Startup Spotlight: Jnck Bakery May 17, 2023 Jnck Bakery was founded by brothers Sean and Alex Brasill in 2021 as a passion project focused on the UK obesity crisis and lack of healthy food innovation. Seeing an opportunity to create something that makes a positive difference – and tasted good – they created the world’s first HFSS-compliant cookie. Now halfway through their [...]
Princes falls to £50m loss and makes further redundancies as potential sale looms January 16, 2024 Food giant Princes cut over 150 jobs while slipping to a loss of more than £50m despite its revenue rising by £300m, new documents have revealed.
Business travel is back and ‘buoyant’, new data shows June 28, 2023 Business travel is back and “buoyant”, according to new data from the Advantage Travel Partnerships’ Global Business Travel Review, with the business community booking more trips and for longer periods. Booking volumes in the UK’s business travel market, covering aviation, rail and accommodation, hit 90.8 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of [...]
JD Wetherspoon shareholders await impact of cost of living on budget pub chain’s pint sales July 10, 2022 Investors will be eager to see if the cost of living crisis has made any dent to JD Wetherspoon sales in the budget pub chain’s quarterly update this week. Analysts said a wider downturn in consumer spending could be mitigated by the chain’s cheaper prices enticing drinkers but thin margins risked a gloomy verdict. The [...]
Dunelm: Savvy shoppers cash in on later winter sales as online purchasing booms April 20, 2023 Dunelm shoppers looking to bag a bargain were boosted by a delayed winter sale, with online purchases seeing another post-pandemic bump. The London-listed retailer reported sales of £432m up from £399m in the same period compared to last year. Dunelm attributed the moving of its Winter sale into the third quarter – compared to the [...]
Matalan deal done but founder Hargreaves won’t be coming back January 16, 2023 A long-awaited debt-for-equity swap which will save retailer Matalan has been confirmed – but founder John Hargreaves, who has been around the business for forty years, will not be part of the new management structure. Hargreaves had tried to put a bid together with Elliot Advisers to take over the business. But a host of [...]
First Kingfisher now Wickes: DIY drop off dents profit for home improvement – but it’s not all bad news March 23, 2023 Wickes has seen a drop in profits for the year as consumers’ love for home improvements took a dent from rising costs, despite the company reporting ‘record’ sales. The DIY retailer posted pre-tax profits of £75.4m down from a “record” £85.0m in 2021 when Brits were engulfed in a number of circuit breaker lockdowns and [...]
Letters: Running away from the banks November 17, 2022 [Re: Computer says no: Frustrated businesses screaming for fresh cash struggle to get bank loans, Nov 15] As the cost-of-living crisis rumbles on, the computer says no attitude of the traditional banking system is causing huge issues for SMEs who need access to finance to survive and grow. When the going gets tough and businesses [...]
Food inflation reaches 14.5 per cent and looks set to remain high, new data reveals March 1, 2023 Food inflation reached a staggering new high of 14.5 per cent in February, according to new data, with retail groups predicting that prices will continue to rise over the coming months. While inflation more broadly has started to come down, food inflation soared to 14.5 per cent in February, up from 13.8 per cent the [...]
Lidl swings to loss of £76m as fight to keep prices low offset by surging costs September 14, 2023 Discount supermarket chain Lidl has revealed its British arm swung to an annual loss after battling to keep a lid on prices as its costs rose “across the board”. The group reported pre-tax losses of £76 million for the year to February 28 against profits of £41.1 million the previous year as it also invested [...]