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 UNITED KINGDOM FRANCHISE NEWS ARCHIVE
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: : Jul/Aug 2001
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Founders of Claims Direct may be sued. Class Law,
the City Law firm, confirmed yesterday that it was considering launching
a law suit against the founders of Claims Direct. .... 31 Aug, 2001
Claims Direct investors urged to take 10p offer.
Claims Direct's independent directors yesterday advised investors
in the ailing personal injury company to take the 10p offer for their
shares made by the company's founders. .... [more]
31 Aug, 2001
McDonald's pledges low profile at Labour event.
The controversial McDonald's reception at the Labour party's annual
conference will not be a massive corporate branding exercise, the
fast-food chain has promised. .... [more]
30 Aug, 2001
New Labour: out with the red rose and in with the Big
Mac. Tony Blair last night triggered a potentially damaging
row over Labour's increasingly close links with big corporations after
it emerged that he is to attend a £15,000 reception at the party's
annual conference paid for by the burger chain McDonald's. .... [more]
30 Aug, 2001
Madisons in the Arab world. Madisons Coffee has
pulled off a franchise deal with the Al Attiyah Group for at least
two restaurants in Qatar and six in the United Arab Emirates. ....
[more]
30 Aug, 2001
Claims Direct founders set to make second fortune from
Ware-Lane bid. The founders of Claims Direct have finally
closed a deal to sell a large tranche of their shares in the beleaguered
personal injury company to Simon Ware-Lane, for substantially more
than they themselves offered for the business only last month. ....
[more]
30 Aug, 2001
M&S move brings jobs boost. Fifty-three new jobs
are to be created in County Londonderry as a result of a joint venture
between Marks and Spencer and the local clothing company Desmonds.
.... [more]
29 Aug, 2001
Franchising could prove to be a lucrative sideline.
The prospect of farmers tripping down country lanes as cosmetic salesmen
is not one that leaps readily to mind, but franchise selling could
prove a lifeline to some hard-pressed farming units. .... 29 Aug, 2001
Clifford steps in to buff up Claims Direct image.
Simon Ware-Lane, the wealthy investor attempting to take over Claims
Direct, is ready to hire publicist Max Clifford to help turn around
the fortunes of the ailing company. .... [more]
27 Aug, 2001
McDonald's tires of Aroma. The US fast-food
group McDonald's appears to have turned up its nose at the smell of
coffee in Britain and is thinking of selling Aroma, the coffee-bar
chain it bought two and a half years ago. .... [more]
27 Aug, 2001
Non-execs resign at Claims Direct. The non-executive
directors of Claims Direct, who bitterly opposed a rock-bottom bid
by the company's founders to take the group private again, resigned
yesterday after the offer went unconditional. .... 25 Aug, 2001
M&S stores to open in India. Marks & Spencer,
the archetypal British retailer which has fallen on hard times, is
to open two stores in India this year through franchisees. .... [more]
24 Aug, 2001
Roddick blasts Body Shop. The founder of the
ethical beauty products chain Body Shop has said the company has lost
its political edge following its stock market listing. .... [more]
24 Aug, 2001
Brief cause for celebration at M&S. Marks & Spencer's
troubled top executives briefly had cause for cheer yesterday when
it emerged that its shares, once downtrodden on the stock market,
had outperformed all others in the FTSE 100 index so far this year.
.... [more]
24 Aug, 2001
Countrywide Assured's profits up 32% Countrywide
Assured - the company which owns the largest network of estate agents
in the UK - has reported a 32% rise in profits. .... [more]
23 Aug, 2001
Claims Direct founders in talks to sell firm.
The founders of Claims Direct looked set to profit from the sale of
the personal injury specialist for the second time in 13 months yesterday,
after Simon Ware-Lane, the property tycoon and owner of Claimline,
confirmed he was in formal talks to acquire the company. .... [more]
21 Aug, 2001
Esso Dismisses Green Campaign Allegations. Esso
dismissed a boycott campaign against it by Green campaigners including
Body Shop founder Anita Roddick as "ridiculous" on Monday.
