Peltarion, the AI startup used by Nasa, Ocado and Tesla, raises $20m February 14, 2019 Swedish artificial intelligence (AI) startup Peltarion is heading across the Atlantic after closing a $20m (£15.5m) funding round. The series A funding was led by Euclidean Capital, which has also backed the likes of popular DNA ancestry startup 23 And Me. Existing investors FAM, which is owned by Swedish investor family the Wallenbergs, and EQT Ventures also took [...]
Lidl crowned UK’s fastest growing supermarket March 3, 2020 Lidl was the fastest growing supermarket in the UK over the last 12 weeks, taking the crown from online grocer Ocado. The German discounter increased sales by 11.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 24 February, becoming Britain’s fastest growing grocer for the first time since November 2017, as it opened its 800th store [...]
Aldi extends Deliveroo online grocery trial to London store June 12, 2020 Discount supermarket Aldi will extend its trial of delivering groceries to people’s homes via Deliveroo to include a store in Camden, London. Aldi, Britain’s fifth largest supermarket, launched a trial of the delivery model last month over eight outlets in the Midlands. It said the initial trial had gone well, and that it would therefore [...]
Marks and Spencer’s former finance chief to join Belron January 8, 2020 Marks & Spencer’s ex-finance chief will make a swift return to the corporate world, only eight days after leaving the British retail stalwart. Humphrey Singer, who worked for Marks &Spencer’s for less than two years, will become the new chief financial officer at Belron, a vehicle glass repair firm. Read more: Ocado joint venture with [...]
Amazon workers told to work overtime to meet coronavirus demand March 17, 2020 Workers at Amazon’s warehouses in the UK are being told to work overtime as the company meets the surge in demand amid the coronavirus outbreak. The GMB union said workers across at least four different sites were informed that they had to work “compulsory overtime” from Monday, according to the BBC. Amazon will also hire [...]
Ocado and Marks & Spencer see shares rise on reports of food delivery partnership January 28, 2019 Shares in Marks & Spencer and Ocado were up this morning following reports the firms are in talks over a possible food delivery partnership. Ocado and Marks & Spencer saw their shares rise five per cent and one per cent respectively in early trading after it emerged the retailer could sign a deal to use [...]
London Stock Exchange enters talks to buy stake in Primarybid June 30, 2020 London technology startup Primarybid is in talks to sell a chunk of its business to Britain’s stock exchange, following a successful partnership between the pair. London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the parent firm behind the London Stock Exchange, has entered detailed discussions with Primarybid about an investment, Sky News reported. Primarybid is an everyday investing [...]
Putting the ‘great’ back into Great British brands December 3, 2020 UK businesses are failing to realise a return on investment from their biggest asset to help drive sales growth: brands. Unless urgent action is taken, there will be irreversible damage to the ability of British businesses to compete on a global scale. The declining brand values of British companies are reflected in 2020’s BrandZ Top [...]
Ocado boss Tim Steiner refuses to comment on M&S tie-up reports February 5, 2019 Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner today refused to be drawn on reports of a potential tie-up with Marks & Spencer after reporting a revenue boost in the firm’s full-year results. “We’re in the business of talking to retailers; we’re constantly talking to different retailers all around the world about opportunities we may have with them,” Steiner [...]
DFS to cut jobs at Dwell and Sofa Workshop as revenue falls £271m July 14, 2020 Furniture firm DFS has announced that it will cut jobs as part of a restructuring programme after the coronavirus pandemic caused revenue to drop £271m year-on-year to £725m. The company said that the cuts would take place at subsidiaries Dwell and Sofa Workshop, and were necessary in order to maintain DFS’ “future competitiveness”. The restructurings [...]