Those old enough, and younger cineastes will remember ‘Wall Street’. Michael Douglas’s character was famous for his ‘greed is good slogan’, as he took over and asset-stripped businesses in the 80’s Reagan/Thatcher boom. We’re in the midst of something similar, with US private equity firms competing to take over Morrisons; who, unusually, own all of their premises. The buyers have, of course, ‘no plans’ to sell off these prime properties and are only interested in supplying food to our nation. Just as Boris had ‘no plans’ to run for the Tory leadership. And chancellors always have ‘no plans’ to increase taxes. Yeah, right.
“Marks & Spencer profits plunge as clothing sales continue to fall”
So profits are down at M&S. Not really a surprise, I, like many, buy the occasional chicken Kiev but haven’t found anything I’d wear, even in private, for a long time. However, most of us running our own businesses would say, stop moaning, at least you’re making a...