.... 20 Aug, 2001
M&S bond issue out to raise £400m. Marks & Spencer
is preparing to raise up to £400m in a bond issue secured against
its property assets. .... 19 Aug, 2001
Inquiry into why Claims Direct letter was ignored.
The Independent directors of Claims Direct have launched an investigation
into why the firm's founders ignored an early warning from the Government
concerning flaws in its business model. .... [more]
18 Aug, 2001
M&S confirms Brooks sell-off. Marks & Spencer
this morning confirmed that it aims to complete the sale of its US-based
clothing chain Brooks Brothers in October. .... [more]
18 Aug, 2001
Secretive suitor of Claims Direct prepares to go public.
Simon Ware-Lane, the secretive suitor of Claims Direct, is
expected to break his silence today by confirming his ambition to
buy the ailing "no win, no fee" personal injury specialist and reverse
a smaller, rival business into the group. .... [more]
17 Aug, 2001
Lord Chancellor warned strategy at Claims Direct was
flawed before IPO. The Government's most senior law officer
warned the founders of Claims Direct that their business model was
seriously flawed a year before they floated it on the Stock Exchange.
.... [more]
17 Aug, 2001
Poole says he could resurrect Claims Direct.
Claims Direct co-founder Colin Poole said yesterday he could return
the loss-making company to the black within two months and attacked
the firm's financial advisers and its independent directors. ....
[more]
16 Aug, 2001
Ladbrokes seeks something less grand to accompany Hilton.
Hilton Group, formerly Ladbrokes, is taking the dramatic step of starting
a second hotel brand to reflect its ambitions to expand further into
the three star market and to possibly franchise the business. ....
[more]
14 Aug, 2001
Victory for founders in Claims Direct fight.
Tony Sullman and Colin Poole yesterday emerged victorious in their
battle to take over Claims Direct, the loss-making company they founded
and have now taken private for less than 95 per cent of its flotation
value. .... [more]
15 Aug, 2001
Compass wins £120m Pentagon contract. Compass
Group, the world's largest catering company, yesterday revealed it
has won a 17-year contract worth more than £120m to provide cafeteria
services for the 26,000 staff working at the Pentagon in Washington
DC. .... [more]
14 Aug, 2001
Claims Direct franchisees prepare to take legal action
against founders. A high-profile law firm is poised to unleash
legal proceedings against the founders of Claims Direct on behalf
of employees who allege they were misled about the business's prospects.
.... [more]
14 Aug, 2001
British Land eyes 79 M&S stores. Property company
British Land has emerged as the early frontrunner to buy a £350m portfolio
of Marks & Spencer stores. .... [more]
12 Aug, 2001
Claims Direct poised to go private as founders' bid is
reluctantly accepted. The hostile takeover battle for Claims
Direct took an unexpected twist yesterday when its independent directors
recommended a discounted offer from the personal injury company's
two founders which the board previously damned as "deeply cynical".
.... [more]
11 Aug, 2001
M&S chiefs sour on taxes for tea cakes. You've
heard about a storm in a tea cup. Now Marks & Spencer is embroiled
in a legal battle over the tax on a teacake. .... [more]
10 Aug, 2001
Claims Direct climb down. The battle for control
over personal injury firm Claims Direct took another turn on Friday,
after the company's independent directors were forced to recommend
a hostile bid from its two founders Colin Poole and Tony Sullman.
.... [more]
10 Aug, 2001
Store design chief Jaggard leaves in M&S shake-up.
Marks & Spencer's long-serving head of store design, Charles Jaggard,
has left the ailing group and been replaced by a former Habitat designer.
.... [more]
10 Aug, 2001
New threat to Claims Direct. Embattled personal
injury company Claims Direct faces a new threat with the news that
a major insurance company is offering legal protection to its customers
for free. .... [more]
9 Aug, 2001
The soaring cost of running a car. The cost of
having a car in the UK has soared in recent years - especially if
your vehicle is serviced at a franchised dealer, says a survey. ....
