Brothers who built brand with purpose February 16, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks travelling, Topman, and the English weather with Rob Forkan – the tsunami orphan who co-founded new flip flop brand Gandys INNOCENT may have pioneered a whole new approach to marketing (the company has even published a book about its “story,” and “what they’ve learned”), but no business tale will ever be as [...]
London Report: Financials hold FTSE down yet Sky gives a lift January 14, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index steadied near two-month highs yesterday, with a sell-off in financials offset by a crop of solid updates in the healthcare and retail sectors, while BSkyB shares jumped following a note from UBS. The broadcasting giant closed up 3.75 per cent after UBS analysts suggested various potential merger activities and said the [...]
Brand Index: Squeezed middle still unconvinced by economic upturn December 10, 2013 THE CHANCELLOR’S Autumn Statement, made last Thursday, was hailed in many quarters as a good day for George Osborne and for the government. But when we conducted an online focus group of people from the so-called “squeezed middle”, we found they are not yet feeling the benefits of growth. The picture they painted of their [...]
Totalize can pay for the turkey December 19, 2013 THE Ladbroke (3.35pm) is the big betting race this side of Christmas and the rain has come at the perfect time for Brian Ellison’s TOTALIZE. The son of Authorized loves a deep surface and he has been the main market mover all week – his odds plummeting from 25/1 to the current 8/1 with Coral. [...]
Cricket Comment: Ashes catastrophe means this England team is finished December 17, 2013 THEY say Christmas is a time for reflection and I’ve a feeling England team director Andy Flower will be doing more soul-searching than most over the next couple of weeks. The late Bob Woolmer once told me he believed coaches had a maximum of five years with a team – by then you’ve imparted all [...]
Cue Card prepared for King George return December 16, 2013 Bill Esdaile pays a visit to Kempton hopeful’s stable CUE Card, a dual Cheltenham Festival winner and ante-post favourite for next week’s William Hill King George VI Chase, is certainly not alone at Venn Farm. The seven-year-old shares his small, picturesque Dorset stables with 67 other racehorses and 235 dairy cows under the watchful eye [...]
John Lewis hit by week delay of Black Friday November 24, 2013 CHRISTMAS sales at John Lewis slowed last week, as tough comparatives from a year ago prevented a repeat of last week’s stellar growth. The department store group reported sales of £111.9m in the week to 23 November, up 2.1 per cent on the same week last year, as the cold weather drove sales of coats [...]
Argos shuns own brand tablets in new stores November 26, 2013 IT HAS only been a matter of weeks since Argos heralded the launch of its own, super-cheap tablet, pitching the £99 MyTablet as the perfect budget choice – with built in Argos apps to help direct customers to making purchases from its other product ranges. So The Capitalist was surprised to see bright and shiny [...]
Twelve days to save Christmas as HMV falters December 13, 2012 THE FUTURE of HMV was thrown into doubt once again yesterday after the music entertainment retailer warned it is likely to breach its banking agreements at the end of January, sending shares tumbling 40 per cent. The company said weak market conditions had created “material uncertainties” for the business, after a worse than expected start [...]
London Report: Steepest fall for the FTSE since mid-November December 3, 2013 MINERS and oil companies led Britain’s FTSE 100 lower yesterday as strong economic data prompted investors to bet that equity-friendly monetary stimulus would soon be reduced. The FTSE 100 closed down 62.90 points, or one per cent, at 6,532.43 points, its sharpest one-day fall since mid-November. The blue-chip index has fallen roughly two per cent [...]