Who’s facing the axe in 2016? Bookmaker offers odds on CEO sackings January 3, 2016 Let's face it; everyone dreads the first day back at work. To keep stress levels especially high at the top, bookies Ladbrokes have been drawing up odds on which CEOs will be clearing their desks by the end of the year. Only two chiefs can afford to relax, according to the firm; Easyjet’s Carolyn McCall and Taylor [...]
Burberry profits fall 24 per cent despite Brexit boost November 9, 2016 Burberry reported plummeting profits in the first half of the year – but added that the fall in sterling had pushed up comparable sales by 30 per cent in the UK. Silver linings? The figures Underlying pre-tax profits fell 24 per cent to £146m in the six months to the end of September, as revenues fell to [...]
Marks & Spencer’s share price tumbles as womenswear boss Frances Russell leaves August 13, 2015 Marks & Spencer's share price has fallen by almost two per cent this morning on the news of yet another shake-up at the troubled high street chain that will see its womenswear boss Frances Russell step down. Russell, who has led the womenswear business for three years, will be replaced by M&S’s lingerie boss [...]
The digital media innovators of tomorrow are taking disruption to the next level October 21, 2016 When Jill Lepore, critiquing Clayton Christensen's The Innovator’s Dilemma in the New Yorker, queried his theory of disruptive innovation ("disrupt, and you will be saved"), some commentators felt she had a point. But a theory of change proposed by Christensen back in 1997, the idea that companies will fail if they do not disrupt themselves, [...]
Mrs M&S tightens her purse strings, as Steve Rowe’s total pay cut by £400,000 June 10, 2016 Marks & Spencer's Steve Rowe has recently tried his hand at profiling to understand what his customer considers value for money, but it's the figures in the retailer's remuneration report that might be more interesting to him at the moment. The retailer's annual report, which was released yesterday, revealed that the new chief executive's pay had been [...]
Little festive cheer for investors as FTSE 100 finishes flat December 24, 2015 It seems Santa didn't have much in his sack for equities investors this year, after the FTSE finished the day's session flat at 6,254.64 points, just 0.22 per cent higher. It was a disappointing outcome, after the bluechip index showed signs of a late Santa rally yesterday, closing 2.6 per cent higher as mining stocks rebounded. But trading during this morning's [...]
M&S retail boss wrote to former chancellor George Osborne to defend benefit cuts for staff November 4, 2016 M&S management wrote to former chancellor George Osborne this summer as the business was under siege for cutting staff benefits. In an internal memo seen by City A.M., the retail director of M&S, Sacha Berendji, told staff he wrote to Osborne responding to criticism about cutting premium pay rates for staff. Read more: M&S shells out £100m for pension changes [...]
FTSE 100 history: how the index has changed over 33 years July 3, 2017 The FTSE 100 index has just seen one of its quarterly changes with security firm G4S and real estate investment trust Segro promoted to the top 100. Although perhaps small in themselves, these regular events have changed the face of the UK’s leading index since it was formed in 1984. For the many investors whose [...]
Marks & Spencer slips back into decline after just one quarter of growth July 7, 2015 Marks and Spencer's general merchandise arm has slipped back into decline following just one quarter of growth. The figures: M&S' story is pretty much the same as it has been for many months. Total sales in general merchandise were up 0.2 per cent but like-for-likes were down 0.4 per cent, reversing a solitary [...]
Britain should vote for Brexit before the inevitable Eurozone meltdown February 23, 2016 Despite David Cameron’s embarrassing imitation of Oliver Twist in Brussels last week, his negotiations ended up mired in the minutiae of trivial amendments to the UK’s relationship with Europe. Small restrictions to child benefit and vague wording about exemption from a common currency and “ever closer union” are the thin gruel that our hapless Prime [...]