Commercial news round-up: Carillion, Iceland, China, house prices, Tesco Clubcard
updated on 18 January 2018
The big story this week has been the spectacular collapse of Carillion, and the fallout from its compulsory liquidation. The construction and facilities company hasn’t just put its private sector building projects in jeopardy – it also had many public sector contacts (including for the NHS and around 900 schools) which now need fulfilling. One commentator even likened it to the Lehman Brothers collapse, and we all know how well that ended. For this and other big business news, look no further:
- Could anyone have predicted Carillion’s collapse? Well, there were definitely warning signs – the Guardian outlines the six things that hedge fund managers were watching in advance of this week’s announcement.
- Iceland (the supermarket, not the country) has vowed to eliminate all plastic packaging from its own-brand products in the next five years, as part of its commitment to helping the globe tackle the “scourge” of plastic waste. It will replace its plastics with paper/pulp products.
- China’s economy grew by 6.9% in 2017 – better than expected, and considered to be a useful barometer for the world economy as a whole. However, some have called into question the veracity of the figures, suggesting that they are “so stable, so in line with government targets, that it's hard to really believe them”.
- The UK’s largest real estate agent Countrywide, which owns Hamptons, Bairstow Eves and Taylors among others, has issued a profit warning and revealed disappointing fourth quarter figures. Its share price has dropped by 18% as a result.
- Following vociferous customer backlash, Tesco has done a U-turn on its plans to rejig its Clubcard rewards vouchers, which would have seen customers receive much less favourable terms.
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