More bad news for retailers: Consumers to send back £223m-worth of unwanted Christmas presents January 6, 2015 Retailers have started to report their Christmas performances, and while online growth is something that many of them will trumpet proudly, the rise of etail presents a growing challenge for the sector. This year will see record levels of unwanted gifts being returned to retailers, with one estimate putting the total amount being sent [...]
Jobs at risk as Johnsons reveals plans to shut more than 100 dry cleaning outlets January 6, 2015 A third of Johnsons Dry Cleaners branches are to be shut within the next six months, putting up to 450 jobs at risk. The business, which also operates a larger textile rental arm, said its dry cleaning division had not manage to maintain performance in 2014 and that 109 branches whose leases were up [...]
January is the worst month of the year for your marriage January 6, 2015 While you're considering whether to take that smoothie machine back to the shop, your other half may well be mulling a different sort of swap. We all know January is pretty bleak but it turns out it is also the worst month for your marriage – one in which most British couples either start [...]
Love is in the air – but is it in your borough? We crunch the numbers to find where most people are single in the UK January 6, 2015 You can't turn on the TV without being invited to think of 2015 as the year you finally meet The One. Here at City A.M. we're a cynical bunch and we think playing the numbers game is probably the best way forward. So we've crunched the numbers and found out where the most single men [...]
Why is the first quarter the worst time of year for retail administrations? January 6, 2015 Hating January already? Be thankful you're not a retail business, because the festive hangover is even more brutal for them. The first quarter has been consistently the biggest period for retail failures looking back over the past three years – and experts believe 2015 could see even more companies collapse as the repercussions of [...]
City Link administrators sell off £1.125m of assets January 6, 2015 City Link administrators EY have sold partial assets from the defunct parcel service, raising £1.125m to help pay off its creditors, which includes a £20m debt owed to private equity owner Better Capital. Joint administrators Hunter Kelly, Charles King and Tom Lukic have sold cages, scanners and certain intellectual property to Aim-listed rival DX [...]
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 [...]
Fashion chain Bank enters administration leaving more than 1550 jobs at risk January 5, 2015 Fast fashion chain Bank has been placed into administration, less than two months after being sold by JD Sports Fashion. Deloitte is handling the administration, which puts more than 1,550 jobs at risk less than two months after it was bought out by restructuring specialist Hilco Capital. Deloitte's partners Bill Dawson, Daniel [...]
Aldi recalls Choceur Treasures chocolate batch after salmonella scare January 5, 2015 Aldi has recalled a range of chocolate after the salmonella bacteria was detected in a batch. The discount supermarket is recalling 200g packs of Choceur Treasures that carry a best before date of September 1 2015. The batch has been on sale in Aldi stores in the Midlands region only, although it has [...]
More than a third of UK workers plan to change job in 2015 – here are eight reasons why January 5, 2015 Thinking about changing your job this year? You're not the only one. More than a third of UK workers – 37 per cent – are hoping to leave their current job in 2015, nearly double the amount of people this time last year (19 per cent) and three times that of 2013, when just [...]