Currys hands outgoing boss Alex Baldock £2m pay rise Retail FTSE 250 giant Currys has handed its outgoing boss Alex Baldock a more-than-£2 m pay rise, capping off the chief executive’s successful turnaround of the business. The electrical retailer handed Baldock a £6.3m total pay package this year, marking a 54 per cent hike from last year’s £4.1m. Baldock joined Currys in 2018 and is [...]
Currys launches £50m buyback as it shrugs off market slowdown Retail Currys said it would launch a £50m share buyback after it posted a jump in profit and shrugged off a wider market slowdown by expanding its offerings and cutting its cost base through redundancies. The tech retailer said its UK and Ireland revenue ticked up three per cent to £5.4bn and “outperformed the market” following [...]
As it happened: Stocks rally after US jobs report; Oil tumbles to pre-Iran war levels Markets Welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. The peace relief rally across markets ground to a halt yesterday as investors were rocked by new tensions in the Middle East that threatened all-out war re-emerging between the US and Iran. Negotiations were handed a blow as Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Qatar [...]
Retailers ramp up pressure on Reeves to scrap tax break for e-commerce rivals May 27, 2026 Retailers have urged Rachel Reeves to “revitalise the high street” by speeding up plans to close a tax break which they say unfairly favours Chinese e-commerce rivals. High street giants like Next, M&S and Primark have urged the Chancellor to impose a £2.60 flat fee on small parcels to rebalance a system which they say [...]
As it happened: Choppy finish for FTSE 100 as global markets rocked by AI sell-off May 19, 2026 Welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Businesses have raised the alarm over falling vacancies as new data showed a further weakening in the jobs market. Vacancies remained at a five-year low in April 2026, with a leading industry group saying recruiters were “pausing” plans to hire workers. The British Chambers of Commerce’s head of [...]
Tech firm behind in-store ads at Currys and Iceland goes bust May 13, 2026 The firm that provides high street giants Currys and Iceland with in-store digital advertising has declared insolvency, Morning Wire can reveal. Software company Stratacache announced its winding-up of its UK operations and appointed liquidators on Wednesday, according to insolvency filings. This comes only months after the US digital screen specialist partnered with budget supermarket giant [...]
Chinese online retailer takes on Amazon March 16, 2026 Chinese retail giant JD.com has mounted a challenge to Amazon’s control of the home-delivery market with its UK launch of online shop Joybuy. The platform will offer big-name brands including Apple, Samsung and Lego and is taking on Amazon’s reputation for speedy delivery with its “Double 11” promise – meaning orders placed before 11am will [...]
Currys shares soar after retailer defies high street gloom January 21, 2026 Shares in tech retailer Currys soared this morning after the firm released an upbeat Christmas trading update, defying wider gloom on the high street. The London-listed firm recorded a three per cent uptick in UK and Ireland revenue as it clawed a bigger market share from strong sales in mobile, as well as growth in [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Trump to rock davos; Stocks dip after inflation January 21, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Inflation spiked above expectations this morning, coming in at 3.4 per cent, according to fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This soared above a poll of economists by Bloomberg expecting 3.3 per cent. “Inflation ticked up a little in December, driven partly [...]
Chinese retail giant in talks to buy Argos September 13, 2025 UK supermarket group Sainsbury’s has confirmed that it is in discussions for a potential sale of struggling retail chain Argos to a leading Chinese e-commerce giant. Retailer JD.com is looking to buy Argos, as it seeks to position itself in the UK market. The bid comes following JD.com’s failure to purchase electrical retailer Currys last [...]