Boohoo is to pay £25m for Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton in a deal set to catapult the fashion brands to an online-only future at the expense of thousands of high street jobs. The online fashion specialist, which has already snapped up the Debenhams name amid the COVID-19 bloodbath for physical retailers, said it was
Business
Hasbro beat Wall Street analysts expectations, posting fourth-quarter revenue of $1.72 billion, up 4% from the year-earlier quarter. Adjusting for items, earnings reached $1.27 a share, ahead of analysts’ consensus expectation for $1.14. Gaming as a category posted a 27% rise in revenue to $561.2 million as the company continued to cope with the effects
Amazon and other major internet retailers could be hit with a new online sales tax to help the UK pay its debts after extensive borrowing during the pandemic. Treasury sources confirmed Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering targeting companies that have done well out of the pandemic to help pay back UK government debts built up
UPDATED with additional ads: This year’s Super Bowl will be — let us all hope — a one-of-a-kind experience. And that also goes for the ads. The title game will cap an NFL season that survived the pandemic but saw its sense of spectacle shrink. Sunday night’s broadcast on CBS delivers an intriguing matchup for
The volume of exports going through British ports to the EU fell by 68% last month compared with January last year, according to research. The Road Haulage Association’s chief executive Richard Burnett told The Observer that the organisation had also found 65-75% of vehicles arriving from the EU were returning to the bloc empty. This
The really interesting stuff is always in the fine print, especially when it comes to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences financials. When the latest numbers popped up in a bond disclosure statement on Christmas Eve, it was easy to brush past the footnotes. But Note 1 on Page 6, as it turns
Rapid tests will be offered to workplaces with more than 50 employees in an effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic. The lateral flow tests can produce results in less then 30 minutes but were previously only available to firms with more than 250 staff. Officials said the move is an effort to “normalise” testing in
The Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be facing off tomorrow at the Super Bowl, but health officials say viewing parties and similar events aren’t worth the risk as the coronavirus continues to spread. Los Angeles Public Health officials warned that Super Bowl parties “can become super-spreader events” and encouraged sports enthusiasts to
Britain’s biggest banks will finalise plans for annual bonus payouts in the coming days, ahead of a results season that will lay bare billions of pounds of anticipated loan losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic. Sky News has learnt that the state-backed lender NatWest Group has informed the Treasury that it wants to hand out
The WGA has won its historic campaign to reshape the talent agency business, today signing WME – the last agency holdout – to its franchise agreement. All the major agencies have now signed the agreement, which will return them to a 10% commissioning business model not seen in decades. The sides also agreed today to
US jobs growth bounced back less than expected in January while losses the previous month were worse than initially thought, latest figures show. The first set of employment data under President Joe Biden underlines the scale of the economic challenge faced as he seek to push through a $1.9trn (£1.4trn) COVID-19 recovery package. Please use
WME has dropped Armie Hammer as a client, Deadline confirmed Friday, the latest fallout from the actor’s controversial social media posts that were leaked online. The news today comes after Hammer exited roles in a pair of projects. He was set to co-star opposite Jennifer Lopez in Lionsgate’s film Shotgun Wedding, but the studio said
Around 15 million families will see their energy bills rise by up to £96 after the regulator hiked the price cap. The return to pre-coronavirus levels is mainly as a result of increase in wholesale costs, according to Ofgem. For six months from 1 April the price cap will increase by £96 to £1,138 for
Snap Inc. stock fell in after-hours trading after the Snapchat parent gave financial guidance for the first quarter of 2021 that disappointed Wall Street. The share price decline of more than 6% came despite a stellar set of fourth-quarter results, including user growth, profit and revenue all above analysts’ consensus forecasts. Like other social and
Mandatory hotel quarantine for UK residents and nationals arriving from countries on the “red list” will come into effect on 15 February – more than two weeks after the move was first announced by the prime minister. Under the policy, people returning from more than 30 high-risk nations will have to quarantine for 10 days
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden has written a memoir that will be published in April, with a focus on addiction and sobriety. Beautiful Things will be published on April 6 by Simon & Schuster imprint Gallery Books. “I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love,” Hunter Biden
The Bank of England has predicted that the economy will “recover rapidly” this year – as it left interest rates on hold at 0.1%. Latest forecasts from the Bank suggest that after taking a steep downturn during the current period of lockdowns, the roll-out of vaccines and scaling back of restrictions will boost growth for
UPDATED, 7:10 PM: Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios and Charter Communications have agreed to settle Allen’s $10 billion racial-discrimination lawsuit against the telecommunications giant. The parties put out a brief joint statement tonight announcing the deal. “Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Networks has resolved and withdrawn the lawsuit against Charter Communications.” Read details of the case below.
A cannabinoids company backed by David Beckham will this week become the first company of its kind to formally unveil plans for a main London stock market debut. Sky News can exclusively reveal that Cellular Goods, which makes skincare and athletic recovery products manufactured from biosynthetic cannabinoids, will announce its intention to float as soon
CBS’ recently opened investigation into alleged racist and sexist conduct by two of its top local TV executives is now in the spotlight of the WGA, and the guild wants a face-to-face ASAP. “The Writers Guild of America, East has reached out to CBS regarding the investigation of misconduct by executives at local CBS television