Marks and Sparks jeans squeeze

Friday 10th January

Get straight to the good stuff every day with the Multiply Minute; a lightning-quick round-up of the money news and how it affects you.

Slim pickings for skinny fits

Marks and Spencer has blamed its low Christmas takings on its overestimates of demand for festive food items and...men’s skinny jeans. It seems guys aren’t going for the tight-fitting denim (but sadly not because they’ve eaten too many M&S mince pies). The retailer has ordered looser styles for spring in the hope that relaxed fits will loosen its customers’ purse (wallet) strings.

Stormont on the scene

Power-sharing at the Northern Irish parliament could be back on the cards by the end of the day. A draft deal was published last night, aimed at boosting public services in Northern Ireland and restoring people’s confidence in the devolved government. It’s been three years since the devolved assembly at Stormont collapsed, and an agreement would end turmoil such as industrial action by healthcare staff.

Dixons Carphone fined

The owner of Currys PC World and Carphone has been penalised to the sum of £500,000. The expensive slap on the wrist was for falling foul of a hack that targeted 14 million of its customer's accounts. An investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) found that malware found its way onto 5,390 tills across its business, revealing full names, postcodes, email addresses, and failed credit card checks of its customers.

Aaand the top 2019 supermarket is...

Tesco. But it was a bittersweet victory as it rang up a paltry 0.1% growth. Britain's biggest supermarket group was able to get a glimmer of goodness from a "subdued" Christmas to get its UK sales above that of its main rivals. One of its 2019 highlights was December 23rd, a day it sold more food than any day in its 100-year-history.