OUR NEWSYOUNG ENTERPRISE
Young Enterprise are up and running again this year. Innovation are being led by Managing Director Becky Small. They have already attended a training day to acquire the skills they need to run their company. Later this month they will bid for funding at Dragon's Den on 18 Nov. The team will need to pitch their idea to a panel of 'Dragons' from local businesses across the Highlands. The event is being run as part of the Fusion Business Conference at the Kingsmills Hotel. Good luck to the team.
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BUSINESS NEWSThe pain being felt by UK retailers is on display in their shop windows: "mid-season sale", "two-for-one", "40% off".
Traditional end-of-year discounting has started early and is likely to set the tone for trading at Christmas and New Year. The closure this week of Carphone Warehouse's 11 Best Buy electricals outlets and the sale of larger rival Comet for £2 underline that things have been tough for months, years even. From Debenhams to Topshop to River Island, retailers are discounting by up to 40% in a bid to kick-start spending. The prospect of retailers having a positive Christmas "hangs in the balance", says Helen Dickinson, head of retail at the consultancy group KPMG. Even those companies that are maintaining sales are doing so at the expense of margins. Marks and Spencer this week reported weak sales, but even weaker earnings as it absorbed increased costs rather than pass them on to customers. M&S is "in an increasingly promotional environment", was how chief executive Marc Bolland summed up market conditions. Price warLatest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) indicate that the UK saw almost no growth in non-food sales over the past year. Food sales are only slightly higher on the year, and that is despite a supermarket price war and easing of food-price inflation. "It's clear customers are cutting back whatever they're buying," says BRC director general Stephen Robertson. "This is evidence of the basic weakness of consumer confidence and demand, and is worrying this close to Christmas." Continue reading the main story“Start QuoteAlmost every element of traditional retail thinking has changed” Robin TerrellHouse of FraserTrading at this time of year can make or break a company; the difference between survival and bankruptcy. "There are clearly a number of large retailers who are in jeopardy," says John Stevenson, analyst at Peel Hunt. "It's the time when banks are watching closely. "As for smaller retailers, I'm sure some will just chuck in the keys and say 'I've had enough'." Can anything be done? There is a common view that retailers are passive victims of an wider economic storm, unable to respond. |
Carphone Warehouse to close all 11 Best Buy shopsCarphone Warehouse to close all 11 Best Buy shops. The UK joint venture has failed to make a profit.
The move puts 1,100 jobs at risk at the outlets, which sell electronic goods, but the firm said it hoped to find the "large majority" alternative work. The 11 Best Buy stores are part of Best Buy Europe, a joint venture between US group Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse. The first Best Buy store in the UK only opened in April of last year. The outlets have failed to make a profit. 'Economic times'Best Buy's 11 UK outlets are in Liverpool, Derby, Bristol, Nottingham, Rotherham, Dudley, Thurrock, Southampton, and three places in London - Croydon, Hayes and Enfield. Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy initially planned to open 200 Best Buy stores across the UK and continental Europe. Best Buy Europe was formed in 2008 when Best Buy paid £1.1bn to buy a 50% stake in Carphone Warehouse's retail division. The Best Buy Mobile venture has been benefiting from soaring demand for smartphones, such as Apple's iPhone. Technology and the Channel of Distribution - excellent article.Making expensive chocolates in the middle of the Arabian Desert seems foolhardy enough.
But how do you get them from there to the rest of the world without delivering a sticky mess? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11929742 Mergers IncreaseBurger King sold to buy-out firm for $3.26bn (£2.1bn) Burger King has struggled during the recession Burger King is being sold to private equity firm 3G Capital in a deal valued at $3.26bn (£2.1bn), it has been announced. The fast food chain, with 12,100 outlets worldwide, had been the subject of takeover rumours for days.
The group - TPG Capital, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Funds - still own 31% of Burger King shares. The deal, worth $24 a share, comes after Burger King's stock price surged more than 15% on Wednesday and opened on Thursday up 23% at $23.25. 3G will also take on Burger King's debt, valuing the deal at $4bn in total |