Number of UK firms in ‘significant distress’ rises July 30, 2019 The number of UK businesses facing “significant distress” has increased as consumer spending slumps due to ongoing uncertainty. In total, 14 per cent of all UK businesses – 484,000 – said they were experiencing significant distress at the end of June, with the leisure and retail industries hit the hardest. Read more: Consumer spending to [...]
Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha goes missing July 30, 2019 The founder of Indian Starbucks rival Cafe Coffee Day has gone missing after reportedly facing pressure from activist shareholders. Local media outlets reported that VG Siddhartha was on his way to the port city of Mangaluru when he asked his driver to wait for him on a bridge and never returned. Shares in coffee day [...]
Grant Thornton due to quit Sports Direct after €674m Belgian tax bill July 30, 2019 Grant Thornton is reportedly set to quit as Sports Direct’s auditor following unprecedented delays to the publication of the retailer’s annual results on Friday. The auditor will abandon billionaire Mike Ashley after only learning shortly before it was set to sign off on his company’s accounts that Sports Direct owed Belgian tax authorities €674m (£605m), [...]
Investors digest Beyond Meat’s share offer as stock dives July 29, 2019 The shine came off Beyond Meat’s blockbuster summer debut on Wall Street this evening, as its stock plunged after the plant-based burger group revealed plans to sell more shares. The food group’s stock dived more than 10 per cent in after-hours trading as investors digested the announcement of a secondary share offering which will dilute the value of current shareholders’ [...]
Shareholders ‘run for the hills’ after Sports Direct’s gloomy delayed results July 29, 2019 Sports Direct’s share price today felt the backlash of investors who had waited until after markets closed last week to learn of the retailer’s dire set of annual results. Mike Ashley’s company saw shares dive as much as 16 per cent to 193.2p in early morning trading after he admitted it owes £605m in an [...]
Hammerson makes £423m sale but retail troubles take a chunk out of income July 29, 2019 Hammerson this morning announced it has sold a 75 per cent stake in Parisian shopping centre Italie Deux for £423m. The retail property giant said the deal with Axa Investment Managers brought it to more than 90 per cent of its annual £500m disposal target. Hammerson also released its half-year results this morning. It reported [...]
Just Eat share price jumps as it agrees key terms in £9bn Takeaway.com merger July 29, 2019 Food delivery site Just Eat and Dutch business Takeaway.com today confirmed they had agreed key terms for their possible £9bn all-share merger. Read more: Just Eat shares fall after Amazon makes multi-million dollar investment in Deliveroo Following completion of the deal Just Eat shareholders would own approximately 52.2 per cent of the company and Takeaway [...]
Stop all that corporate drivel and get to the point July 29, 2019 Lots of recent heavy-duty research suggests that millennials and generation Z are different from other consumers. According to such studies, these younger generations care more about ethical issues and the environment, they want to know what their pensions and investments are being used for, and they want to buy from companies that have a higher [...]
A clash of visions at Sports Direct July 28, 2019 Mike Ashley once admitted that there was in fact another person who has really been running Sports Direct. She is a media-shy 51-year-old woman called Karen Byers. For almost three decades, Byers has been quietly working under Ashley as one of his core lieutenants, pulling 18 hour days and keeping a ruthless focus on the [...]
Primark demands rent cuts after rivals secure insolvency boost July 28, 2019 Primark is said to be demanding rent cuts on dozens of stores as it looks to keep up with struggling rivals that have cut costs through insolvency procedures. The fashion chain is asking landlords to slash rent by 30 per cent on stores where the leases have several years remaining, and is offering lease extensions [...]
