Business Bites
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Jan- 2020 -15 January
Boohoo more valuable than M&S โ a sea-change encapsulated
From a purely journalistic standpoint it is now a de facto clichรฉ to refer to Marks and Spencer as the โhigh street bellwetherโ, yet that is the status it has held for so many decades. The once mighty monolith was the first British retailer to reach a market capitalisation of…
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14 January
Javid mulls three-year passenger duty holiday for Flybe
Things are not looking rosy for low-cost airline, Flybe, but the chancellor Sajid Javid may have some proposals that save it from complete collapse. It is reported this morning that he is considering cutting air passenger duty on all domestic flights โ a big boon for all the other airlines…
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10 January
Spooked markets seem soothed by Iran-US climb-down
When Iran decided to hit back on US military facilities after president Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, there was talk of the outbreak of war. NATO countries apparently implored Trump not to go for another attack, fearing that if he did things would escalate beyond control…
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9 January
Who would have thought skinny jeans could be anyoneโs undoing?
Itโs not often that the business pages give you a good belly laugh. But today we have the spectacle of Marks & Spencer blaming its poor Christmas trading results partly on an oversupply of skinny jeans for men. Apparently customer surveys revealed that the high street bellwetherโs ranges were โtoo…
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8 January
Greggs going vegan has paid dividends: we can all learn from them
There is an adage about business and entertainment emerging in the conservative media, which is โget woke, go brokeโ. It translates crudely to, โcave to the demands of social justice activists and you will suffer financiallyโ. And while it is true that some have come a cropper by tilting the…
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7 January
Northern Irelandโs business community want compensation for their Brexit troubles
To say thatย Brexitย has been โdivisiveโ is both an understatement and also a clichรฉ of the highest order. But Johnsonโs election victory, as we are all now well versed, will not bring an immediate end to the arguing. Today we hear that business leaders and entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland want their…
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6 January
As long as WW3 does not kick off, 2020 looks set to be a better year
All eyes on are on the rising tensions between the United States and Iran after president Trump ordered the assassination of Iranโs most powerful general, Qassem Suleimani. The oil price has risen, stocks have fallen this morning, and the threat of war almost always depresses global trade flows. But letโs…
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3 January
Volkswagenโs unceasing nightmare is a lesson in honesty
Readers will recall the scandal surrounding faked emissions tests conducted by the car-making giant, Volkswagen, in recent years. In case you have forgotten, the controversy surrounded the manufacturerโs attempts to depress the emissions readings on regulatory testing of its vehicles in order to artificially meet the standards on CO2 that…
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2 January
The internet need not be the scourge of every sector โ just ask the CEO of Mountain Warehouse
The last decade in business was arguably characterised by one word: disruption. While the internet behemoths had already begun building serious fortunes in the 2000s, most would agree it was after 2010 that things really started motoring. Heralded as the great democratiser of information and services, the effects of a…
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Dec- 2019 -20 December
Finally, a government addressing the business rates fiasco
Regardless of your political colours, small businesses up and down the land will be pleased to hear of at least one policy which looks set to survive the transition from manifesto wish lists to actual policy and legislation, and that is a business rates overhaul. The prime minister, Boris Johnson,…
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