Fees for dealing with the administration and liquidation of Farepak, which ran a Christmas savings club, have now totalled £8.2m, far more that the £5.53 million of compensation promised to customers. Farepak collapsed in 2006, when nearly 120,000 Christmas club members lost an average of £400 each. Just 6,000 customers, who made cash deposits immediately [...]
Tributes for Steve Jobs, co-founder and former chief executive of US technology company, Apple, are pouring in after he died yesterday aged 56. Flags are being flown at half-mast outside the Apple headquarters in California and many have left tributes outside Apple shops throughout the world. Mr Jobs’ family were with him and said he [...]
According to the latest Confederation of British Industry (CBI) distributive trades survey, the volume of sales on the UK High Street were lower this month versus a year ago. The figures suggest continue to be cautious about the economic outlook and rein in their spending on the back of rising unemployment, higher inflation and slow [...]
Energy tariffs are so complicated that even an accountant could not calculate how much they should be paying, according to latest research from Which?. The consumer group asked 36 people including a solicitor, an engineer and an accountant, to work out their domestic energy bill using only the information from the supplier’s website, and a [...]
Debenhams, which is Britain’s second largest department store after John Lewis, has today exceeded market expectations after reporting growth of 0.4% in the nine week period to the end of August on a like-for-like basis. The retailing giant said aggressive summer discounting and promotions had helped increase its market share. The company said growth came [...]
At his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat conference, Business Secretary Vince Cable is today expected to say that shareholders should have more of a say when it comes to bonuses paid to executives. He is also expected to outline plans which will force firms to disclose their excessive pay packages. Mr Cable is expected [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK retail sales fell by 0.2% in August after riots earlier in the month affected trade. The fall followed slower growth in the previous two months after sales rose just 0.2% in July and 0.8% in June. In the meantime, food sales were also down – [...]
Figures today show consumers continue to cutback in the face of higher inflation and rising unemployment after Kesa, the parent company of electrical retailer Comet, revealed a sharp fall in sales. Total revenue in the previous three months fell by 9.8% on a like-for-like basis while sales slumped almost 22% after the company blamed weak [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is regarded as a barometer of British retailing, has reported a marginal increase in sales and said trading conditions are “extremely challenging”. The renowned employee-owned chain, which owns the Waitrose supermarket chain, said sales rose 1% on a like-for-like basis in the six month period to 30 July. However, across [...]
There is a mixed bag of retail sales figures today after Home Retail Group announced a drop in sales at both its Argos and Homebase chains. The figures are further evidence of a cutback in consumer spending after electrical goods group, Dixons Retail, yesterday posted a fall in sales. At Argos, like-for-like sales in the [...]
There is further evidence of a cutback in consumer spending today after electrical goods group Dixons Retail posted a drop in sales. The group, which is Europe’s no.2 electricals retailer, said like-for-like sales were 7% lower in the three months to 23 July compared with a year ago, which included a 10% fall in the [...]
Unions have vented their anger at directors today after a report found that the average annual bonus for a director in a FTSE 100 company has soared by 187% in the last decade. The findings were in a report by the High Pay Commission and discovered that top executives received a bonus worth 90% last [...]
Co-operative Group has reported a fall in first-half underlying profit to £230.8 million, down from £262.3 million a year earlier. The mutual has been hit by declining food sales in the face of strong competition, reduced government funding for prescriptions and a change in the income recognition policy on the sale of its funeral bonds. [...]
Steve Jobs has stepped down as chief executive of technology giant, Apple, to be replaced by Tim Cook, previously the group’s chief operating officer. In his resignation letter, Mr Jobs, who has been on medical leave following a diagnosis of cancer, said: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could [...]
Confidence among British businesses has declined as both UK and global economic turmoil impact on firms’ plans for the future. The latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor shows confidence at its lowest level since the third quarter of 2009, when the UK was still in recession, with firms seeing turnover and profit growth weakening [...]
Airports operator BAA has today reported a rise in passenger numbers at its six British airports in July. BAA, which is majority-owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, said 11 million passengers flew from its UK airports during the month – a rise of 0.8% on an annual basis. Meanwhile, Heathrow, which is the UK’s main airport, saw [...]
