Marks and Spencer pulls advertising from Google over extremist content March 20, 2017 Marks and Spencer has become the latest firm to pull its advertising from Google after reports that it has been allowing adverts for UK companies to appear on extremist websites. A recent investigation by the Times showed that UK advertisements, from the likes of Sainsbury's, RBS and the UK government, have been posted on YouTube [...]
The Treatment review: A darkly satirical take on the movie business and its players May 5, 2017 The Treatment is a work of lofty, detached genius, reminiscent of the jostling intellectualism of Martin Amis – it's dense, complex, and utterly assured of its own brilliance. On face value, it’s about how the media – in this case, the film industry – edits and rewrites “truth” until it’s at best a distant cousin [...]
Centrica, Domino’s, Genel, and Intu unveil chief execs’ payouts on Budget day March 16, 2016 A number of companies released their annual reports today, and revealed the pay packages their bosses will be pocketing. It was noted by some that the firms had chosen rather a big news day to publish this information, given that George Osborne delivered the Budget at lunchtime – but that was probably just a big [...]
Domino’s is putting more cheese on your pizza thanks to drop in food prices March 3, 2016 Ordering Domino's Pizza this evening? Then you may find that the pizza chain has been more generous with the cheese topping on your Margherita, as a drop food prices helped contribute to a jump in sales and profits last year. Chief executive David Wild said its franchisee saved around £11m thanks to record low cheese prices, a drop in [...]
Domino’s Pizza’s share price jumps after tasty fourth quarter results February 25, 2016 Domino's Pizza's share price surged after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results, including double-digit same-store sales growth. The pizza delivery company reported revenue of $741.2m (£530.6m) during the quarter, pushing its share price up more than 10 per cent. Domino's said revenue was helped by higher supply chain volumes and sales of equipment to [...]
20 years on, could the Asian financial crisis be repeated? July 12, 2017 The Asian financial crisis of 1997 was a traumatic dislocation for financial markets that I experienced first hand, working as a fund manager for Schroders in Singapore. The fallout was shocking. The Indonesian economy, for instance, shrunk by 85% in US dollar terms during the aftermath, a contraction unthinkable today. Twenty years on, the pressing [...]
Domino’s Pizza warns it could be hit with extra slice of retrospective tax April 3, 2016 Domino’s Pizza has warned it could be slapped with a retrospective tax bill related to past bonus schemes dating back to 2003. In its annual report, the fast food chain revealed it is in talks with HM Revenue & Customs over some of its bonus plans between 2003 and 2010, which used trusts to award [...]
Holiday delivery failures threaten to have a big impact on UK retailers’ bottom lines and tarnish reputations December 21, 2016 Delivery failures over the Christmas period are set to impact UK retailers' bottom lines as they could be missing out on more than £3bn, new research today revealed. In the UK, 16m consumers faced delivery delays over the 2015 holiday season, and 73 per cent of them still refuse to shop with the offending retailer this [...]
London must lose clearing crown after hard Brexit, warns BlackRock boss January 24, 2017 London will not be able to play a central role in the core functions of European financial markets like clearing in the event of a so-called hard Brexit, the vice chairman of the world’s largest asset manager has warned. BlackRock's Philipp Hildebrand suggested at the European Financial Forum that the UK cannot “have the cake and [...]
Now banks have pulled their Google ad spend as Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds pile on pressure March 20, 2017 Google is facing growing pressure over claims it's profiting from hate speech as some of Britain's biggest banks are the latest to pull their ads from YouTube. Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds have suspended their advertising with the tech giant following an investigation which revealed household brand names were appearing next to offensive and extremist [...]