more store closures and job cuts ahead in uk?

Badboy wrote:

Panda wrote:

Britain is doing quite well in the Service sector and design and technology but these do not create many jobs. Small firms are expanding and crying out for engineers, but since the days of Firms taking on Apprentices are long gone, these firms cannot take on too many jobs. Sunderland is creating 1,000
jobs immediately and Nissan is bringing out a New Model in 2014 so the shortage of qualified Staff may mean the Car will be built in another Plant or
Country.

Why isn't this Government paying for Apprentices NOW instead of these youngsters hanging around doing nothing.

MAYBE GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY SHOULD START AN APPRENTICE SCHEME CONCERNING ENGINEERING,SCIENCE AND COMPUTER SCIENCE.

It should have started a Year ago Badboy, what is the point of Cameron going half way round the World trying to drum up Trade when we havn't got the experienced staff to take advantage of any upturn.

IS HE PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE OR WHATEVER THAT SAYING IS.
FIRST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A QUALIFIED WORK FORCE,PERHAPS GEORGE OSBORNE OR DAVID CAMEROON NEEDS TO ANNOUNCE MONEY FOR A BONA FIDE TRAINING SCHEME TO TRAINING SUCH PEOPLE.

sony to cut 10,000 jobs and bmi to lose 1,200 jobs.

Badboy wrote:IS HE PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE OR WHATEVER THAT SAYING IS.
FIRST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A QUALIFIED WORK FORCE,PERHAPS GEORGE OSBORNE OR DAVID CAMEROON NEEDS TO ANNOUNCE MONEY FOR A BONA FIDE TRAINING SCHEME TO TRAINING SUCH PEOPLE.

Good point badboy, but we need a skilled, qualified and fully trained workforce in place to train apprentices, but we haven't the manufacturing capacity to provide such a workforce, nor maintain a supply of home manufactured products cheap enough to compete with imported goods.

Thatcherism and 13 years of New Labour certainly have a lot to answer for.

THERE WAS SOMEONE ON SKY NEWS SAYING BETTING SHOPS AND FAST FOOD CHAIN WERE DESTROYING TOWN CENTRE RETAIL,AT LEAST I THINK THATS WHAT HE WAS SAYING.

THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF JOBSEEKERS TO JOBS IS 20 UP FROM 18.
A NUMBER OF FIRMS(46?)ARE IN SUCH DEBT THAT BY NEXT YEAR THEY MIGHT BE BANKRUPT.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/dairy-closures-threat-500-jobs-070735957.html

Dairy closures threat to 500 jobs

Nearly 500 jobs are under threat after supermarket milk supplier Dairy Crest announced plans to close two dairies.

The proposed closures involve a glass bottling dairy at Aintree, where 220 people work, and a site at Fenstanton in Cambridgeshire employing 250 people.

Dairy Crest said a recent £75 million investment programme enabled it to transfer work to its three polybottle dairies at Severnside, Chadwell Heath and Foston in Derbyshire.

The company is battling an "extremely challenging" market for liquid milk and said the plans, which are subject to staff consultation, would help it reduce costs and sustain profitability.

Dairy Crest, which employs 4,000 people in its dairies business and 6,000 people overall, also announced that its current contract to supply liquid milk to Tesco will not be renewed in July.

Around 3% of the company's liquid milk sales are made to Tesco and Dairy Crest said the loss of the contract was not a factor in the decision to close the two dairies later this year.

The demise of the Aintree site reflects the fall in sales of milk in glass bottles as residential trade continues to decline and customers increasingly opt for plastic bottles and milk bags.

Dairy Crest also has a food division which makes leading brands such as Cathedral City, Country Life and Clover.

Chief executive Mark Allen said the dairy closures would protect the future of the dairies side of the business.

He added: "The decision to consult on the closure of our Aintree and Fenstanton facilities has not been taken lightly, but we believe that this proposed restructuring of our dairies business is the right decision for the long term."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/marks-spencers-q4-sales-miss-forecasts-062504636.html


Marks & Spencer sales miss forecasts


LONDON (Reuters) - Bellwether British retailer Marks & Spencer missed forecasts for underlying fourth quarter sales after it failed to buy enough best selling womenswear lines to satisfy demand.

The UK's biggest clothing retailer, which also sells homewares and upmarket foods, said on Tuesday it would, however, meet expectations for 2011/12 profit thanks to cost savings.

Shares in M&S fell nearly 3 percent after it said sales at stores open over a year fell 0.7 percent in the 13 weeks to March 31, its fiscal fourth quarter.

That compared with analyst forecasts of a rise of 0.4-1.6 percent, with a consensus of 0.8 percent, according to a company poll of 10, and a third quarter rise of 0.5 percent excluding VAT sales tax.

The fourth quarter outcome included a 2.8 percent fall in general merchandise, mainly clothing, like-for-like sales and a 1.0 percent rise in food sales, against consensus forecasts of increases of 0.2 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.

"In clothing, menswear, lingerie and kidswear performed strongly," the firm said.

"In womenswear our performance was mixed, with some key areas trading well. However, we performed less well in other areas where we were short of stock in a number of best-selling lines."

Chief Executive Marc Bolland told reporters the firm sold 100,000 items of knitwear during the quarter but could have sold 300,000.

He said M&S was taking steps to address the problem by strengthening its merchandising capabilities and had had a good start to the new spring/summer launch.

Total group sales rose 0.8 percent in the quarter.

Many UK retailers are still struggling as consumers grapple with inflation, muted wage growth and government austerity measures, and worry about job security and a stagnant housing market.

M&S has, however, performed better than most as its older and more affluent customers have been less impacted by the economic downturn.

