Tesco, Asda and Morrisons named Christmas losers by Kantar as Waitrose, the Co operative, Aldi and Lidl crowned the winners January 12, 2016 There was little Christmas cheer for the supermarket sector – but some individual grocers outperformed the wider market, Kantar Worldpanel said this morning. The sector as a whole fell 0.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 3 January, with Asda dropping the furthest – consumer spend at the Walmart-owned retailer was down 3.5 per cent. Tesco [...]
Vocalink is reportedly in talks to merge with rival Sia November 5, 2015 Payments infrastructure company Vocalink is reportedly in talks for a £2bn merger with Italian counterpart Sia. According to Sky News the discussions are said to be at a preliminary stage, and could take several months before an agreement is reached. Vocalink declined to comment. VocaLink runs the Faster Payments Service and BACs which handle trillions [...]
Boxing day sales 2015: UK shoppers expected to spend over £3bn as John Lewis and Selfridges enjoy strong starts December 26, 2015 British shoppers are expected to spend heavily in this year's Christmas sales, with stores such as John Lewis already boasting of strong trading figures. According to figures from the Centre for Retail Research and vouchercodes.co.uk, around 22m shoppers will spend £3.74bn in sales this festive period – a six per cent increase on last year. Department [...]
Eddie Jones’ first England rugby squad: Who will be dropped, which youngsters will be promoted and what time will it be announced? January 13, 2016 Eddie Jones announces his first England squad as head coach this afternoon – and he is expected to cull big names as he prepares for the Six Nations. A host of uncapped youngsters will be given the chance to show off their test rugby credentials in the 33-man elite player squad while some who regularly featured [...]
UK oil and gas: Confidence in the North Sea oil industry plummets to all-time low November 26, 2015 More woes for UK oil, as a new industry report shows confidence in the embattled North Sea oil and gas industry plunging to a new record low. Four in five contractors feel less confident about their prospects now than they did last year, according to the latest Oil and Gas Survey. Unsurprising, perhaps, considering the [...]
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct hits back after facing defeat in Findel shareholder vote December 21, 2015 Sports Direct has lashed out at Findel after shareholders today overwhelmingly voted against appointing one of its representatives to the board. In a fiery statement issued this evening, the company said the combination of Sports Direct's retail expertise and having Ben Gardener as a board director "would have added value to Findel for the benefit of all of its [...]
Toy story: Hamleys close to being taken over by owners who are planning department store expansion October 22, 2015 Famous London Toy shop Hamleys is close to being taken over by a Chinese retailer who wants to set up shop in more locations. C.banner International said in a statement today that it is in talks with Ludendo Enterprises, the current owner of the Regent Street giant, which is said to be the oldest toy [...]
Record trading brings festive cheer to retailer House of Fraser January 6, 2015 HOUSE of Fraser has posted a record Christmas, buoyed by Black Friday and strong online sales, lifting expectations for the department store group’s full-year results. Like-for-like sales for the six weeks to 3 January rose eight per cent, with online sales up 31.2 per cent while sales from bricks and mortar stores rose 4.2 per [...]
Black Friday UK 2015: Here’s how retailer websites Argos, Amazon, John Lewis, Currys and more are holding up as people hunt for deals November 26, 2015 Customers hunting for Black Friday deals are being held back by the slowness of retailers' websites, with Argos customers waiting nearly 10 seconds to bag a bargain in some instances. The Argos website had temporary service issues for 15 minutes on the Friday before the biggest shopping day of the year, according to website analyst firm Capacitas. [...]
Record Christmas sales to drive full-year growth at House of Fraser January 6, 2015 House of Fraser has reported a record Christmas, buoyed by Black Friday and strong online sales growth, helping lift expectations for the department store group's full-year results. Like-for-like sales for the six weeks to January 3 rose eight per cent, with online sales up 31.2 per cent while sales from bricks and mortar stores [...]