‘WH Smith is ignoring my pleas to replace my autistic son’s expired gift card’
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our consumer champion, Sally Hamilton, is here to help
23 April 2021 • 12:00pm
WH Smith gift cards are valid for 24 months from purchase, but you can restart the clock for a further 24 months by simply checking the balance online
Credit: PA
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our consumer champion, Sally Hamilton, is here to help. For how to contact her click here.
Dear Sally,
We have a severely autistic son who is aged 54 and lives in a care home. In December we found he had an unused £25 WH Smith gift card that was out of date. Despite me trying to phone, email and write to the company, including its chief executive, to ask that it be reissued, I have heard nothing back.
Tate & Lyle wants to sell a controlling stake in primary products to a long-term financial partner
25 April 2021 • 7:15pm
Tate & Lyle has begun preparing the ground for a break-up of the business by auctioning a controlling stake in its primary products arm.
The former FTSE 100 company confirmed it was pursuing a split of the unit from the food and beverage solutions business following revelations in
In a statement, the business said it was exploring a separation by selling a controlling stake in the primary products operation to a new long-term financial partner . Tate & Lyle continues to successfully execute its strategy and remains confident in the future growth prospects of the company, the firm added.
Primark sales surge as stores reopen
Fast fashion chain s owner ABF will repay £121m in furlough cash and resume the dividend despite a slump in half-year profits
Queues formed outside Primark stores as they reopened after lockdown last week
Primark s owner will repay £121m in furlough money claimed under government job retention schemes and pay out a dividend to shareholders despite a slump in profits.
Associated British Foods (ABF) said the decision comes despite stores remaining closed for most of the autumn and winter period, leading to revenues and profits plunging.
Sales were down 17pc to £6.3bn and adjusted operating profits halved to £319m in the six months to February 27.
Asda billionaires pile their plate high with Leon takeover
The Issa brothers have ambitious plans to transform their petrol station forecourts into mini shopping centres
20 April 2021 • 6:00am
Five years ago, Zuber and Mohsin Issa met with Leon s co-founder John Vincent over fish and chips at the chain s Holborn branch to tell him about their plans for drive-through Leon locations.
In the end, that plan did not work out, but Vincent left with a strong admiration of the brothers who have built a sprawling global empire of more than 5,900 petrol station forecourts through their company EG Group.
The announcement on Sunday that the billionaire brothers had snapped up Leon for £100m came as no surprise to industry insiders. They have seen their spending spree, which could soon include Caffe Nero, swing into full force during the pandemic as struggling hospitality businesses seek financial help.
Even Primark must succumb to the online revolution eventually
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20 April 2021 • 8:36pm
There was something strangely reassuring about the queues that formed outside Primark’s Oxford Street store when high streets reopened last week.
Economists still rely heavily on official data but like road traffic, restaurant bookings and more obscure measures such as the Big Mac index and even the plastic surgery indicator, the appetite for Primark’s cheap clothing has proven to be a reliably unorthodox way to gauge the health of the economy.