Giving guidance for the 2012/13 year it said it expected gross margin to be in a range of flat to up 25 basis points, operating costs to increase 3-5 percent and capital expenditure of about 825 million pounds ($1.31 billion).

Shares in the 128-year-old group, which prior to Tuesday's update had increased by 17 percent over the last three months, were down 10.2 pence at 357.5 pence at 0715 GMT, valuing the business at 5.76 billion pounds. ($1 = 0.6312 British pounds)

IT WAS SAYING IN GUARDIAN TODAY THAT INCREASLY FIRMS LIKE MARKS AND SPARKS,NEXT ETC ARE LOOKING TO MOVE TO OUT-OF-TOWN RETAIL PARKS LEAVING TOWN CENTRES EMPTY.

Tesco Sales have fallen and they are taking action to bring back their number one status in the U.K. which accounts for 68% of sales. All Stores are
to be modernised, different colour schemes, packaging of their own Brand will change and 8000 more Staff will be hired . The Company sees internet
booking will increase and the click and collect ordering is very popular.

Panda wrote:

Tesco Sales have fallen and they are taking action to bring back their number one status in the U.K. which accounts for 68% of sales. All Stores are
to be modernised, different colour schemes, packaging of their own Brand will change and 8000 more Staff will be hired . The Company sees internet
booking will increase and the click and collect ordering is very popular.

PROFITS HAVE FALLEN 1% TO 2.5BILLION,TESCO'S WILL SPEND £1BILLION TO MODERNISE

Badboy wrote:

Panda wrote:

Tesco Sales have fallen and they are taking action to bring back their number one status in the U.K. which accounts for 68% of sales. All Stores are
to be modernised, different colour schemes, packaging of their own Brand will change and 8000 more Staff will be hired . The Company sees internet
booking will increase and the click and collect ordering is very popular.

PROFITS HAVE FALLEN 1% TO 2.5BILLION,TESCO'S WILL SPEND £1BILLION TO MODERNISE

The public is not stupid Badboy and saw the "half price" and buy 2 get 3rd Free gimmick was not a bargain at all. The government is concerned that
inflation is not decreasing and cites Food as the biggest increase in price. I like the Lloyd Grossman Sauces and was going to buy the Tomato and Basil
one which makes a great bolognese Sauce. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and today the price has gone up from £1.68 to £1.99 so I bought another Brand....how can an almost 20% increas be justified.?

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:

Panda wrote:

Tesco Sales have fallen and they are taking action to bring back their number one status in the U.K. which accounts for 68% of sales. All Stores are
to be modernised, different colour schemes, packaging of their own Brand will change and 8000 more Staff will be hired . The Company sees internet
booking will increase and the click and collect ordering is very popular.

PROFITS HAVE FALLEN 1% TO 2.5BILLION,TESCO'S WILL SPEND £1BILLION TO MODERNISE

The public is not stupid Badboy and saw the "half price" and buy 2 get 3rd Free gimmick was not a bargain at all. The government is concerned that
inflation is not decreasing and cites Food as the biggest increase in price. I like the Lloyd Grossman Sauces and was going to buy the Tomato and Basil
one which makes a great bolognese Sauce. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and today the price has gone up from £1.68 to £1.99 so I bought another Brand....how can an almost 20% increas be justified.?

I READ IN ONE NEWS ARTICLE THAT ONLY THE BIG PRICE DROP ALIAS BIG PRICE FLOP THAT PRICES SLIGHTLY INCREASED,DIDN'T KNOW THAT.
ONE OF COMMENTS WAS 1 ITEMS FOR 89P,2 FOR £2,HARDLY A SAVING.


SEPARETLY AQUACUTURE(A LUXURY CLOTHS STORE HAS GONE INTO ADMINISTRATION.

I SEE THAT SUPERGROUP HAS GOT ITS ACCOUNTS WRONG,PUT A PLUS? INSTEAD OF A MINUS?.
IF THEY ARE LOOKING TO GET THEIR ACCOUNTS RIGHT,THEY COULD DO WORSE THAN EMPLOY ME.

ARGOS'S PROFIT HAVE DROPPED.
WAITROSE MAY HIT TESCO'S PROFIT WITH ITS PRICE GUARANTEE TO MATCH TESCO'S PRICES.

Tescos have been given quite a rubbishing of late.

cherry1 wrote:Tescos have been given quite a rubbishing of late.

TRUE,SLIGHTY OFF SUBJECT I SAW ON WATCHDOG THAT ASDA HAD ENGAGED IN MISLEADING BARGAIN PRICING.
TESCO'S ALSO HAVE FEATURED IN SAME PROGRAMME CONCERNING SAME PROBLEM.

I dont know why they do it as sooner or later they get caught out and shamed!

CLINTON CARDS POSSIBLY GOING INTO ADMIN,PUTTING 4,000 JOBS AT RISK.

I HAVE JUST HEARD THAT 8,000 JOBS ARE AT RISK.

Thats sad, they have been going for years and a family firm I believe.

cherry1 wrote:Thats sad, they have been going for years and a family firm I believe.

I REMEMBER BUYING SOME CHRISTMAS CARDS FROM CLINTON CARDS YEARS AGO.
ITS SAD SOME OF THESE CLOSURES(WOOLWORTHS ETC WHICH ARE INSTUITIONS ON THE HIGH STREEET AND/OR LOCALLY),SOMETIMES ONE WONDER WHO IS NEXT(NOT THE CLOTHES SHOP!)U

Clinton Cards has gone into administration.

I was speaking to a woman the other night who is being made redundant from two part-time jobs she took on when her husband was made redundant. One job is at a care home that has been taken over by a new private company and lots of staff are getting the boot. The other job is for a charity, which is having to cut costs.

CLINTON CARDS HAS SACKED 2,800 WORKERS