Ocado confident on float March 17, 2010 ONLINE grocer Ocado is looking at a summer flotation, confident its rapid sales growth and expanding marketplace will win over investors despite jittery equity markets and its lack of profit. Finance director Andrew Bracey said proceeds from selling new shares would be used mainly for growth, such as building a second centre for processing customer [...]
What to Drink with your Indian dinner March 17, 2010 LAURENT MIQUEL CAZAL VIEL ROSÉ VIELLES VIGNES 2008 £6.99 at Majestic This delicate rosé has red fruit flavours with a round, mellow structure and superb freshness on the finish, which makes it the perfect rosé for mild to medium heat and tomato-based curries such as a shrimp dopiaza. PLÈNITUDE, MADIRAN 2005, £16.99 at Adnams, City [...]
John Lewis gives staff 15pc bonus March 11, 2010 JOHN Lewis will hand its staff a 15 per cent bonus after reporting a surge in annual profits. The staff-owned retailer made a profit before the employee bonus and tax of £306.6m in the year to the end of January – up from £279.6m in the previous year. It owns 28 department stores, one John [...]
John Lewis to give staff £151m bonus March 11, 2010 JOHN Lewis will hand its staff a 15 per cent bonus after reporting a surge in annual profits. The retailer made a profit before the staff bonus and tax of £306.6m in the year to the end of January – up from £279.6m in the previous year. It owns 28 department stores, one John Lewis [...]
Staff at John Lewis set to receive 14pc bonuses March 7, 2010 STAFF at John Lewis Partnerships are set to share a bonus pool of £140m as the company outperformed during the second half of 2009. The bonus will work out at 14 per cent of an employee’s annual salary, or eight weeks pay for the 70,000 workers. The retail group is expected to announce a rise [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 3, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES POLICE SHUT DOWN MARIPOSA HACKER RING Police, private security experts and internet service providers said yesterday they had shut down the Mariposa botnet, one of the largest networks of hacked personal computers discovered. It had siphoned off financial and other information from inside half of the largest 1,000 US companies. Computers using about [...]
John Lewis sees a further sales jump February 26, 2010 JOHN lewis and Waitrose have reported further rises in weekly sales – fuelling hopes of a high street recovery. The department store’s overall sales were up 15.1 per cent year-on-year. Sales at the group’s supermarket rose 13.7 per cent. John Lewis’s stores in Oxford Street, Bluewater and Kingston were among the leading lights in the [...]
Starbucks bags motorway deal February 24, 2010 Starbucks has sealed a deal to open 29 new outlets at Welcome Break motorway service stations. Welcome Break will spend up to £10m on re-branding Coffee Primo shops. Oxford Services on the M40 and Hopwood Park on the M42 will open before Easter with the rest due to be in business within the next 16 [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS February 22, 2010 CALLING ALL FRUIT BEER LOVERS Fruit beer lovers who shop at Waitrose rejoice: a delicious new one from Liefmans has been added to the range. Based on Liefmans Cuvee Brut, a famous brown beer brewed just once a year and left to mature for 18 months on fresh, whole cherries, this beer is then blended [...]
Ocado denies problem with upcoming IPO February 15, 2010 ONLINE groceries firm Ocado hit back last night at reports its £1.2bn initial public offering (IPO) was under threat. The shadow of doubt was cast after reports emerged Waitrose is planning to launch a rival delivery service in central London. But Ocado chief financial officer Andrew Bracey told City A.M. the firms are not in [...]