BT ‘on path to growth’ despite first-quarter revenue slip July 29, 2021 BT today issued a bullish forecast for its prospects for the rest of the year despite posting a decline in revenue and pre-tax profit in the first quarter. The FTSE 100 firm reported a three per cent slip in revenue to just over £5bn due to the continued impact of the pandemic. This was offset [...]
Tesco completes £8bn Malaysia and Thailand business sale prompting £5bn shareholder windfall December 18, 2020 Tesco has completed the £8bn sale of its Thailand and Malaysia businesses and is gearing up to pay a £5bn special dividend to shareholders. The supermarket announced this morning that the division’s have been acquired by C.P. Retail Development Company, which is backed by Charoen Pokphand Group, CP All Public Company and Charoen Pokphand Foods. [...]
Hostelworld in talks with lenders over €30m facility after lockdown restrictions hit bookings January 13, 2021 Hostelworld is in talks with lenders over a new €30m (£26.7m) debt facility after taking “minimal” bookings in the final few months of last year. The budget accommodation platform said global travel demand remained muted in the fourth quarter of 2020, and trading continued to deteriorate from August until the end of the year due [...]
UK supermarkets secure best Christmas on record as online sales double January 6, 2021 Online share of UK grocery sales doubled in December, helping to drive supermarkets to their biggest Christmas on record. A total of 8.5m households shopped for their Christmas groceries online this year, up almost 3m compared to last year and equating to roughly a third of all UK households. This pushed total spend at UK [...]
Guinness recalls non-alcoholic stout over safety concerns November 11, 2020 Guinness has urged customers not to drink its new non-alcoholic stout due to a microbiological contamination. The brand, which is owned by drinks giant Diageo, recalled its Guinness 0.0, saying the product may not be safe to consume. Guinness’ alcoholic stout is not affected by the contamination issue. It told customers to return the non-alcoholic [...]
FTSE 100 edges into the green as Wall Street opens higher on tech bounce September 10, 2020 The FTSE 100 edged into the green as US stocks opened higher as a bounce in tech stocks overshadowed the high number of jobless claims. London’s blue-chip index climbed 0.19 per cent after spending most of the session in the red in anticipation of the ECB’s rates decision. The FTSE 250 of smaller-cap firms rose [...]
Pressure mounts on big four supermarkets as Lidl enjoys record Christmas sales January 13, 2021 Lidl has strengthened the pressure on its competitors by remaining the fastest growing retailer against the UK’s big four supermarkets of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons. The German chain achieved a record Christmas in 2020 with overall sales increasing 17.9 per cent in the same four-week December period versus the previous year. With Christmas favourites [...]
Aldi becomes fourth supermarket to return business rate relief December 3, 2020 Aldi has become the forth supermarket to return the full value of the business rate relief it has received during the pandemic. Aldi will pay back more than £100m to the government and devolved administrations. The decision follows pledges from Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s to do the same, which will pay back £585m, £230m and [...]
Lidl pays back £100m in business rates relief December 4, 2020 Budget supermarket Lidl has joined the Covid repayment train in announcing it will pay back millions in business rates relief it received at the start of the pandemic. In March, the supermarket sector along with other retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England, was granted a business rates holiday for 12 months. Lidl today said [...]
Asda joins ranks of supermarkets set to return business rates relief December 3, 2020 Asda has joined the growing number of UK supermarkets to hand back business rates relief given by the government to help it through the coronavirus crisis. This afternoon the grocer confirmed that it would repay £340m in emergency support – the fifth supermarket to make such a pledge. Since Tesco first announced it would give [...]