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 UNITED KINGDOM FRANCHISE NEWS ARCHIVE
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: : Jul/Aug 2000
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Sizing up. Marks & Spencer is launching its first
substantial television advertising drive, with a planned campaign
budget of £20m, in an effort to revive the retailer's flagging fortunes.
.... [more]
31 Aug, 2000
M&S fails to stem clothing sales fall. Marks
& Spencer was dealt a fresh blow yesterday when leaked documents revealed
a fall in its clothing sales, despite its restyled range and revamped
image. .... [more]
28 Aug, 2000
Ann Summers to open sex shop in Mecca. Ann Summers,
the sex shop and lingerie chain, has been granted permission to open
22 shops in the Middle East, including one in the holy city of Mecca.
.... 27 Aug, 2000
M&S disputes sales slump. Retailer Marks & Spencer
has played down the significance of leaked figures suggesting its
clothing sales are continuing to tumble. .... [more]
27 Aug, 2000
M&S franchisee closes Austrian stores. Struggling
British retailer Marks and Spencer Plc said on Friday the owner of
its franchise in Austria has decided to close two more stores due
to continuing underperformance, having already shut one. .... 25 Aug, 2000
Property slowdown hits estate agency chain. The
housing market slowdown is starting to bite, with Britain's largest
estate agency yesterday reporting a 27% drop in first-half profits.
.... [more]
24 Aug, 2000
M&S chief: I should have quit sooner. Sir Richard
Greenbury, the former chairman of Marks & Spencer, has admitted that
his last year in charge of Britain's biggest retailer was "disastrous",
as the company spent hundreds of millions of pounds on a misjudged
expansion strategy. .... [more]
23 Aug, 2000
Listing for cyber cafe chain. Entrepreneur Stelios
Haji-Ioannou, who brought mass market low-cost flying to Britain,
is to float his chain of internet cafes, which has risen in value
by ten times in a year. .... [more]
18 Aug, 2000
UK retail sales flat. UK retail sales were weaker
than expected in July as price cuts by retailers failed to draw in
consumers. .... [more]
18 Aug, 2000
EasyEverything plans flotation for internet cafes. Stelios
Haji-Ioannou, owner of the EasyJet low-budget airline, is planning
a stock market flotation of his growing chain of 24-hour internet
cafes. .... [more]
17 Aug, 2000
Abbey to outsource credit cards. Last month its
emerged that Abbey had drawn up plans to hand over its 780-strong
branch network to local managers acting as franchisees. .... 13 Aug, 2000
M&S shares: 10-year low. Marks and Spencer appears
to have failed to convince investors that it is on the road to recovery.
.... [more]
11 Aug, 2000
Millions of car repairs 'unsafe.' More than a
million cars receive defective and sometimes unsafe repairs each year,
according to a report by the Office of Fair Trading today. .... 10 Aug, 2000
INTEREST - Wal-Mart, AOL join Shopsmart. American
retail giant Wal-Mart has joined up with AOL Europe to take a stake
in UK internet firm ShopSmart. .... [more]
9 Aug, 2000
McDonald's sued over 'too hot' drinks. Court
action against the fast food chain McDonald's by customers who claim
they were burned by the restaurant's hot drinks begins on Wednesday.
.... [more]
2 Aug, 2000
Sales rise adds to rates dilemma. High street
sales in the UK showed signs of revival in July, according to a new
survey and that news could signal a rise in interest rates. .... [more]
2 Aug, 2000
Abbey's coffee bar an instant hit. Carol Haste,
manager of Abbey National in High Barnet, thought she had seen everything
in her 22 years of service, but when the bank suggested renovating
the branch and installing a Costas coffee bar, she laughed. .... 2 Aug, 2000
Abbey's expresso service. UK High Street bank
Abbey National will open on Tuesday its first branch with a coffee
shop inside. .... [more]
1 Aug, 2000
INTEREST - Online shopping gets more convenient.
Thousands of local shops will soon be acting as drop-off and
pick-up points for the goods that people buy online. .... [more]
27 Jul, 2000
Abbey franchise pilot puts the power with managers.
