Karren Brady among 22 new peers as David Cameron fields accusations of cronyism August 8, 2014 West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady is among 22 new peers announced by the government today. The former Apprentice TV show judge is one of 12 new Tory peers, along with former chief executive of Marks and Spencer Sir Stuart Rose. Three new Labour peers, six from the Liberal Democrats and a Democratic Unionist [...]
Hong Kong’s Gaw buys M&S London offices November 21, 2013 HONG KONG-based private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners and three South Korean investors have teamed up to buy the London headquarters of retailer Marks & Spencer for around $321m (£198m), adding to a string of property deals by Asian investors this year. Asian investors, including insurers and banks, are buying into European properties as a way [...]
London Report: Retailers reveal where tills rang for Christmas January 12, 2014 RETAILERS are expected to reveal where UK shoppers showed their Christmas cheer, with a round of results in contrast to last week’s gloomy December tidings. Figures out this week from retailers such as Argos, Asos, Dixons, Ocado and Primark are expected to show increased sales. The successes are in contrast to the sales dips seen [...]
Why Stagecoach is so successful in the US December 11, 2013 US MARKETS are often seen as the place British businesses go to die, which makes Stagecoach’s transatlantic success something of a surprise. The firm operates around 2,600 buses and coaches in the US and Canada, as well as offering commuter and school bus services. And while Stagecoach is already a key player in the UK, [...]
A DIY investment price war could be on the way January 15, 2014 Imagine if Sainsbury’s or Tesco made you pay to enter their supermarkets and buy their milk and bread, but promised that the milk and bread would be much cheaper than before. That slightly dystopian vision is what occurred to UK money management industry last year, after regulators decided the relationship between suppliers and distributors was [...]
Asos and M&S downgraded by UBS. Here’s why December 18, 2013 Some sobering news for UK clothes retailers this morning, as UBS cut its ratings for both Marks and Spencer and Asos from 'buy' to 'neutral'. M&S is trading in the red, having shed over four per cent to 434p, and is topping the FTSE 100's biggest fallers this morning. UBS said: We cut our forecasts [...]
Quintain sees £8m profit as customers flock to new Wembley outlet village November 25, 2013 Quintain has reported half year pre-tax profits of £8.0m, from a loss of £25.2m last year. The designer outlet village at Wembley saw 350,000 visitors in its first month of opening, and the developer reported that AEG has been appointed to manage the Wembley arena. In its first phase of development, 21 per cent of [...]
Inside Track: Ross’s brutal shake-up could prove painful for taxpayers January 29, 2014 ROSS’S Brutal Shake-up – come next month, that will be the most appropriate use of the initials of Britain’s most troubled lender. After Monday’s kitchen and bathroom sinking all rolled into one, it’s not difficult to see why. McEwan’s predecessor as chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Stephen Hester, was fond of describing [...]
Reflections on Tulchan’s demise at Marks & Spencer February 14, 2013 FOUR weeks ago I asked Andrew Grant of Tulchan a simple question. Had his firm been fired from the retailer Marks & Spencer as its external financial public relations adviser, following the leaking of its annual results which forced their rushed and premature publication? Grant, rightly known for being courteous, well-informed and straightforward, responded that [...]
Scottish independence: BT, TalkTalk, EE, Telefonica, Vodafone and Three warn of increased costs if Scots vote Yes September 14, 2014 Six of Britain's leading telecoms companies are the latest to warn of potential price rises if Scotland votes Yes to independence. The chiefs of BT, TalkTalk, EE, Telefonica UK, Vodafone UK and Three UK have issued a joint letter warning that the uncertainty around regulation and spectrum allocation, which mobile networks use to operate, could [...]