Pret axes 400 jobs amid further store closures October 16, 2020 Pret A Manger will cut 400 jobs and close a further six stores in London due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK. The struggling sandwich chain said the sales growth it had seen since April had slowed from September as Covid-19 injection rates began to rise. Pret declined to specify [...]
Superdry finance chief quits after 16 months October 16, 2020 Superdry has announced that its chief financial officer has stepped down after just 16 months in the role. The fashion brand’s share price dropped more than four per cent this morning after it announced that Nick Gresham had left the company with immediate effect. Superdry, which said Gresham had decided to leave the firm, has [...]
We’re heading from London lockdown to national breakdown October 16, 2020 While London entering Tier 2 lockdown at midnight tomorrow is nowhere near as drastic as the Tier 3 lockdown imposed on the Liverpool City Region, it’s the size and symbolism of the capital that counts. With each day that passes, businesses in the capital, like those around the rest of the country, can feel the [...]
Wetherspoon to cut jobs after plunging to annual loss October 16, 2020 J D Wetherspoon (JDW) said this morning it has started a consultation process to reduce positions at its airport pubs and that it would cut 108 jobs at its head office after the pub operator plunged to an annual loss. Wetherspoon, which employed around 43,000 people at the end of its last financial year, posted [...]
Nestle sets $5bn water brand sale in motion October 16, 2020 Food and drink giant Nestle is set to sell its North American water brands – which could go for around $5bn (£3.9bn) – as it moves away from lower-growth businesses. Private equity funds including Apollo are expected to show an interest, according to Reuters, which cited numerous sources. Wall Street titan Morgan Stanley is running [...]
Covid is an opportunity to scrap business rates altogether October 16, 2020 No business can rightly complain about paying a reasonable amount of tax on profits it earns. Taxes on turnover, such as VAT and stamp duty, are less justifiable, as they are a tax on transactions. In these straitened times such taxes should be cut. But by far the worst kind of tax is property tax, [...]
London lockdown: Will the City’s small businesses survive new restrictions? October 15, 2020 Small firms in Canada have spent the summer in lockdown trying to survive and adapt to the government’s coronavirus regulations. Pubs, shoe repair shops, barbers, dry cleaners and cafes have battled to survive the initial forced closure during lockdown, followed by a sharp decline in City footfall as most office workers remained [...]
Dame Sharon White: It is too early to predict the end of the high street October 15, 2020 Dame Sharon White has said it is too early to sound the death knell of the British high street even as she outlined further plans for the John Lewis partnership to move online. Speaking to the Times CEO summit, White said the “death knell for the High Street is rather premature”, just months after cutting [...]
Boots sales drop 30 per cent as shoppers dodge high street October 15, 2020 British chemist Boots suffered a near 30 per cent drop in sales in the fourth quarter of the year as consumers stayed away from the high street despite the coronavirus pandemic easing slightly. Sales dropped 29.2 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier. However, the figures were an improvement on the previous [...]
Dunelm to repay furlough cash after sharp rise in sales October 15, 2020 Dunelm has announced it will repay furlough money to the government following a sharp rise in sales as consumers have increased spending on homewares during lockdown. The company said total sales jumped 36.7 per cent to £359.1m in the 13 weeks to 26 September as it continued to gain market share in the “buoyant” homewares [...]
