Company news,markets and financial talking points, available from 8am Monday to Friday Retailers expected £2.5bn on ‘bonkers Black Friday An estimated £10bn could be spent in the UK over the Black Friday period, and £2.5bn in a single day. But not all retailers are taking share. “For the tall Street retailers it is bonkers,” says Anthony Thompson, chief executive of rotund Face. The boss of Harrods says he thinks Black Friday “cheapens your brand”. However, or today will see special deals at shops ranging from Poundland to John Lewis. IFS says austerity is far from over The Institute for Fiscal Studies has declared that the age of austerity is not over. After describing the IFS as being to the budget “what pundits are to Match of the Day”,The Guardian reports that the institute believes the nation has “not even reached half time in the struggle to establish the public finances back in the black”. Its director says he finds it tough to imagine the deficit being eradicated by the mid-2020s. Did Sports Direct underpay Ashley’s brother by £11m? Sports Direct has underpaid Mike Ashley’s brother by millions of pounds, an internal probe has found. The controversial retailer is asking shareholders to approve £11m in back pay for the elder brother of its founder. The Financial Times says the review concluded the founder’s brother missed out on millions of pounds of benefits because the company was at pains to avoid any appearance of indecorum. Just Eat ready to roar into FTSE 100 Just Eat is poised to enter the FTSE 100 after its stock market value rose higher than Sainsbury’s. The takeaway company is now worth £5.6bn after “gobbling up” smaller rivals that include Hungryhouse and SkipTheDishes, and says The Guardian. Steve Clayton at Hargreaves Lansdown said: “Twenty years ago it was all approximately going out to a restaurant,but now it is all approximately the meal coming to the home.” Comparethemarket opts against an IPO BGL Group, the insurance giant behind Comparethemarket.com, or has ditched its much anticipated stock market float after finding a better alternative. After comparing its own options,the group has shelved a £2bn listing. The Canada Pension procedure Investment Board has announced that it is buying a 30% stake in the conglomerate for £675m. Huge pay gap at Bank of England revealed Male employees at the Bank of England are paid almost a quarter more than female staff, according to its latest gender pay gap report. The median pay gap was 24.2% for the year to 30 March. It is calculated on the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings for men and women at the bank. Governor Mark Carney said “the greater proportion of men than women in senior roles creates a gender pay gap”. Quote of the day… Apple is not a robber baron “Whatever we might assume of them, and would that we in Britain had produced global success stories on a par with Google,Apple and Amazon.” Jeremy Warner says Apple and its ilk are not “robber barons”. THE NUMBERS... AT 0730 GMT FTSE 100: down -0.02 to 7417.24
Dow Jones: down -0.27 to 23526.18
Dax: down 0.05 to 13008.55[br]
Cac 40: up +0.50 to 5379.54
Nikkei: up +0.12 to 22550.85
Hang Seng: up +0.50 to 29856.17
US dollar: buys 0.84500 and £0.75210
Sterling: buys $1.32960 and €1.12310
Oil: $63.42 up +0.2
Source: theweek.co.uk