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 UNITED KINGDOM FRANCHISE NEWS ARCHIVE
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: : May/Jun 2001
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M&S sifts Brooks Brothers' bids. British retailer
Marks and Spencer has confirmed it has received preliminary bids for
its men's suit chain Brooks Brothers, but stressed there will not
be a final result before September. .... 29 Jun, 2001
House of Lords rejects Baird appeal against M&S.
British clothing supplier Williams Baird says the House of Lords has
rejected its damages appeal against retail giant Marks & Spencer.
.... 29 Jun, 2001
Top Shop owner continues to grow. Arcadia, Britain's
second biggest clothing chain, has provided further evidence of its
revival with solid like-for-like sales growth and strengthening margins.
.... 28 Jun, 2001
M&S unveils new collection. Marks & Spencer has
unveiled the Autumn collection which it hopes will win back the women
of Britain. .... [more]
27 Jun, 2001
Body Shop dives as Mexicans quit takeover talks.
Body shop shares collapsed yesterday after the cosmetics retailer
said takeover talks with Omnilife, the Mexican retailer, had ended.
.... [more]
27 Jun, 2001
Lush may pounce as Body Shop talks fail. Natural
cosmetics group Lush wants to buy ailing Body Shop after the collapse
of the ethical retailer's bid talks with Mexican suitor Omnilife de
Mexico. .... 27 Jun, 2001
Claims Direct losses mount. The personal injury
specialist firm, Claims Direct, has reported a £20m loss for the full-year
compared with a profit of £10m last year. .... [more]
26 Jun, 2001
Fund managers want M&S pair to go. Marks & Spencer
will today meet corporate governance watchdog Pirc to discuss demands
that two M&S directors be dismissed for approving increases to a key
share option scheme. .... [more]
25 Jun, 2001
All is not well in Arcadia - that £40m may only be £20m.
Fashion retailer Arcadia's expected £40m sale of four of its key brands
is only likely to raise half that amount, the Independent on Sunday
has learned. .... [more]
24 Jun, 2001
M&S board faces share option fury. The row over
the new £1m share option package given to the Marks & Spencer chairman
Luc Vandevelde will reach boiling point tomorrow with the publication
of an influential report urging shareholders to block the election
of board members. .... [more]
24 Jun, 2001
M&S bans Indian leather goods. Marks & Spencer
has stopped selling products containing Indian leather in response
to evidence that cattle are routinely beaten and abused. .... [more]
22 Jun, 2001
Body Shop wants back its 281 US stores. The Body
Shop, the ethical retailer, plans to snatch back control of its 281
stores in America. The company is in talks to buy Bellamy Retail Group,
which holds an option to a controlling 51pc stake in the chain's US
business. .... [more]
21 Jun, 2001
Body Shop's Mexican makeover continues. British
ethical cosmetics retailer Body Shop International Plc, negotiating
a takeover worth around 300 million pounds ($420 million), said on
Thursday talks were continuing with its Mexican suitor. .... 21 Jun, 2001
At this price? Friendly Hotels. Friendly Hotels
has been waiting for someone to end its misery for two years. Now,
euthanasia may finally be on the horizon. .... [more]
19 Jun, 2001
M&S to sell stores. Troubled High Street giant
Marks & Spencer has confirmed it is considering putting some stores
up for sale in an effort to stem its profits slide. .... [more]
18 Jun, 2001
Diageo in talks to give up bun fight and sell off Burger
King for $3bn. Diageo has opened talks with Texas Pacific,
the private equity group, about a $3bn (£2.2bn) sale of its troubled
Burger King subsidiary. .... [more]
17 Jun, 2001
Body Shop sale may be hurt by US lawsuit. A
potentially embarrassing legal battle in the United States last night
threatened to take the gloss off Anita Roddick's likely £360m sale
of Body Shop International to the Mexican health products entrepeneur,
Jorge Vergara. .... [more]
14 Jun, 2001
M&S share option plan annoys institutions. Marks
& Spencer has hit a fresh row over executive pay with moves to double
the rewards offered through its employee share option scheme. The
new plan would see Luc Vandevelde, the chairman and chief executive,
pocket £1m if M&S shares climb 50 per cent by 2004, and also benefits
400 employees. .... [more]
14 Jun, 2001
PizzaExpress prepares to deliver crisp notes to shareholders.
PizzaExpress, the restaurant chain which has delighted the City with
its sparkling performance this year, is considering returning cash
to shareholders through either a share buy-back or a dividend. ....
[more]
10 Jun, 2001
Fresh row over M&S payouts. Marks and Spencer's
annual report and accounts reveal that departing directors picked
up golden handshakes worth £2.75m. The payouts will refuel the controversy
over apparent rewards for failure. .... [more]
9 Jun, 2001
Omnilife to decide Body Shop buy in three weeks.
The owner of Mexico's Grupo Omnilife SA said Friday the firm would
decide within three weeks whether to purchase British beauty products
retailer Body Shop International Plc. .... 8 Jun, 2001
Roddick to make £43m from sale of Body Shop.
