Tesco finance chief Laurie McIlwee poised to step down April 3, 2014 TESCO’S long-serving finance chief Laurie McIlwee is expected to step down as soon as next week, amid mounting pressure on Britain’s biggest supermarket chain to stem falling sales in UK and in Europe. Concerns over McIlwee’s position at the company emerged in October after Tesco unveiled a 70 per cent slump in European trading profits, [...]
2014 Black Friday, Cyber and Manic Mondays set to break all UK records December 1, 2014 Black Friday became a weekend-long shopping spree yesterday as consumers were set to spend about £650m during Cyber Monday. Yesterday marked another pre-Christmas internet shopping frenzy, and industry body IMRG estimated that about £451,000 was spent per minute – making it the busiest online shopping day ever and a 26 per cent increase on last year. Market [...]
Ageas UK improves combined ratio despite declining profits November 5, 2014 INSURANCE group Ageas UK reported a £64.8m profit for the first nine months of 2014, down from £73.7m posted for the same period last year. The company improved its combined ratio in the third quarter of 2014, at 96.6 per cent compared with 98 per cent in 2013. Ageas owns Tesco Underwriting, but does not [...]
Brent crude oil falls below $50 January 7, 2015 The price of Brent crude oil has dipped below $50-a-barrel mark for the first time in five and a half years, marking a symbolic moment for oil. The black stuff fell another two per cent this morning to $49.99 a barrel. Yesterday Brent crude dipped to $51.12, following a six per cent fall on Monday, [...]
Why Engawa is an unusually well thought-out restaurant March 17, 2015 In Japan, the fax machine is still king of the office. While the western hemisphere abandoned it at the first whiff of email, the Japanese persevered, appreciating the personal touch that comes from a hand-written note, even if that note has been broken down into a series of blips and hisses and reassembled somewhere far [...]
Black Friday UK 2014 vs 2013: Live graph reveals how insane this year’s frenzy is as more retailers get on board November 28, 2014 Is it us, or has Black Friday gone crazy this year? There have been reports of punch-ups at supermarkets and even someone breaking their wrist in the clamour to get hold of a cheap telly. And as if we didn't already need a reminder of the sheer American-ness of it all, Asda has laid on [...]
FTSE 100 falls again as price slump hits oil sector – London Report October 20, 2014 Britain’s top equity index resumed its fall yesterday, giving back half the gains made in the previous session, as investors reckoned with reduced earnings expectations for oil companies after a slump in oil prices. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down 43.22 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 6,267.07 points, after rising 114 points on [...]
Blackstone mulls £1.5bn takeover of drinks bottler December 7, 2014 US PRIVATE equity giant Blackstone Group is considering a £1.5bn takeover bid for Refresco Gerber, Europe’s largest soft drinks bottler, it emerged yesterday. The US investment specialist is among several interested parties weighing up bids for the Anglo-Dutch company. Blackstone’s private equity rival KKR and CVC Partners are also rumoured to be circling, with bids [...]
In charts: Spending on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Manic Monday to peak at £470k per minute November 26, 2014 Retailers including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Amazon and Currys PC World are gearing up for what are tipped to be some of the biggest shopping days of the year. The retailers have unveiled a whole range of deals on everything from electricals like TVs, tablets and other gadgets to designer watches, clothing and [...]
Tesco retreats as Clarke puts the brakes on February 25, 2014 Supermarket pulls out of the space race with plans to slash spending and cut prices TESCO’S chief executive pledged yesterday to put the brakes on its UK expansion and spend £200m slashing prices as Britain’s biggest grocer seeks to revive sales and win back falling market share. Speaking at an investor conference, Philip Clarke laid [...]