For Generation Insecurity, the British dream has turned sour November 1, 2019 My 14 year old son is in a band. He loves playing to his classmates and studying GCSE music. Bizarrely (for me), he’s quite into Queen and eighties songs, which I joke with him was the same stuff I was listening to when I was his age. Intergenerational humour apart, it got me thinking about [...]
Ocado bags sales jump amid decline in supermarket sector July 23, 2019 Ocado has posted a double-digit rise in sales over the last quarter as it defied an overall decline in the supermarket sector. The online retailer boosted its sales by 11.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to 14 July, stealing a larger chunk of the competitive grocery market. Read more: Sainsbury’s sales slip in ‘tough’ [...]
Watchdog finds no evidence of junk food ads targeted at children after ‘avatar’ sting June 6, 2019 The advertising watchdog has found no evidence of brands deliberately targeting junk food adverts at children online, but has still pledged to stop children from coming across ads for unhealthy food. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today said it did not identify “any clear evidence” of brands trying to deliver ads for products high in [...]
Barclays director Chris Pilling surprise candidate to become new FA chief March 23, 2019 Barclays director Chris Piling is one of the final candidates in the race to take over as chief executive of the Football Association, according to Sky News. Piling is a leading contender to replace Martin Glenn at the FA but faces competition from Mark Bullingham, the current chief commercial and football development officer at the [...]
Household spending reaches pre-crisis levels as labour market strengthens and inflation falls January 24, 2019 Household spending rose to pre-crisis levels last year and family spending power grew at its fastest rate in more than two years. Weekly spending rose to £572.60 in the year ending March 2018, the highest since 2005 after adjusting for inflation, the Office for National Statistics said today. Family spending power was also £11.37 – [...]
Tesco shares: Reasons to be cheerful June 18, 2019 Early selling following this Q1 update attracted bargain hunters. Our head of markets explains why. Tesco (LSE:TSCO) recovery from the dark days of having taken its eye off the ball in the UK continues apace. The radical overhaul which the business has undergone has seen Tesco’s shares rise by 50% over the last three years. More [...]
Rise of the nerds: Why CEOs are more tech-focused than ever May 14, 2019 Chief executives of the UK’s top firms have more technological experience than ever before, helping them better deal with a digitally-focused world, a new study has shown. Read more: Joules lures in top Asda director as new chief executive The annual Robert Half CEO tracker, released today, has shown that the proportion of FTSE 100 [...]
Are UK supermarkets ready for Brexit? September 25, 2019 “One can say very clearly what the direction will be: higher prices, less choice, and poorer quality, because all of those dimensions have been improved by these open trading relationships that we’ve had over the last 40 years […] Brexit, almost in whatever version it is, will introduce friction, it will introduce barriers. That makes [...]
Competition watchdog accuses drugs companies of illegal market sharing May 23, 2019 The competition watchdog today said it was launching a probe into four pharmaceutical companies which it said colluded to raise the price the NHS paid for a nausea treatment medicine. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had provisionally found that Alliance, Focus, Lexon and Medreich had agreed not to compete for the supply [...]
Unleaded petrol pump prices in the UK: Petrol and diesel prices drop for third month in a row February 5, 2019 The price of petrol and diesel dropped for the third month in a row in January, as the cost per litre reduced by more than 1p. The UK average price of unleaded was 120.92p on average, while diesel was 130.01p, according to research from RAC Fuel Watch published today. Read more: Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's to cut price [...]