Lake Capital in talks to back Engine Group July 21, 2014 The Engine Group, owner of PR firm MHP Communications and ad agency WCRS, is set to announce a major investment by Lake Capital by the end of the week. The London-based company’s 13 agencies provide services including advertising, lobbying and marketing to major brands including Tesco, Coca Cola and Lloyds Banking Group. MHP also advised [...]
Supermarkets are getting a quiet boost as entertainment spend booms online May 29, 2014 In the UK, one third of our spend on entertainment – so on CDs, DVDs and games – is now done online. Data from Kantar Worldpanel, covering the first part of this year, show that one in every three pounds people spend on physical entertainment objects is online. Interestingly, 20 per cent of all online [...]
Aldi and Lidl to grab more sales from supermarket stores June 30, 2014 The amount of money spent at Britain’s larger supermarket stores is set to shrink over the next five years, new figures show, as competition from discounters, convenience stores and online gathers pace. According to research released yesterday by the industry body IGD, the value of the UK grocery market is set to rise by 16 [...]
B&M Retail hails strong maiden results after IPO delivers windfall payout July 28, 2014 B&M Retail, the discount shopping chain, yesterday reported a strong start to the year in its first trading update since its stock market debut in May. The fast-growing chain, which sells everything from bedding to barbecues, said group sales jumped by 31.9 per cent to £367m in the first quarter to 28 June. UK sales [...]
Gather round for the Hudl – Tesco’s tablet launch event on the horizon September 17, 2013 On Monday 23 September, Tesco is holding a press event, with speculation that it's the unveiling of a new tablet, the Hudl. The Hudl arrives on the market with a rumoured price tag of £99, taking on Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus, and the tagline 'We've got something to show you.' Analysts anticipate a 16GB, [...]
London Report: Reports of new Pfizer Astra bid pushes up FTSE August 21, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index yesterday rose on gains in healthcare stocks, led by Astrazeneca on speculation that previously rejected US suitor Pfizer might make another bid. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 22.18 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 6,777.66 points. Astrazeneca rose three per cent to 4,411.50p, while domestic rival Glaxosmithkline advanced 1.2 [...]
Why did 7000 people just give $55,000 to a kickstarter project for potato salad? August 3, 2014 It’s funded the Oculus virtual reality device and the Pebble watch, but now kickstarter has helped fund its most ambitious, if slightly surreal, project to date: potato salad. Asking at least $1 for something which you can pick up for the princely sum of 35p at Tesco is probably more ambitious than asking people to [...]
Laying down the law on M&A and sell offs September 22, 2014 LAW FIRM of the year The past year has seen law firms work with the government and banks on the selling of shares and on the investigations into alleged failings at big companies. Against that backdrop lawyers have also started to benefit from the upturn in the M&A and financing markets, beefing up their private [...]
London Report: Miners lead way as second half kicks off with a jump July 1, 2014 LONDON’S leading shares yester-day kicked off the month and the second half of the year on a positive note, as investors looked to a mixed bag of global manufacturing surveys. The FTSE 100 ended up 0.87 per cent at 6,802.92. The FTSE 100 is still 1.3 percent off its 2014 peak of 6,894.88 in May, [...]
And the nominees are… September 7, 2014 TOMORROW: ACCOUNTANCY FIRM OF THE YEAR ALDI The German discounter has taken the British high street by storm. Aldi now has a 4.6 per cent share of the UK market, up more than one third in a year due to consumers choosing its quality and low prices over the more established retailers. It has even [...]