Marks & Spencer’s half year results – here’s what to look out for November 4, 2014 Marks & Spencer is due to report its first half results tomorrow morning, and the consensus is that it will be another gloomy one for the venerable British retailer. Analysts are saying the 770-store retailer will have racked up a 3.7 per cent decline in general merchandising like-for-likes during its second quarter. If [...]
M&S boss Marc Bolland puts the focus on womenswear and a five gold rings chocolate Christmas cake November 5, 2014 Everyone knows Marc Bolland is a bit of a charmer. The M&S chief has been under pressure all year with disappointing clothes sales and a finance chief who decided every little really did help and hopped over to Tesco. But yesterday, at the retailer’s half-year results event, the suave Dutchman came out fighting, with compliments. [...]
Fuel group calls for full inquiry into secretive petrol pricing process as oil continues to decline November 10, 2014 CAMPAIGN group FairFuel UK warned yesterday that petrol prices were not guaranteed to fall in tandem with the decline in benchmark oil prices. Brent crude dropped to a four-year low of $82 last week, and Asda, Morrison’s and Tesco all responded with a similar downward adjustment. This follows a call from chief secretary to the [...]
Black Friday to kick off £42bn Christmas spree November 23, 2014 Britons are expected to splurge £42.4bn in the run-up to Christmas – £1.5bn more than last year – as retailers brace themselves for an American-style Black Friday shopping frenzy set to take over their websites and stores this week. Sales are forecast to rise by four per cent year-on-year in the period starting from today [...]
Police blame retailers as Black Friday descends into chaos November 28, 2014 The chief of Greater Manchester Police has blamed retailers after officers were called to seven Tesco stores across Greater Manchester to deal with crowds at Black Friday events. In a video posted to YouTube, Sir Peter Fahy said three people had been arrested – including one who threatened to "smash" a staff member's face in, [...]
Goodbye Christmas jumpers – hello Christmas suits? The must-have self-purchase for 2014 revealed. Maybe December 2, 2014 Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a novelty outfit of some sort. The Christmas jumper has been a long-time favourite but, as with the Shoreditch beard that has grown in popularity over a similar period, it's safe to say we've now reached peak-jumper. Last year every retailer from Tesco to John Lewis jumped on the [...]
Over half of chickens sold by UK supermarkets are contaminated with bacteria, and the problem is worst at Asda November 27, 2014 Most chickens sold by UK supermarkets contain the bacterium campylobacter – the country's biggest cause of food poisoning. An investigation published today by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) revealed that over the last three months, 70 per cent of all fresh chickens sold by the nation's retailers tested positive for the micro-organism, and 18 [...]
Banks are back: How the UK’s banking sector got its mojo back as dividend payments rise March 26, 2015 The UK’s banks are back on form and could be the best place to invest for good and growing dividends. British banks such as Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays were once the best places to invest for solid dividends. Ten years ago, banks provided a quarter of all dividends in the UK market, according to figures [...]
Morrisons share price rises, despite 6.3 per cent fall in sales as Ocado tie-in fails to deliver November 6, 2014 If Tesco can take any consolation from its nightmare few months, it only has to look at rival Morrisons to realise it’s not in its struggle against the might of the discounters alone. In its third quarter results statement, Morrisons shortened its underlying profit before tax expectations after it recorded a drop in sales [...]
Falling Brent crude oil and prices at the pump delay interest rate hike October 13, 2014 Tumbling oil prices on world markets are expected to pull British petrol prices down even further in the coming weeks, with economists pushing back their predictions for when interest rates will finally rise. Brent oil prices plummeted more than $2 a barrel during yesterday’s trading, touching their lowest levels since 2010. At around $88 per [...]