Mining and Tesco shares help FTSE 100 to a six-week high – London Report October 8, 2015 Surging mining stocks and a surprise rise in Tesco’s shares buoyed the London market yesterday, with the FTSE 100 ending at its highest closing level since the summer. The blue-chip index finished up 0.2 per cent at 6,336.35 points – its highest closing level since 20 August. The FTSE came down off its earlier intraday [...]
How nine challenger banks reacted to the CMA’s report on current accounts August 9, 2016 Nine challenger banks including TSB and Metro Bank have slammed the findings of the UK's competition watchdog in its investigation into the retail banking sector, arguing the review has missed “a golden opportunity”. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) report, published this morning, called on banks to implement an “open banking” standard by 2018, allowing customers to monitor and access all [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Fewer fights – but also fewer deals reported by shoppers as Tesco turns away non-Black Friday bargain hunters November 27, 2015 Bargain hunters are experiencing a less stressful Black Friday so far – but they are also reporting fewer must-have deals on sale, as retailers attempt to keep better control on things than last year. Last year stores including Tesco opened their doors at midnight – this year those participating in Black Friday today opened at [...]
Tesco facing US court case as four firms sue over 2014 accounting scandal October 11, 2015 Tesco is being sued by a group of US funds over the 2014 accounting scandal which caused the supermarket's share price to collapse. In September last year, the company revealed that its profits had been overstated by £263m and the aftermath saw shares drop to a ten-year low. The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, [...]
A government commissioned report unveils a series wide-ranging ideas for shaking-up the state pension October 13, 2016 The state pension age could be set to rise further after the former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry issued his provisional findings to the government. John Cridland today issued an interim report on the state pension age and although it fell short of making specific recommendations, the report gave a steer to the department for work and pensions (DWP) [...]
Christmas 2015: Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda predicted to clean up this festive season – but Aldi, M&S and Lidl will beat Morrisons November 10, 2015 Black Friday might be set to be less of a big deal this year but Christmas is going nowhere. In fact, the UK is expected to spend £16.5bn on food, drink and presents during the festive season – up 2.5 per cent from last year. That's an average of £442 per person, according to data from [...]
Ofcom: Sky garners few complaints across broadband, TV, mobile and telephone, but BT, EE, Plusnet fare badly July 8, 2016 Things aren't getting much better. The total number of complaints made to Ofcom in between the last three months of 2015 and the first three months of 2016 was stable – though, to be fair, there was a slight decline in pay-monthly mobile complaints. Sky consistently got less complaints than the industry average, while Virgin [...]
The weather this weekend could have a surprising effect on beer sales August 24, 2016 With two of the summer's biggest events – the Notting Hill Carnival and the Reading Festival – due to take place this weekend, Britons will be keeping a close eye on the weather forecast as they make plans for the Bank Holiday. The Met Office has issued a heatwave alert – which prompted a health warning [...]
Black Friday sales 2015 UK: The best deals and offers from John Lewis, Amazon, Tesco, Currys PC World and Sainsbury on 27 November November 27, 2015 Retailers have been building up to Black Friday for months – now it's finally here and the best bargains have gone on sale. There's plenty of deals to choose from, ranging from electricals and homeware to fashion and sporting goods. Here's our round-up of the best the high street (and online) has to offer today. John [...]
City Moves for 24 August 2016 | Who’s switching jobs August 24, 2016 Smith & Williamson Smith & Williamson, the investment management, accountancy and tax group, has appointed Grant Hotson as group financial director. Grant joins the main board of Smith & Williamson and will sit on the firm’s subsidiary boards relating to the tax and business services and the investment management and banking divisions. He takes over from [...]