RateSetter founders Peter Behrens and Rhydian Lewis talk banks, Australia and dwarves November 9, 2014 Ask the founders of a business if they’ve got a good setback story, and they’ll usually give you something fairly typecast. Not in the case of RateSetter. “Pete the painter,” answers Peter Behrens firmly, looking over to co-founder Rhydian Lewis. It seems completely off piste, but it actually shows that rumbling the status quo, [...]
Tipping point: Why there’s never been a better time to start a business in Britain June 8, 2014 WE HAVE now heard Her Majesty the Queen utter the words small business and enterprise in Parliament. Last week, she announced the first ever bill dedicated to small firms in the Queen’s Speech: the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill. This was soon followed by a release from the Office for National Statistics showing the [...]
Witty proves a big hitty with GSK employees March 20, 2014 WHEN you start a new job, it can be quite difficult to know whether you’re walking into the garden of worklife Eden or the gates of Hades. Unless you’ve got someone on the inside. Lucky you. Well thanks to the people at Glassdoor (it’s all about transparency – see what they did there) we have [...]
My nine key predictions for the City over the 12 months ahead January 7, 2015 It's with some trepidation that I set out my predictions for the year ahead in corporate Britain, not least because the first of them might appear misguided even by the time you read this. ONE Tesco, which today updates the City on Christmas trading, will be the winner among the food retailing establishment’s “big four” [...]
Market debut for investor in UK mutuals February 23, 2014 CAPITAL for Colleagues, an investment vehicle that focuses on opportunities in the employee-owned-business (EOB) sector, will today unveil its plans to list on the London-based ISDX growth market and raise more than £2m. The firm invests in businesses that are owned by their employees, in the same model as department store chain John Lewis. “Through [...]
Mourinho puts faith in Made in Chelsea youth December 9, 2014 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho insists the club are on the threshold of a productive new era of youth development and that the first fruits will be on display tonight against Sporting Lisbon. Mourinho plans to hand midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 18, a first-team debut in an experimental side shorn of John Terry, Eden Hazard and Willian, [...]
Connecting talent: ING Discerning Eye Exhibition opens at The Mall Galleries November 12, 2014 The work of budding artists from around the UK hangs alongside that of internationally recognised names at this year’s ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, which opens to the public today. The exhibition at The Mall Galleries in SW1 comprises six separate sections, each assembled by a prominent figure from the art world. To [...]
British manufacturing’s long decline could be about to end March 11, 2014 ROSS Perot, as a US presidential candidate in 1992, infamously decried “the giant sucking sound” of jobs being exported abroad as a result of free trade. It was populist nonsense, of course. Trade creates far more jobs than it destroys – and London’s high value added economy wouldn’t exist without it. That so many low [...]
Amazon sales growth halves February 3, 2014 AMAZON’S sales only grew by 12.6 per cent to £4.5bn in the UK last year, a slowdown from its previous growth of 21 per cent in 2011 and 2012. The online retailer’s UK sales rose by around $800m compared to sales a year earlier, but came in under 2012’s rise of $1bn and 2011’s $1.4bn. [...]
Tesco is shopping for a new chairman October 23, 2014 SIR RICHARD Broadbent yesterday announced his plans to leave Tesco, and said he felt the need for a demonstration of accountability by the supermarket’s bosses. His decision came as the firm revealed its pre-tax profits had slumped 92 per cent on the year to £112m in the first six months of its financial year. Sales [...]