Cut the obfuscation and let Britain move beyond Brexit June 17, 2019 Gone ’til November. The lyrics of rapper, activist and one-time Haiti presidential candidate Wyclef Jean. And it is the view of the great many of those vying to be Prime Minister: while we might be in the EU until October, we will be gone by November. You’d be forgiven for raising an eyebrow. Groundhog Day [...]
General Election 2019: Get ready for the populist onslaught October 9, 2019 Parliament might have blocked the Prime Minister’s repeated efforts to go to the polls but everyone in Westminster is gearing up for a pre-Christmas election. Even ministers who still claim their top priority is to “Get Brexit Done” are unambiguously positioning themselves for a snap vote. The working assumption is that a General Election will [...]
Coca-Cola’s advertisement history is like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly December 11, 2018 Coca-Cola's advertising resonates with millions across the world. It is renowned for being effective, entertaining and instantly recognisable, but the “Because I Can” campaign released in January proved to be a disappointment. This raised the question: what’s happened to its ad strategy? It’s time to delve into the good, the bad, and the ugly of [...]
Tax reform “just days away” says President Donald Trump as Congress scrambles to bring bill before Christmas December 17, 2017 Businesses in the US and abroad are bracing for a major upheaval in the tax system as President Donald Trump tries to rush through a vote on $1.5 trillion in tax cuts before Christmas. Trump today said Congress is “just days away” from delivering on its campaign promise. The President said he would deliver to [...]
Retail sector suffers worst Christmas in a decade as sales stagnate January 10, 2019 The UK retail sector has suffered its worst Christmas in a decade as sales stagnated during the crucial festive period, despite a string of positive updates offering a glimmer of hope. Overall retail sales were flat in December, the lowest level of growth since April and the worst festive performance since 2008, according to figures [...]
Consumers warned of Christmas cons as fake goods cases continue to rise December 3, 2018 Shoppers have been warned to be on the alert this Christmas as the number of court cases involving high value fake goods continues to rise. There have been 39 cases involving counterfeit goods worth more than £116m in the last two years, according to new data from KPMG’s Fraud Barometer. The research found that more [...]
Peppa Pig goes big at Christmas, boosting Character Group figures January 18, 2019 Peppa Pig is having a good day in the City as toymaker the Character Group reported positive momentum from the second half of last year has carried into 2019. The AIM-listed group – which owns rights to several popular brands, including Pokemon, Little Live Pets and Laser X – weathered a storm on the high [...]
Is the “Santa Rally” real? December 18, 2019 Investors found their festive spirits dampened at the end of 2018. With concerns over the health of the global economy looming large, global stocks fell 13.7 per cent in the final quarter of the year, according to the MSCI World Index. It wasn’t a merry advent period, indeed it was the worst December for markets [...]
Dixons Carphone enjoys gaming boost but signals more trouble in mobile market January 22, 2019 Dixons Carphone retained its full-year profit guidance this morning as a surge in gaming and super-size TV sales over the crucial Christmas trading period helped counter a persistent slump in demand for postpaid mobile phones. Buoyed by foreign demand from markets such as Sweden, Denmark and Greece, the FTSE 250 kept its profit guidance of roughly [...]
Retail’s Super Thursday: The good, the bad and the ugly January 10, 2019 Today's so-called Super Thursday delivered a very mixed shopping basket of retail results, from some fresh bargains ready to be snapped up to others in danger of being labelled as out of date. Tesco, John Lewis, DFS, Debenhams and more released their results on a day dubbed Super Thursday, but which coincided with a dire [...]