Banking giant HSBC has today announced it has disposed of its US credit card division to Capital One Financial, as part of a global strategic cost-cutting exercise. The announcement comes shortly after the bank said it would slash its underperforming US branch network by half and also announced it would axe 30,000 jobs globally in [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that the riots will cause significant harm to British businesses as they count the costs of stolen and damaged goods. The weekend riots in London have already spread to other parts of the UK and the BRC warned that retailers of all sizes had suffered damage. Prime Minister [...]
Early summer sales on the High Street have led to a modest rise in retail sales, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today. According to the ONS, like-for-like sales excluding petrol rose 0.8% in May, while they were 0.2% higher on an annual basis due to heavy discounting. The figures were broadly in line [...]
Airport operator BAA has been ordered to sell Stansted Airport and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports, it has been confirmed. BAA, which is majority-owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, has been under investigation by the Competition Commission since 2007. In its final ruling, the Commission said the sale of the airports was fully justified and the sale [...]
Bank of Ireland raises cost of mortgages
The Bank of Ireland has become the latest lender to increase the standard variable rate (SVR) on its mortgages. Around 100,000 UK customers will be affected when the bank increases the SVR from 2.99 per cent, to 3.99 per cent in June There will be a further increase in September, when the SVR will rise [...]
House prices down 1.1% in February
House prices fell 1.1 per cent in February according to The Halifax, contradicting earlier figures from Nationwide suggesting that property prices have increased. According to the Halifax’s three monthly index, house prices were 1.1 per cent lower in February than in the previous three months. The mortgage lender’s annual index showed that property prices fell [...]
Debit card transactions declined by Yorkshire and Clydesdale
Customers of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank have been experiencing problems with debit cards being declined due to computer changes. The problem initially occurred while the banks, which are both part of the National Australia Bank (NAB), were transferring their systems operations to an external contractor on Sunday morning. Problems with some Mastercard debit transactions persisted [...]
Banks write to customers over PPI mis-selling
Banks are writing to millions of customers advising them that they may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), following the release of new guidelines by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The FSA estimates that between four million and 12 million letters will be sent out, but not everyone who has been mis-sold PPI will [...]
Confidence in pensions plummets ahead of auto-enrolement
Public confidence in pensions has fallen to an all-time low just months before the Government starts automatically putting every worker into one, new research showed today (Weds). A survey for the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found 54% of all employees are not confident in pensions compared to other ways of saving. 37% said [...]
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) expects the UK economy to grow more slowly than previously forecast and says it faces “serious challenges”. In its quarterly economic forecast the BCC forecast growth of 0.6 per cent in 2012, a slight decrease from its previous forecast of 0.8 per cent. It expects the government’s efforts to [...]
Pension annuities should be clearer under new code
A new code of conduct is being launched by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) which should ensure that the sale of annuities is fairer and more transparent. The new code is designed to make it easier for people to make decisions about their retirement income, including being more confident in using the so-called ‘open [...]
Saga sees financial green shoots for over-50s
Saga’s latest quarterly report is slightly more optimistic about the financial health of the over 50s than its report for the final quarter of 2011, but the organisation warns that the “green shoots” of recovery are very tentative at the moment. Compared with a year ago, the report suggests that the quality of life for [...]
Drivers switch to autopilot after 11 minutes
A study by car insurance provider, Esure, has found that drivers suffer from a lapse in concentration just 11 minutes into a long journey. Esure questioned more than 1,000 motorists in the UK about their driving habits and attention span. 22 per cent of those surveyed said they fell into ‘autopilot’ easily, while 34% said [...]
Metro Bank launches online ISA service
London-based Metro Bank is partnering with Australian online banking solutions provider Sandstone to create an online application platform for Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs). CallCredit will provide verification and credit checking data for the new service, which will be available in time for consumers to take advantage of the new Isa allowance, starting in April. This [...]
About | Privacy | Disclaimer | Resources | XML Feeds | Press Releases | Directory | Contact us