[more]
8 Aug, 2001
Friends of the Earth survey condemns M&S pension over
ethical investment. Marks and Spencer, the troubled high street
retailer, has been condemned by the green pressure group Friends of
the Earth because its pension fund has allegedly failed to adopt any
ethical investment principles. .... [more]
6 Aug, 2001
Spilling the beans. It is one of Britain's biggest
boom industries, with new shops springing up quicker than you can
say cappuccino. Clearly, we're becoming a nation of coffee lovers
- but is the cup that runneth over about to turn bitter? .... [more]
4 Aug, 2001
Unilever chief gets taste for expansion at Ben & Jerry's.
Niall Fitzgerald, the co-chairman of Unilever, yesterday pledged to
transform Ben & Jerry's, the ice cream once championed by hippies,
into a global premium brand worth 1 billion (£620 million). .... 4 Aug, 2001
Pret a Manger to move into Hong Kong. More than
two centuries after colonial Britain first invented the sandwich,
Pret a Manger, the UK company that revolutionised the sandwich bar
15 years ago, hopes to annex its second overseas market. .... [more]
1 Aug, 2001
Monsoon goes overseas as UK rents rise. Clothing
retailer Monsoon is to use its Accessorize brand of sequinned bags
and hair clips to aid its expansion overseas as rising rental costs
restrict growth prospects in Britain. .... 31 Jul, 2001
McDonald's fined for under-age jobs. Burger chain
McDonald's has said a "systems failure" was to blame for an under-age
employment error which has resulted in a £12,400 fine. .... [more]
31 Jul, 2001
Boss Women boosts German fashion house. A popular
new range of womens' clothing helped Hugo Boss, the German fashion
brand, increase sales by 25pc in the opening half of the year. ....
28 Jul, 2001
Body Shop reviews anti-advertising policy. The
Body Shop is considering dropping its opposition to advertising as
it struggles to combat falling sales. .... [more]
26 Jul, 2001
Pizza bosses dispute who is the true capo. Britain's
top two pizza delivery firms yesterday accused each other of lying
about market share figures in an executive slanging match between
Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut. .... [more]
26 Jul, 2001
Keenan to join M&S board as non-executive. Marks
and Spencer, the UK retailer, began restocking its board with non-executive
directors on Wednesday with the appointment of Jack Keenan, an executive
at Diageo, the food and drink group. .... [more]
25 Jul, 2001
Domino's delivers record profits. Home delivery
food chain Domino's Pizza toasted a surge in sales, helped by its
first ever terrestrial TV advertising campaign. .... [more]
25 Jul, 2001
Claims Direct bid branded 'cynical'. Four directors
of Claims Direct, the "no-win, no-fee" personal injury claims specialist,
have urged shareholders to reject a "deeply cynical" management buyout
offer and vowed to spare no effort in rebuilding the business. ....
[more]
24 Jul, 2001
M&S French closures on hold. Marks & Spencer
(M&S) said it has slowed moves to close its 18 French stores, preferring
instead to seek a buyer. .... [more]
24 Jul, 2001
Marks & Spencer vows to use only free-range eggs.
Animal welfare groups last night welcomed the decision by a leading
supermarket chain to use only free range eggs in its food products.
.... [more]
24 Jul, 2001
Burger King sale may net chief executive $20m.
John Dasburg, the chairman and chief executive of Burger King, could
receive a bonus of more than $20m if he secures a high price for the
fast food chain through a sale or flotation. .... [more]
23 Jul, 2001
Claims Direct cash crunch. The 'ambulance chaser'
is bruised and battered by hurtful publicity, court decisions and
eager rivals. It may now be too late to heal its wounds. .... [more]
22 Jul, 2001
Body Shop trebles 'party' sales staff. Ethical
cosmetics retail group Body Shop yesterday announced plans to treble
the size of its door-to-door sales force. .... [more]
21 Jul, 2001
Thornton's sales melted by sunny weather spell.
