Morrisons bosses set for bumper payday from private equity takeover July 11, 2021 Three of Morrisons’ most senior executives are set to earn millions from the supermarket’s proposed private equity takeover as scrutiny grows over the deal. Morrisons has accepted a £6.3bn takeover offer by a consortium of funds led by private equity firm Fortress — the latest in a growing frenzy of US buyouts of British firms. [...]
Card clash: Mastercard UK’s Mark Barnett on the battle for payments market share October 15, 2018 The likelihood is that, reading this, you have a Visa debit card somewhere on your person. Only two per cent of Britons currently have a Mastercard debit card, but that will change shortly after a string of wins for the US giant which will see its market share increase by 10 times. TSB and Santander [...]
Supermarket sweep: The fight for Morrisons heats up with Fortress increasing offer to £6.7bn August 6, 2021 The battle for control of one of the UK’s biggest supermarkets, Morrisons, has stepped up a notch today, with Fortress increasing its bid to £6.7bn. Fortress increased its offer to £6.7bn, or 272p per share when a 2p per share dividend is included, from £6.3bn earlier. The private equity consortium said said it “notes the [...]
Retailers suffer biggest drop in consumer spend on record: BRC May 9, 2018 Retail spending suffered the sharpest decline since records began last month, according to the British Retail Consortium. Year-on-year consumer spend dropped by 3.1 per cent in April, following a 2.3 per cent rise in March, adding to downbeat data that makes a Bank of England interest rate hike this week even less likely. The drop [...]
Ditch the Chequers Agreement and Hammond can scrap his ‘Amazon tax’ August 22, 2018 Thanks to the Prime Minister’s commitment to raise NHS spending by an additional £20bn, the chancellor is now in a quandary. Philip Hammond signed up to the theory that raising taxes increases revenues, which goes against the volumes of evidence that it actually depresses economic activity, encourages switching of spending to other lower-taxed areas, and [...]
Deal or no deal: Do UK supply chains have what it takes? September 26, 2018 Waking up to doom and gloom headlines about Brexit is becoming a regular occurence. The latest panic? Stockpiling. If the UK leaves the EU without a deal – which is now a distinct possibility – importers could face massive delays at customs due to increased administrative processing at border points. Dover, will be the key choke [...]
Whatever the weather, Next sticks to its guns May 11, 2018 Predicting the weather is notoriously fraught with difficulty, but predicting that retailers will blame the weather for bad performance is a sure thing. Whether it’s too rainy, too snowy or even too sunny, high street operators are renowned for finding a way to pin their poor performance on something other than their own actions. The [...]
Timeline – Thomas Cook’s humble beginnings to a billion-pound collapse September 23, 2019 Thomas Cook’s insolvency has left hundreds of thousands of people stranded abroad, and cost tens of thousands of jobs in the UK. But it has been a long time coming. With debts ballooning over the last 10 years and a near-miss in 2011, Britain’s oldest travel firm has endured a bumpy ride in recent years [...]
Here’s how business groups have reacted to Theresa May’s conference speech October 3, 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May used her conference speech today to attack Labour’s plans on the economy and slap down her Conservative party rivals – saying austerity was “over” and promising to fix the “broken” housing market. Business groups have been keenly awaiting May’s speech, as she fights off rebellions from her own MPs and attempts [...]
Brexit “already being felt” warn farmers and food industry February 11, 2018 Farmers and food producers have warned that the effects of the Brexit vote are already being felt even before Britain has left the European Union. The £112bn a year food industry warned that it will be “deeply affected by Brexit” and that it has already started to happen. Read more: A rebel Tory MP thinks [...]