Britons’ thirst for prosecco gets sales fizzing at Virgin Wines January 19, 2016 Virgin Wines has posted its strongest Christmas on record after sales of prosecco bubbled over to replace champagne as the fizz of choice over Christmas and New Year. The online wine retailer said it sold 51,000 bottles of prosecco in December alone compared with 38,000 in 2014, which was five times the number of champagne [...]
Mix it up: Low alcohol cocktails mean you can behave yourself without being a bore January 13, 2016 It's at this time of year that the puritanical prohibitionists start to circle. They can sniff out your Christmas excesses from 100 paces, and know that the New Year brings not only promise but promises, too. Dry January, sadly, isn't a prayer for clement weather. On top of the proselytising pressure to forsake alcohol for [...]
Majestic Wine gets Naked truth from new CEO Rowan Gormley April 12, 2015 The new chief executive of Majestic Wine says he will “unleash” the retailer’s entrepreneurial spirit and shake-up its online business following the £70m acquisition of younger rival Naked Wines. Rowan Gormley founded Naked Wines in 2008 after coming up with the idea of using crowdfunding to help forward-fund independent vineyards in return for exclusive wines [...]
How to hire a private island: Top tips and where to book March 15, 2015 Think desert islands are only for the Bransons of this world? Fly away to your secluded paradise in the sun. Peter Island, British Virgin Islands elegantresorts.co.uk With over 1,800 acres of unspoilt land, five pristine beaches and only three villas, Peter Island is a real isolated hideaway in the Caribbean. It has a spa [...]
The 100 City people you need to follow on Twitter this year, day one: Entrepreneurs January 5, 2015 It's the beginning of 2015, so it's time to give your Twitter account a revamp: out with that Cheryl Cole spoof account, in with people who can give you the knowledge to get ahead in your career. Over the next five days, we'll be giving you the best and brightest City types to follow, from [...]
The hour-long lunch break: Is it worth taking? December 15, 2014 Even well-known executives aren’t afraid to take some “me time”. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have been known to take them together. The French often take twice as long as the rest of us (and the Italians longer still), while 20 per cent of Brits claim not to take one at all, according to [...]
BG vote against £12m share award may make a Norwegian blue November 19, 2014 Desperate times call for desperate measures. How else to interpret the crude insinuation from BG Group that its newly anointed chief executive might not join if investors vote down a one-off share award worth £12m? The FTSE 100 oil producer certainly falls into the camp signposted “urgent need”, which explains why the lavish pay [...]
Sex, drugs and EU tolls: Why that £1.7bn bill is a gift to politicians November 4, 2014 Whichever way you look at it, the £1.7bn EU ‘toll-tax-bill’ is a fabulous win-win-win. The EU gets more revenue, the UK gets an increased rebate and the UK political parties have a PR gift from which to debate what the EU really means for the people and economy of the UK. The child in me [...]
Britain’s biggest companies call on Westminster for fundamental business rates reform September 16, 2014 Some of Britain's biggest businesses including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco, General Motors and Tata Steel have called on the government to rip up the current business rate regime claiming the current system is “a critical problem for all of British business”. The controversial tax delivers around £25bn to the Treasury every year, but [...]
JP Morgan RideLondon pair face Bertha in tandem cycle August 10, 2014 Cycling 100 miles is hard. Cycling it on a tandem bike is even harder. But you know it will be a challenge when you’re also doing it in the tail end of hurricane Bertha – just ask Tom Richards and Dan Willis, the JP Morgan employees who completed RideLondon in aid of Whizz-Kidz yesterday on [...]