The British biofuels industry has brought to notice a serious loophole in the government legislation which will allow oil companies to save millions of pounds while pushing the UK’s alternative fuel industry to the docks. Read the rest of this entry »
Poor performance results from Britain’s manufacturers are putting the Bank of England under heavy pressure to make further cuts in interest rates.
Drop in domestic orders, collapse of investment plans and job losses have posed serious threat to survival of British manufacturing, said the industry organisation EEF. Read the rest of this entry »
DIY chain, Focus, which has 180 stores across the UK, has sought relief from its landlords on rental terms asking them to replace practice of three-monthly rent with monthly payment. It also urged them to consider either a reduction in rent or surrender of space where needed. Read the rest of this entry »
Heavy discounting offered by the rivals for Christmas sales has led to 20% fall in 5 of John Lewis stores last week.
According to the group’s weekly trading update, the drop at Nottingham was 23% while outlets at Reading, Bristol’s Cribbs Causeway, Peterborough and Peter Jones in London reported 20% fall on a year earlier. Read the rest of this entry »
A Sheffield company has made a formal request to the Government to provide part funding for its ambitious plan of building world’s biggest steel-forging press to take a lead in the fast growing nuclear industry.
Sheffield Forgemasters has plans to fabricate a massive 15,000 tonnes pressure open-die press which can produce components as big as largest modern reactors. Read the rest of this entry »
The pub group Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has decided to stop payment of dividend to shareholders for at least two years in order to tackle its huge debts.
M&B group, the owner of Vintage Inns, O’Neill’s and All Bar One, is hopeful of saving £60m from this move. Shareholders will have to wait for restoration of dividend until its unsecured bank facility goes below £300m. Read the rest of this entry »
The giant rivals on the high street intensified their price war for the Christmas sale. J Sainsbury, John Lewis and Tesco were quick to lure customers by passing them on cut in VAT announced by the Government.
Realising that retailers are determined to lower prices and attract more customers, Tesco decided to cut prices of 1,000 items by up to 50%. Read the rest of this entry »
Furniture chain MFI, caught in a big row over unpaid rents, is facing imminent collapse.
The group is likely to be put into administration in next few days if it fails to amicably resolve dispute with landlords. Read the rest of this entry »
The sportswear retailer, JD Sports extended timely help to the rival JJB Sports in wiping out debts by taking 10% stake.
JD Sports had to spend £8.1m on buying 25 million shares of JJB, according to JD’s statement over the deal. JJB later announced that it was negotiating with an unnamed bidder for the sale of its Fitness Club business with an offer for chain of 50 gyms. Read the rest of this entry »
Two UK companies in the drink and food industry provided glimpse of hope for the UK business with their stunning performance for the year ending September.
Compass, the biggest catering group in the world, recorded phenomenal rise in profits and acknowledged that its UK arm overhaul had started giving benefits. Read the rest of this entry »