Warm weather to cool Christmas sales at Marks & Spencer January 4, 2016 The mildest December on record combined with intense competition on the high street is expected to spell a gloomy end of the year for retailers, with Next and Marks & Spencer the first to unveil this week how they fared over the crucial Christmas period. The wet and mild weather, security fears in the aftermath of the [...]
Fears for London IPO market as Misys and O2 pull 2016 float plans October 27, 2016 London’s stuttering initial public offering (IPO) market suffered more blows today as Misys pulled plans for a float and Telefonica said late on Wednesday it would not be listing O2 this year. City sources fear that, with investors spooked by Brexit uncertainty, it appears likely that other large deals will be abandoned or pushed back. Tech [...]
UK weather: Storm Frank, Storm Eva and Storm Desmond bring record rain to UK in December December 31, 2015 Storms including Frank, Eva and Desmond have contributed to make one of the wettest Decembers on record, while temperatures have risen to smash previous highs for the time of year. Early provisional statistics from the Met Office suggest the UK mean temperature between 1 and 29 December was a record-breaking 8 °C which is 4.1 °C above the long-term average, beating [...]
John Lewis sets the bar for Christmas trading with healthy 2.3 per cent growth in festive week December 31, 2015 The high street can breathe a sigh of relief if bellwether John Lewis is anything to go by: sales at the department store during Christmas week were up a healthy 2.3 per cent on 2014. The retailer, which last year celebrated its 150th anniversary, posted sales of £129.2m in the week to 26 December. The shopping [...]
FTSE 100 index falters as the price of oil slides January 14, 2016 The FTSE 100 index opened down this morning as the price of oil continued to linger around $30 a barrel. The UK's blue-chip index opened 1.68 per cent down at 5,860 points. "For the first time this year the FTSE 100 managed to post two positive days in a row yesterday, buoyed by a rebound in [...]
Slash and burn: Samsung just cut profit forecasts by a third October 12, 2016 Samsung has slashed its profit outlook for the quarter by a third after the feted launch of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 ended in a fiery recall. In an update to markets, the South Korean firm slashed its estimates for the quarter to the end of September to 5.2 trillion won (£3.8bn), dialling back on initial [...]
Family debt jumped 42 per cent to more than £13,500 in six months January 13, 2016 With growth in the economy looking shaky, it seems the amount people are borrowing has increased: new figures showed family household debt rose a whopping 42 per cent to £13,520 in the final six months of last year. The figure, which excludes mortgages, is up from £9,520 in summer 2015, and £9,050 last winter. It's also [...]
London banks are falling for Frankfurt, according to this German official November 14, 2016 Financial firms are eyeing up their opportunities in Frankfurt following the summer's Brexit vote, an official from Germany's finance ministry has said today. There have been numerous reports of banks tidying up their contingency planning, as businesses consider whether they need to move some of their operations out of London to make sure they can continue [...]
Tiffany’s share price falls as it reports poor Christmas sales thanks to a strong dollar and weak tourist spending January 19, 2016 Jeweller Tiffany & Co saw its share price tank today, after reporting sales struggled over the Christmas period. Tiffany shares were trading down by around five per cent by late morning in New York. The figures Revenue in the two month holiday period over November and December fell six per cent to to $961m (£679m). On a constant exchange-rate basis, [...]
Flood defences will put people first, says the Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan January 2, 2016 After hundreds of people were forced to leave their homes in Yorkshire and Lancashire, the Environment Agency's chief executive has said "people will always come first" in the fight to defend the UK against flooding. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir James Bevan said: "If we have to choose between people and wildlife, we [...]