Anita Roddick, the woman who brought Peppermint Foot Lotion to the
high street and campaigned relentlessly to save the whale, stands
to make £43 million from the sale of The Body Shop, the ethical health
and beauty empire she established with her husband, Gordon, 25 years
ago. .... 8 Jun, 2001
Ethics woman seeks a makeover. Body Shop founder
Anita Roddick was last night contemplating a £360m offer for the company
she built from a single Brighton store into one of the world's best
known brand names. .... [more]
8 Jun, 2001
Body Shop in takeover talks. UK-based ethical
cosmetics retailer Body Shop has confirmed it has been approached
about a possible takeover. .... [more]
7 Jun, 2001
McDonald's UK chain Aroma up for sale. McDonald's
Corp. is seeking a buyer for its 36-strong UK-based cafe chain Aroma
after it failed to live up to expectations, the Times newspaper reported
on Wednesday. .... 6 Jun, 2001
M&S hires woman behind Muller yoghurts. Beleaguered
retailer Marks & Spencer has poached a top executive from advertising
agency Publicis to take charge of its advertising and external marketing.
.... [more]
5 Jun, 2001
McDonald's heads for new territory. McDonald's
has undergone a global restructure and appointed a president of new
brands in an attempt to move into new areas of business. .... [more]
4 Jun, 2001
RELATED - Manifesto watch: Small business on the party
menus. But the bills of fare fail to cut much ice with the
nation's hard-pressed entrepreneurs. Michael Becket sounds out the
grass-roots opinions. .... [more]
4 Jun, 2001
'Wicked' bras: The last temptation of St Michael.
Marks & Spencer has agreed a radical partnership with Wonderbra maker
Sara Lee Courtaulds which is set to revolutionise the retailer's relationship
with its suppliers. .... [more]
3 Jun, 2001
M&S escapes Belgian courts. There was a rare
nugget of good news for Marks & Spencer yesterday as it emerged that
the troubled retailer is unlikely to face legal action in Belgium
for the abrupt way in which it announced the closure of its four Belgian
stores earlier this year. .... [more]
2 Jun, 2001
Charnos feels M&S squeeze. Marks & Spencer has
once again been accused of squeezing its suppliers in an attempt to
boost profits. .... [more]
31 May, 2001
M&S weighs radical shake-up of food suppliers in cost-cutting
drive. Marks & Spencer is considering a radical shake-up of
its food business in an attempt to reduce the chain's costs and increase
its profits. .... [more]
30 May, 2001
Big future for supermarket giants. Supermarket
giants are expected to strengthen their position as Britain's biggest
retailers during the next 10 years, according to a report. .... [more]
29 May, 2001
M&S slips down the high street rankings as sales slide
takes heavy toll. Marks & Spencer has slipped two places down
the league table of Britain's biggest stores and is now ranked fifth,
behind the four major supermarkets. .... [more]
29 May, 2001
M&S calls in private eye to halt top-level leaks.
Marks & Spencer has called in a private investigator to help it plug
a series of leaks that have embarrassed the struggling High Street
retailer. .... [more]
28 May, 2001
Window of opportunity. In 1990 Liz Meston was
30 years old with two children under four, unemployed and penniless.
Today she co-owns and runs a franchised chain of 17 shops with a turnover
approaching £6m. Her story is how it is possible to recover from disaster
and build a business without any start-up capital - as long as you've
got an idea you really believe in. .... [more]
26 May, 2001
I'm underpaid, says M&S boss. The multimillionaire
chairman of Marks & Spencer, Luc Vandevelde, believes he should be
paid more for trying to improve the performance of the beleaguered
retailer. .... [more]
26 May, 2001
Profits Fall at Marks & Spencer. Department
store chain Marks & Spencer PLC reported its pretax profit sank 13.7
percent this past year as it struggled to rebound from a series of
setbacks and recoup some of its past glory as a pillar of British
retailing. .... 22 May, 2001
M&S flourishes in Greece despite European retreat.
Britain's Marks & Spencer may be retreating from most of Europe, but
the brand is alive and well in Greece where turnover is rising and
expansion is in the cards. .... 22 May, 2001
Sacked European workers march on M&S in the rain. More
than 1,000 workers and trade unionists from France, Spain and Belgium
brought their protest against Marks & Spencer closures to the troubled
retailer's flagship store in Oxford Street, west London, yesterday.
.... [more]
19 May, 2001
One M&S worker's story. Workers from Marks
& Spencers' stores across Europe came to London on Thursday to voice
their anger against the firm's closure of all its Continental European
stores. .... [more]
19 May, 2001
M&S staff stage job cuts demonstration. Hundreds
of workers from across Europe have protested against Marks & Spencer's
plans to close all of its 39 stores in continental Europe with the
loss of more than 4,000 jobs. .... [more]
19 May, 2001
We made mistakes, says Body Shop chief. Green
cosmetics retailer Body Shop yesterday made public the mistakes which
left the company with a huge slump in profits. .... [more]
3 May, 2001
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