Hints and tips:
...Rita Clifton, deputy chair of John Lewis Partnership, said the group was “in good financial health with a return to profit, and [has] a strong balance sheet with record investment planned this year”....
...But the most delightful bit of flair, in my opinion, was the fluffy black-and-white feathered hat that Rita Moreno wore with her Carolina Herrera dress. As she told Laverne Cox, who hosted E!’...
...The emergence of Diana Spencer in 1981 caused a storm of media interest in her clothes (velvet knee breeches, piecrust collars), her attitudes and her language — in fact, in everything about her....
...Wedgwood and exotic tea sets of the thinnest porcelain; original Stickley furniture in the dining room; the two Steinway concert grands in rosewood cases; bookcases full of first editions of Darwin, Huxley, Spencer...
...In 1985, the first fully packaged, pre-made sandwich was sold by Marks and Spencer, thanks to the invention of an “easy seal” pack by Hans Blokmann, technical director of packaging supplier Danisco Otto...
...M&S Sparks Launched: 2015 Marks and Spencer freely admits that despite its relatively recent launch, its loyalty scheme needs a rethink....
...I adore bashed and bruised brown furniture, such as the chest of drawers I bought for one of our guest rooms from the Arundel-based dealer Spencer Swaffer, and I am currently eyeing up a George IV mahogany...
...“It still has strong associations and that is something that could be revived,” said Rita Clifton, founder of BrandCap....
...In the 1970s Richard Hamilton and Rita Donagh looked at the killing of student protesters at Kent State University....
...Beached wail A push by chief executive Marc Bolland to revive the fashion credentials of Marks and Spencer deploys famous women as models....
...This season the brand has collaborated with Croatian-born designer Damir Doma, who references the work of artist Sterling Ruby for his Rita and Vivien shades for women....
...Lloyds’ Alison Brittain, who now also sits on the board of Marks and Spencer, recalls the exhortations of her former chairman, Sir Win Bischoff....
...It follows similar moves by US chain Whole Foods and British retailer Marks and Spencer. But do such efforts risk diluting a brand in the long term?...
...The most important regulator of market behaviour, however, must be investors’ fear of being caught out again, as some were in 2005 when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma swept through....
...But they’re all Marks and Spencer’s.”...
...The uncertainty spread across the sector, with Marks and Spencer down 1.6 per cent to 497p, WH Smith 1.7 per cent softer at 427p and Woolworths 3.9 per cent softer at 37p....
...However, the stock was still down 7.6 per cent over the week after warning that Hurricanes Rita and Katrina would hit third-quarter profits by $700m....
...Marks and Spencer put on 1.4 per cent to 359p as investors followed the recent share-buying by several M&S directors....
...“That means the loss cost is about SFr2.2 per share less than forecast, but the uncertainty around it has clearly been plaguing the share price,” said Spencer Horgan at Deutsche Bank....
...Other retailers gained, including Marks & Spencer, 2.5 per cent higher at 354p, and Next, up 0.5 per cent to £14.20....
...Elsewhere, reinsurers moved higher as investors heaved a sigh of relief that Hurricane Rita did less damage than feared....
International Edition