Over 40 branches of Abbey National will next week be operated
on a franchise basis as the high street bank launches a new pilot
scheme. .... 26 Jul, 2000
Cash is welcome but call is for better management.
Gordon Brown announced £190m additional funds for the new
Small Business Service over the next three years as part of his spending
spree last week. .... 24 Jul, 2000
Domino's e-pizza orders top £1m. Pizza delivery firm
Domino's says online sales now average £50,000 per week in the UK
and Ireland. .... [more]
20 Jul, 2000
M&S investors attack everything from pay to pockets. Marks
& Spencer's new chairman, Luc Vandevelde, came through his toughest
test yet yesterday: a 90-minute grilling by the company's army of
blue-rinsed shareholders. .... [more]
20 Jul, 2000
M&S chairman woos investors. He worked the crowd like a vaudeville
pro, joking with the audience, teasing his directors and even turning
to show an elegantly clad behind to prove a point about the pockets
on men's trousers. .... [more]
20 Jul, 2000
RELATED - Debenhams to build 11 new stores. Creation of 4,000
jobs encouraged by strong clothing sales .... [more]
20 Jul, 2000
M&S: We'll be good again. The new chairman of Marks & Spencer
has told shareholders it was not a question of if, but when the retail
chain is going to recover. .... [more]
20 Jul, 2000
M&S still in the doldrums. Marks and Spencer, the troubled
UK-based food and clothing retailer, on Wednesday released figures
showing a slow down in its revival, with comparable total sales for
the 16 weeks to July 15 up by 3.2 per cent and like-for-likes up 0.9
per cent. .... [more]
20 Jul, 2000
Discount stores for M&S. Britain's biggest clothing retailer,
Marks and Spencer, said yesterday it planned to launch a chain of
discount stores and join its rivals in targeting the UK's growing
band of bargain hunters. .... 14 Jul, 2000
M&S moves into outlets. Marks and Spencer will soon be offering
its clothing at discounts of more than 30 per cent in factory outlet
malls. .... [more]
13 Jul, 2000
High Street recovery slows. High street sales growth slowed
in June as a result of early than usual seasonal bargains and the
Euro 2000 soccer tournament. .... 11 Jul, 2000
Fatty Arbuckles goes bust. Fatty Arbuckles, the American-style
diner chain, has gone into receivership. .... 10 Jul, 2000
Diageo faces tough task as Burger King loses ground. Diageo
will reveal this week that US sales at its Burger King fast-food chain
remain worryingly sluggish, due to a poor performance from restaurants
operated by franchisees. .... [more]
10 Jul, 2000
Budgens profit boost. UK supermarket group Budgens says an
increasing emphasis on providing high-quality fresh food has helped
boost its profits by 16%. .... [more]
6 Jul, 2000
INTEREST - Firms fail to capitalise on internet. Many leading
UK and US companies risk losing business because of their failure
to communicate effectively via the internet, according to a survey.
.... [more]
6 Jul, 2000
Retailers feel the pinch. Slow sales growth and static housing
market prompt calls for no change on interest rates .... [more]
6 Jul, 2000
Barclays denies branch franchise plan. Britain's fourth largest
bank, Barclays Plc, denied on Tuesday that it was considering a franchise
system for branches in an attempt to improve productivity. .... 4 Jul, 2000
Shop sales growth slows. UK shops saw sales growth slow in
June to its lowest rate for more than a year, according to figures
from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). .... [more]
5 Jul, 2000
Complications in luring real entrepreneurs. Life is complicated
enough for Abbey National customers, as comedian Alan Davies keeps
telling them, but maybe not complicated enough for the bank's 160
local managers. .... 4 Jul, 2000
Abbey pioneers franchise scheme. Abbey National is poised
for a radical departure from the traditional high street banking structure
by offering local managers the chance to act as franchisees. ....
3 Jul, 2000
INTEREST - Later on a Sunday for Tesco's online shoppers. The
supermarket chain yesterday increased the delivery period for its
online customers to 12 hours on Sundays, following a big increase
in sales for the company's internet shopping service. .... [more]
3 Jul, 2000
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