‘There’s so much stuff in the bargain bins!’: Shoppers give Tesco (TSCO) new discount store Jack’s the thumbs up and say prices are ‘on par with Lidl and Aldi’. Hundreds queued up in the rain as the first Jack’s discount store opened for business today, with customers boasting that prices are ‘on a par with Lidl and Aldi’. The store in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, opened its doors to the public first thing this morning alongside a second store in Immingham, north-east Lincolnshire.
‘If you’re considering banking with Barclays, don’t!’ Bank faces fury of customers as its online and mobile services collapse for six hours. Millions of Barclays (BARC) customers were locked out of their accounts yesterday when the bank’s online, mobile and telephone systems crashed. Users complained they were unable to log in for most of the day, leaving them unable to pay bills or transfer money. They also faced problems in branches, where some systems were down and cash machines allowing people to withdraw larger amounts of money were not working.
Charity set up by the founder of Unilever (ULVR) pulled into row over the group’s possible HQ move to the Netherlands. A charity set up by the founder of Unilever and run by bigwigs with strong ties to the company could be crucial in its decision to ditch Britain. The Leverhulme Trust was launched with an endowment from William Lever when he died in 1925, and is one of Unilever’s biggest British shareholders with a stake of almost 6 per cent worth £2.8billion. This means the trust will play a key role in determining whether Unilever’s British headquarters is axed in a vote next month.
D-Day for Sky (SKY): Murdoch to go head to head with Comcast as bidding war ends with dramatic auction. The two-year battle for Sky will reach a climax this weekend in a high-stakes showdown between 21st Century Fox and Comcast. The two bidders will fight it out in a secret auction tomorrow night as they seek to win control of the broadcasting giant in one of the longest takeover battles in British history. Universal Studios owner Comcast and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox will make sealed, cash-only bids for Sky to decide the fate of the company.
New Royal Mail chairman approved ‘disgraceful’ pay for top bosses. Royal Mail (RMG) is facing a backlash over its new chairman, given his role approving ‘disgraceful’ pay packets for top bosses. Les Owen was on the pay committee that signed off a ‘golden hello’ worth almost £6million for new chief executive Rico Back, 64, who will run the company while he is living in Zurich. The committee also handed a golden goodbye worth up to £2.7m to outgoing Moya Greene, also 64.
I won’t be here in five years, declares Ryanair boss O’Leary as he fights off a shareholder revolt. Ryanair Holdings (RYA) boss Michael O’Leary hinted he will stand down as he fought off efforts to oust his chairman in the face of a shareholder revolt. The 57-year-old said the board wants him to stay as chief executive for five more years after his deal ends in 2019. ‘I’m not sure Mrs O’Leary would be happy,’ he told the firm’s AGM. ‘I’m not sure whether I want to sign up for another five. The board suggests I should sign up for a longer period. It’s not going to be a difficult conversation. I’m happy to stay for another couple of years.’
Satellite business Inmarsat (ISAT) strikes deal with Panasonic to provide in-flight broadband for commercial airlines. Panasonic will use Inmarsat’s satellite signal to connect devices to the internet while Inmarsat will offer Panasonic’s services to its commercial airline customers. Broadband is available on 32% of aircraft but is patchy and firms want to get a grip on the market that could be worth £97billion.
A champion for women: Alison Rose tipped to become the first female chief at Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS). Alison Rose tipped to become the first female chief at RBS, is to lead a drive to help female entrepreneurs. She has worked at RBS for 24 years, heads its commercial and private banking business, and is widely expected to take over from Ross McEwan, though he has suggested he will stay on until 2020.
British American Tobacco boss to retire after nearly 37 years with the company. British American Tobacco (BATS) has confirmed that chief executive Nicandro Durante, 62, plans to retire after nearly 37 years with the company and eight years at the helm. He will step down from the Dunhill and Lucky Strike cigarette maker on April 1. The company said it had been considering successors for some time and had identified a lead candidate to succeed Durante.
Protests mount over Unilever’s plan to go Dutch with Standard Life Aberdeen funds set to vote against the deal. Another major investor in Unilever (ULVR) is preparing to vote against the plot to axe its UK HQ amid a growing backlash. Fund managers at Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) are understood to have serious concerns about the Marmite maker’s plans to abandon Britain for a sole legal base in the Netherlands. And some of SLA’s biggest funds are expected to vote against the deal as they believe it will hurt their customers.
Guinness and Smirnoff maker Diageo warns that currency troubles will hit profits by £45m. Global drinks titan Diageo (DGE) has warned profits are expected to take a £45million hit due to currency fluctuations. The group, responsible for some of the most popular alcoholic drinks in UK pubs, said today there was ‘volatility’ in some of its markets that would hit sales by £175million. Diageo released the statement ahead of its AGM later today and said trading for the year had ‘started well’ and that performance was still in line with expectations.
Mike Ashley’s High Street empire struck again as French Connection Group (FCCN) shares sink on news of spiralling losses and falling sales. Mike Ashley’s High Street empire took another hit today as widening losses at clothing chain French Connection hit its shares. The drop will shave nearly £1.2million off 27% stake in French Connection, which revealed that half-year losses had widened to £15.1million, from £5.9million a year earlier. It put the losses down to a series of writedowns, including a £800,000 hit from the collapse of House of Fraser, in which it has concessions.
The debut collection from the new Burberry Group (BRBY) creative director, unveiled this week, has failed to wow either the fashion or investment world. Riccardo Tisci, who joined from Parisian fashion house Givenchy just six months ago, showcased his spring/summer 2019 collection for the British brand at London Fashion Week on Monday. While some commentators criticised the slew of beige clothing and slightly modified trench coats as ‘mundane’, financial analysts were also unimpressed, causing Burberry to become one of the FTSE’s biggest fallers yesterday.
Miners helped heave the blue-chip index higher, after China said it was planning a broad import tax cut to counteract tariffs proposed by the US. Fresnillo (FRES) made the biggest gains among the miners, which are sensitive to economic changes in metal-hungry China.
IG Group Holdings (IGG) plummeted as its first-quarter revenue dropped 5% to £128.9million from last year’s record levels. The firm admitted it was feeling the pressure after a regulatory crackdown by European authorities to better protect inexperienced traders dealing in assets like shares and currencies. Its shares fell 84.5p, to 779.5p, as it warned clients had completed ‘significantly lower’ volumes of trading in August than the previous month.
Southend Airport’s owner Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) kept investors happy, as shares rose 3.5p, to 246p despite announcing that its annual results would be lower than predicted. It warned its biomass fuel business would undershoot expectations. Its rail unit was a particular disappointment. Stobart expects to pull in less revenue on long-term rail contracts, and its results for the year would again miss projections. But results from its airport branch would be ‘broadly in line’ with expectations, as it remained confident that a new agreement with Ryanair would help it build passenger numbers at Southend Airport to 5million by 2022.
N4 Pharma (N4P) is ditching the generics division that aims to make cheaper unbranded versions of popular drugs. It follows disappointing results from its trial of a fast-acting alternative to Viagra which didn’t have the desired effect.
