Last Week in the City: August rate rise now less likely July 20, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (16 to 20 July 2018). The chances of an interest rate rise at the Bank of England’s August meeting appeared to recede this week after inflation data was more subdued than expected and retail sales data [...]
FTSE 100 closes lower as global markets struggle with trade war fears April 6, 2018 The FTSE closed in the red today, as fears of a trade war continued to take their toll on markets around the world and US jobs data disappointed. The FTSE 100 index was down over 15 points at 7,183.64, coming off a low of 7,163.11 earlier in the day. Data on UK productivity this morning [...]
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 [...]
M&S joins the battle against rising high street rents May 24, 2018 Marks & Spencer’s top team yesterday joined calls for landlords to give retailers fairer rents, as it revealed a massive drop in profits. The company reported that pre-tax profits were down 62 per cent in 2017, mostly as a result of its store closure programme. Chief executive Steve Rowe said in a presentation he had [...]
Wine experts at Marks & Spencer have predicted what you’ll be drinking in 2017 January 13, 2017 In 2016, we had the rise of English bubbly, craft beer and gin. Now, wine experts at Marks & Spencer have uncorked their top predictions for the year ahead. 1. First of all, we'll be drinking less Dry January got us all talking about the growing number of high-quality low or zero alcohol drinks, and [...]
Dixons Carphone’s share price falls nearly 20 per cent on back of profit warning May 29, 2018 Dixons Carphone’s share price fell nearly 20 per cent this morning as the electronics giant warned profit will be 21 per cent lower this year than last year. In a trading update the retailer said pre-tax profits for 2017-18 would be £382m, down from £501m last year. The following year’s profit is expected to be [...]
Google’s top European boss Matt Brittin has apologised to its advertising clients over extremist content March 20, 2017 The European boss of under fire tech company Google has apologised to clients over its failure to stop adverts appearing next to extremist content. "I think we can do better," said Matt Brittin on the morning that Marks and Spencer pulled its ads from YouTube. It follows a weekend when several other advertisers put a [...]
John Lewis, Waitrose and Lidl: The top 10 retailers with the best customer shopping experience – Forrester February 15, 2018 Middle England favourites John Lewis and Waitrose continue to triumph when it comes to offering shoppers the best customer experience – but Lidl is racing ahead of rivals. The discounter climbed to ninth – a rise of six places – in an annual ranking of the best customer shopping experience, taking into account things such [...]
Alex Jones, brand safety, and the issue of how brands can protect themselves in a murky online world September 17, 2018 To paraphrase Game of Thrones, the internet is dark and full of terrors. We’re all aware of issues on the web: the proliferation of hate speech, fake news, offensive content, easy access to pornography or violent images, even terrorist propaganda. For individuals wanting to safely navigate the online world, it’s easy to avoid the darker [...]
Alex Jones, brand safety, and the issue of how brands can protect themselves in a murky online world September 17, 2018 To paraphrase Game of Thrones, the internet is dark and full of terrors. We’re all aware of issues on the web: the proliferation of hate speech, fake news, offensive content, easy access to pornography or violent images, even terrorist propaganda. For individuals wanting to safely navigate the online world, it’s easy to avoid the darker [...]