Corporate hacks doubled in 2015: The finance sector was cybercrime’s biggest victim, with banks, investment funds and exchanges including bitcoin most likely to be targeted by cyber attacks December 24, 2015 Corporate hacks doubled in 2015, new research shows, with financial services more exposed to attacks than any other sector. Financial services were most likely to be targeted by hackers – particularly investment funds, banks, and stock and currency exchanges. Exchanges dealing in digital currencies like bitcoin have soared in popularity among cyber crooks. Some six in 10 of all [...]
Cyber siege: What businesses should learn from 2015’s hacks against TalkTalk, Carphone Warehouse and Wetherspoons December 23, 2015 We will remember the past year in IT security as yet another in which cyber-attackers have got the better of major organisations, from the US government’s HR agency, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and health insurance giant Anthem over in the States, Hong Kong-based toy manufacturer VTech and Japanese-owned Hello Kitty brand, through to [...]
Cyber attack on Wetherspoons could cost pub chain more than just beer money December 9, 2015 In the latest instalment of cyber attacks on British businesses, the personal details of up to 657,000 customers of pub chain JD Wetherspoons have been hacked. Email addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth were all stolen and put up for sale on what is known as the dark web. The attack was in June, but [...]
JD Wetherspoon and Heineken make up after row December 4, 2015 UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon kicked off the new year by setting aside its differences with Heineken, and putting the Dutch brewer's products back onto the menus of its 926 pubs across the UK and Ireland. From today, Wetherspoon has started serving Heineken, Fosters, Kronenbourg 1664, Strongbow, John Smith's Extra Smooth and Amstel at its [...]
JD Wetherspoon share price rises despite warning customer details stolen in cyber attack December 4, 2015 Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has said that the personal details of more than 650,000 customers may have been stolen in a cyber attack, and a small portion of this included credit card data. For the majority of customers no financial data was stolen, and no passwords were obtained. However, the last four digits of around 100 customers' credit [...]
FTSE 100 index opens up led by Glencore, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Marks and Spencer November 4, 2015 The FTSE 100 opened marginally up this morning, led higher by mining companies, as Glencore reported it was reducing the size of its net debt. The UK's top blue chip index was up 0.44 per cent at 6,411 points. Glencore, the mining giant, which has been struggling to reassure investors worried about the size of [...]
Wetherspoon’s share price tumbles as boss Tim Martin warns Living Wage costs could lower pub chain profits November 4, 2015 Wetherspoon's share price tumbled this morning after boss Tim Martin warned that rising labour costs could result in lower annual profits, with margins falling in its first quarter. The figures The pub chain grew like-for-like sales 2.4 per cent in the 13 weeks to 25 October, while total sales rose by 6.1 per cent, buoyed by the Rugby [...]
Starbucks, Costa, Caffe Nero, Wild Bean Cafe and Pret A Manger compared: Where does your morning coffee cost the most? October 12, 2015 The United Kingdom adores coffee: a cup of java can now be sought out on almost every street in London, and there is no shortage of punters. That's why coffee enthusiasts can choose from (wait for it): Starbucks, Costa, Caffe Nero, Wild Bean Cafe, Pret A Manger, and a range of smaller independent coffee shops. Read more: Starbucks lets [...]
National Living Wage: Lidl and Morrisons have boosted perception by adopting salary rises ahead of time October 7, 2015 From a reluctant starting point, British retailers are now falling over themselves to make the most of Living Wage goodwill, announcing wage rises ahead of next year's obligatory rise. Initially there was much gnashing of teeth over George Osborne's ruling that firms must pay staff above the £7.20 minimum for over-25s from April. Wetherspoon's founder [...]
Best of the Brokers for 18 September 2015 September 18, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com SERCO GROUP Berenberg thought yesterday’s £250m sale of offshore operations BPO to Blackstone was a turnaround and updated its rating from “sell” to “hold”, with a target price unchanged at 100p for public services contractor Serco. The disposal brought the company’s debt back [...]