Profits at Sports Direct have plummeted nearly 60%, which the firm said was largely due to the weaker pound. Pre-tax profit fell to £113.7m from £275.2m in 2016 because of “currency movements and increased depreciation charges”. Chief executive and the owner of Newcastle Football Club, Mike Ashley, said it had now taken steps to “minimise…
Several months since the Trade Union Act 2016 has come into force, Wrigley Claydon looks into some of the key changes. We have highlighted some of the key aspects of the Act, which are as follows: 1. Before companies and industrial action can take place, 50% of members need to vote 2. Trade Unions will…
Lloyds Banking Group has set aside another £1bn to cover the cost of insurance mis-selling and the treatment of mortgage customers. Another £700m will cover payment protection insurance (PPI) claims and £283m will be used to repay about 590,000 mortgage holders. The repayment to mortgage customers comes after they were charged from 2009 to 2016…
UK’s biggest supermarket Tesco plans to cut 1,200 jobs at its head office in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield as part of a major cost-cutting drive that aims to reduce costs by £1.5bn. Tesco said, “This new service model will simplify the way we organise ourselves, reduce duplication and cost but also, very importantly, allow…
Summer fruit and salad growers in the UK are having difficulty recruiting pickers saying they don’t know if they will have enough migrant workers to harvest their crops. About 80,000 seasonal workers a year pick and process British fruit and veg, most of them are from the EU, mainly Romania and Bulgaria. British Summer Fruits,…
Shares in DFS Furniture have plunged by 22% after it issued a profit warning. It blamed the general election for contributing to a sharp fall in demand in the second half of its financial year. It now expects its annual profits to be between £82m-£87m, below the £94.4m it reported in the previous 12 months.…
Profits at Sir Philip Green’s retail empire, which includes Topshop, dropped by 79% last year. The failure of BHS and tough competition in the clothing market contributed to the poor performance. A report filed with Companies House by Taveta Investments showed pre-tax profits to £36.8m, down from £172.2m the previous year. Taveta is the holding…
Annual profits at Halfords have been hit by the weak pound despite a strong rise in sales. It reported pre-tax profits fell 10.5% to £71.4m for the year to March. Revenue was up 7.2% to nearly £1.1bn, boosted by the acquisition of upmarket bike business Tredz/Wheelies. Like-for- like revenues rose 2.7%. Halfords said higher import…
IKEA is to create more than 1,300 new jobs in three new stores. A new outlet will open in Sheffield later this year, while stores in Exeter and Greenwich will open in 2018, the firm said. The jobs will increase IKEA’s workforce in the UK and Ireland by 12.5% to about 11,700, the company said.…
BT is to shed 4,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years and is stripping the chief executive of his annual bonus. The job cuts would fall on back-office and managerial sectors as it simplifies its Global Services operations. The move follows an accounting scandal at the Italian part of Global Services that cost BT…