John Lewis sales bolstered by final Black Friday promotions December 6, 2016 John Lewis' sales over the past week received a boost from the final Black Friday promotions on offer. Sales for the week to 3 December increased 3.9 per cent year-on-year, the department store said, reaching £172.1m. Read more: Nespresso is teaming up with John Lewis to open two new boutiques Year-on-year, fashion and home sales [...]
Unibet, one of the largest gambling companies in the world, is changing its name December 6, 2016 Unibet has taken a gamble today announcing a brand new name for its holding company: Kindred Group. Shareholders approved a decision to change the name of the group in order to unify its brands. Read more: Unibet lays down huge profits in first quarter The name change won't affect the company's 10 consumer-facing brands like Unibet, [...]
Real Good Food’s shares plummeted as exec warns earnings could fall short of estimates December 6, 2016 Real Good Food reported sales growth but experienced losses following trouble with commodity pricing and weak sterling. Executive chairman Pieter Totté said "there is a risk" the company's earnings won't meet market estimates. The figures Total group sales for the Aim-listed ingredients and baking products company grew by 5 per cent to £49m, the company reported in its interim results for [...]
This independent beer brand has just started a war on corporate craft beer wannabes December 6, 2016 HonestBrew has started a row with what they claim are faux craft beer peddlers, claiming global industry leaders "hide behind" craft beer names to "trick" beer lovers into thinking they're supporting local businesses. The craft beer seller said multinational companies like AB InBev, a group they nickname "Blandy", buy out local breweries like Camden Town and retailers like Beer Hawk [...]
Lego’s not playing around: Toymaker appoints first British chief executive in structure shake-up to build for the future December 6, 2016 It's all go at Lego at the moment. The company's just announced that Jorgen Vig Knudstorp is stepping down from his position as chief executive and will be replaced by Bali Padda. Padda, currently chief operations officer at the firm, will be the Danish toymaker's first British chief executive and assumes the role on 1 January 2017, with [...]
Raise a glass: The Independent English Wine Awards will give English-made wine a marketing boost December 6, 2016 The first competition made up entirely of independent English wines was announced today. After the news that English wine producers pledged to increase their exports tenfold by 2020, founder Alex Taylor wants the competition to raise the profile of England's wines and prove their quality. Read more: Britain is set to become a top wine producing [...]
Here’s everything you need to know about Amazon’s new see-it-take-it shop December 6, 2016 David Bowie died, then Brexit, then Trump – now Amazon has launched a shop where you can just take stuff off the shelves and walk off. When will the madness of 2016 end? If it's all getting a bit much, chill out and read our handy guide to the new Amazon Go shop. I've seen the [...]
Say goodbye to Co-op Travel: Thomas Cook buys the group out of its joint venture for £55.8m December 6, 2016 Thomas Cook today said it is planning to buy The Co-operative Group out of its joint venture, taking full control of the UK retail store network, for £55.8m. The tourism company will purchase The Co-operative Group's 30 per cent stake and Central England Co-operative's 3.5 per cent stake for £50m and £5.8m respectively – both [...]
Consumer spending growth was at its second highest since 2011 last month December 6, 2016 Consumer spending received its second highest boost since 2011 last month, even though consumer confidence was flat. Spending growth was 5.1 per cent year-on-year, according to data from Barclaycard. The highest consumer spending growth that Barclaycard recorded (5.5 per cent) was in October. Read more: Black Friday: Customers of this lender are spending £32,000 a [...]
Black Friday wasn’t quite the sales boost retailers may have expected December 6, 2016 Black Friday wasn't quite the spending boom that retailers were expecting. Figures from KPMG and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show that like-for-like UK retail sales increased 0.6 per cent in November. Read more: Piccadilly Line delays likely to continue until after Christmas, TfL admits And, although non-food sales increased around 40 per cent on [...]