HSBC has reported a 65 per cent drop in pre-tax profit in the first half of the year as the UK’s largest bank was hit by interest rate cuts and the associated coronavirus pandemic disruption.
John Lewis will announce a radical shake-up of the way that it deals with suppliers as the company seeks to secure its future. Products could also become available to rent rather than buy.
It is not a case, as it is sometimes portrayed, of a crude choice between the economy and protecting the populace against the virus. The health of the nation and its wealth are in lockstep.
Sales of its painting and craft supplies rocketed despite its 100 stores remaining shut. The company said like-for-like sales have grown ‘in excess of 200 per cent’ in lockdown.
Chief executive Charles Woodburn has said the defence giant is open to buying firms to ‘strengthen its portfolio’, even though coronavirus is squeezing its own finances.
The first is expected to open in London before the end of the year, with Notting Hill mooted as the possible flagship. The stores allow customers to pick up shopping and leave without checking out.
The brand, founded in 1987 and owned by £165billion international luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton, re-opened the store on June 15 but will now close it.
Huawei, whose brand ambassadors include Wonder Woman film star Gal Gadot, shipped 55.8million phones in the second quarter of this year, outpacing Korea’s Samsung for the first time.
Just two weeks before the acquisition by Anglo American was completed, the Sirius remuneration committee decided that Chris Fraser should receive his lucrative long-term bonuses in full.
When there are seismic shifts in the economy, the companies that will triumph are those that can get ahead of social and economic change rather than be beaten by it.