Sports Direct scores extra points on profits May 28, 2015 SHARES in Sports Direct were quick off the mark yesterday after Mike Ashley’s sports retail empire said full-year profits were running ahead expectations. In an unscheduled update ahead of its annual conference for staff yesterday, Sport Direct said earnings for the year to 26 April would come in at £380m, roughly in line with market [...]
Sports retailer defies odds to increase sales July 16, 2015 SPORTS Direct managed to shrug off a year of bad press surrounding its use of zero-hours contracts, as well as England’s early exit from the World Cup, to increase revenue and profit in the 12 months to April 2015. Group revenue rose by 4.7 per cent to £2.83bn, from £2.71bn in 2014, helped by its [...]
Birthdays off, team lunches and free gym membership: Here’s how to be the perfect boss August 21, 2015 Thought being a good boss was about good communication and nurturing talent? Put away those management books, people. It turns out your team is far more fickle than that… That's according to research by gambling review site Mobileslots.com, which quizzed a group of office workers about the attributes of their dream boss – and discovered [...]
Fitness Tracker: How useful is technology in the quest to get healthy? May 13, 2015 Last year I underwent a 10-week fitness program with City gym No 1 Fitness. It involved four personal training sessions a week and eliminating carbs and sugar from my diet. Unsurprisingly, it worked; I ended up fitter than I’d ever been. But how easy is it to get to that level of fitness if you [...]
Slug & Lettuce owner Stonegate gearing up for £1bn float May 26, 2015 Stonegate, the pub company that owns Slug & Lettuce and Yates's, is considering floating on the London stock market next year. The business, which owns more than 600 pubs and bars in the UK, has begun speaking to investment bankers about going public at some point in 2016. The group – the UK's [...]
Generation Rent needs to stop obsessing about owning a home: renting is not a social curse July 22, 2015 Renting may be becoming the norm for large swathes of the UK’s population, certainly the under-40s, but a fundamental mindset change still needs to take place away from ingrained assumptions owning a home is preferable to renting it. For many the idea of lifelong renting is something to strive away from at all [...]
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct share price rises after raising profit outlook May 28, 2015 Sports Direct's share price shot up more than four per cent ahead after upping its profit forecast for its most recent financial year, ahead of its AGM today. The sportswear retailer's employees and major third party suppliers will gather to hear updates on the group's current and future performance, raised its profit and earnings outlook for [...]
Pure Gym gets back on its bike and plots overseas expansion September 3, 2014 Budget fitness chain Pure Gym is shaking off its £300m failed merger with Gym Group by pushing ahead with ambitious expansion plans and hunting for smaller acquisitions. Founder Peter Roberts said yesterday that it expected to grow from 70 clubs to 90 by the end of the year, as well as securing its first two [...]
Fitness Tracker: The best running apps to use with your Apple Watch May 20, 2015 It’s been almost two weeks since I decided to get fit again, using technology to help to keep me motivated. This week I’ve been trying out different running apps to see which ones are the most helpful, with a focus on those I can use with my Apple Watch. It’s worth pointing out that as [...]
Keeping obesity at bay: Why diet is more important than exercise when you’re trying to lose weight April 23, 2015 The world has a growing obesity problem, but this doesn't mean you need to get a gym membership and start running everywhere – being more active just won't make a difference, according to a group of medical experts in the UK. To keep the weight off, it's going to involve limiting the amount of sweet [...]