That classic excuse put forward by UK retailers - the British weather
- was yesterday again cited as a factor as Thornton's reported a flat
sales performance. .... 18 Jul, 2001
Body Shop told to chase profit. Body Shop International
should put profits before passion, according to its US joint venture
partner, who this week agreed to sell back his interest in the US
business to founders Anita and Gordon Roddick. .... [more]
18 Jul, 2001
M&S to exit Belgium by year end - union. Retailer
Marks and Spencer plans to close its four stores in Belgium at the
cost of 315 jobs as part of its retreat from continental Europe, a
union spokesman has said. .... 17 Jul, 2001
M&S hires new fashion director. Under-siege retailer
Marks & Spencer has appointed the former director of a High Street
clothing chain to become head of design for womenswear, a week after
revealing a further slump in sales. .... [more]
17 Jul, 2001
Body Shop deal in US prompts voting rights row.
Anita and Gordon Roddick, founders of the Body Shop, were accused
of giving themselves preferential treatment over other investors yesterday
after it was revealed that they will retain the voting rights of shares
the company is issuing to pay for full control of its US stores. ....
[more]
17 Jul, 2001
M&S set to decide fate of Belgian stores. Marks
& Spencer is expected to make a final decision today whether to close
its Belgian stores as part of a controversial European strategy that
has sparked demonstrations in London and Paris. .... 16 Jul, 2001
Body Shop to buy U.S. partner. Ethical retailer
the Body Shop International says it has conditionally agreed to buy
Bellamy Retail Group, its joint venture partner in the United States,
for 7.9 million pounds. .... 16 Jul, 2001
Foot and mouth makes Burger King float unlikely.
Consumer fears about foot and mouth and mad cow disease have added
to the woes of Burger King, said parent group Diageo, which yesterday
put a £50m price tag on restructuring the fast-food chain. .... [more]
13 Jul, 2001
Diageo to revamp Burger King after plunge in sales.
Burger King is to expand its range of products after a plunge in beefburger
sales as a result of the foot-and-mouth crisis. .... [more]
13 Jul, 2001
M&S excuses wear thin. Vandevelde's pleas for
patience - and more generous executive perks - fail to impress investors.
.... [more]
12 Jul, 2001
M&S: What the experts say. The latest trading
statement from Marks & Spencer has attracted yet more criticism of
the retailer's efforts to revive its flagging fortunes. .... [more]
11 Jul, 2001
M&S woos Monro to revive non-food operations.
Marks & Spencer is trying to recruit Angus Monro, the former Matalan
chief executive, to help lead the struggling retailer's recovery.
.... [more]
11 Jul, 2001
M&S clothes sales 'slump further'. Attempts to
revive Marks & Spencer fortunes look likely to take a further knock
on Wednesday, with crucial first-quarter figures expected to show
that clothing sales have fallen even further. .... [more]
11 Jul, 2001
M&S opens first local food store. Shoppers with
hectic lives got a helping hand today when Marks & Spencer opened
the first in a series of metro food shops. M&S plans to attack Tesco
Metro and small convenience stores by concentrating on food. ....
[more]
10 Jul, 2001
Body Shop takes 'food bath' plunge. The Body
Shop is launching a range of food-inspired bath and body products
across Europe next month. .... [more]
9 Jul, 2001
Moody's deals fresh blow to M&S. Investors in
Marks & Spencer suffered a fresh setback after top credit rating agency
Moody's cut its rating for the High Street retailer. .... [more]
9 Jul, 2001
Marks and Spencer left facing gaps on its board.
Marks and Spencer is expected to be left with gaps on its board this
week when three non-executive directors step down, as the struggling
retailer has not yet signed up replacements. .... [more]
8 Jul, 2001
City sees M&S as a retail no-hoper. The City
is holding out no hope that Marks & Spencer's trading update next
week at the company's AGM will show any upturn in the ailing retailer's
fortunes. .... [more]
8 Jul, 2001
Budgens cashes in on top-up shoppers. Local grocer
Budgens has announced big expansion plans along with better than expected
profits and strong recent sales. .... [more]
6 Jul, 2001
Esso concern over Body Shop's boycott move. Esso
has expressed dismay over the Body Shop's decision to back a UK boycott
of Esso garages in protest at its parent company's stance on global
warming and its past record on renewable energy spending. .... 4 Jul, 2001
Body Shop joins Esso boycott over Kyoto stance.
The Body Shop has said it will become the first company to publicly
back a boycott of Esso service stations in protest at its parent company's
support for the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto climate change pact.
.... 3 Jul, 2001
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