finally push it into the mainstream. A mobile wallet is perhaps the best way [...]
Thinking bigger: My Voucher Codes founder Mark Pearson talks Fern Britton and young tech entrepreneurs November 16, 2014 While we’re talking, it suddenly dawns on Mark Pearson that it’s his company’s eighth birthday. “It’s definitely around now,” he laughs, raising his empty plastic water cup in the air. In June of this year, Pearson sold My Voucher Codes, as part of his parent company Markco Media, to global mobile money technology provider [...]