Sainsbury’s set for £1.3bn Argos deal: Supermarket and Home Retail Group could announce agreement today February 1, 2016 Sainsbury's is close to clinching a £1.3bn deal to buy Home Retail Group after improving its offer ahead of today’s deadline. The supermarket chain made an initial bid of around £1bn for the Argos owner in November, saying a combination of the two businesses would create a retail empire to rival John Lewis and Amazon. [...]
Hold onto your hats: Stocks pare losses in the US but the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones still sink February 8, 2016 US markets pared losses but still finished lower this evening, after a stormy start to the week for global markets sent investors fleeing for shelter in safe havens such as gold and government bonds. The Nasdaq, which at one point dipped three per cent, settled 1.8 per cent lower. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 finished the day 1.4 per [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK date and deals: The best offers to expect on 27 November, plus who were the winners and losers from last year October 14, 2015 Black Friday is less than seven weeks away – it falls on 27 November this year – and already consumer sites are full of predictions for which deals we'll be falling over ourselves (and other people) to pick up in 2015. We spent £810m last year, with John Lewis celebrating its biggest sales week of [...]
Argos signs drop-off and delivery deal with eBay October 15, 2015 Argos has joined forces with eBay to allow sellers on the online marketplace to drop off their parcels at the retailer’s stores and have them delivered within 48 hours. By the end of the year, eBay’s 200,000 sellers will be able to drop off sold products at 150 stores across the country, with more sites [...]
iPhone SE review: Does Apple’s miniaturised phone live up to the hype or does size really matter? Here’s our day one verdict March 30, 2016 I feel like a giant. I feel like a god. My fingers feel as long and slender as a concert pianist’s. My thumbs reach right to the top corner of my phone screen for the first time in years. I feel alive. Apple today releases the iPhone SE, which looks almost identical to 2013’s diminutive iPhone [...]
Apple’s iPhone SE is the world’s best little phone March 30, 2016 Apple today releases the iPhone SE, which looks almost identical to 2013’s diminutive iPhone 5, with its 4” screen (how tiny!) and chamfered edges. Only little details like the gleaming Apple logo, matt edges and duel flash allow you to tell them apart by sight alone. It’s a sign that the Cult of Big may [...]
From Tesco and the death of the Defender to MBAs and Donald Trump: Here’s what got us talking this week January 29, 2016 HSBC celebrated the first pay day since Christmas by going offline (again). We learned that there are just 12 special words in every job interview. And everyone who wasn't 29 years old questioned this study. Here's what got us talking 1) You're not imagining it Yes, it's true: those commuting into London really do have it the [...]
Ho, ho, ho: From Ed Miliband to Wikileaks, here are 10 lol-tastic City-related Christmas cracker jokes December 15, 2015 Let's face it, the anticipation of opening a Christmas cracker is always better than the rather disappointing result: inevitably, a limp hat, a toy that breaks within minutes and a joke that makes everyone groan. But groan no more: UKTV comedy channel Gold has come up with the UK's best Christmas cracker jokes. They're topical, [...]
Literally everything you need to know before you start filling in your online self-assessment tax return January 28, 2016 Congratulations, you survived Christmas and New Year: time to put your feet up while waiting for the Rio Olympics? Nope. The deadline for submitting your self-assessment tax return (SATR) online is 31 January. And there are penalties if you don’t make it, or if HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) takes the view you haven’t taken [...]
Black Friday UK 2015: 1 in 5 ecommerce websites including John Lewis, Boots, Boohoo and Argos went down before 9am this morning November 27, 2015 UK retailers’ online shops are buckling under the strain of Black Friday, with one in five crashing before most of us had finished our morning commute. Argos, Boots and Game were among those that had downtime before 9am, showed data from commerce agency Ampersand. The agency is tracking what websites are currently live, showing how [...]