Image of the week: Dog days
The business picture wires were filled with approximately 95 per cent men in suits this week, but there's enough of them in newspapers already, so instead we bring you Lola (on the left). The slightly petrified looking Bichon Frise is the new dog of UK chancellor George Osborne, who yesterday was obliged to accessorise with something rather less cute: a copy of his autumn statement. Fluffy Lola is being carried here outside 11 Downing Street on Tuesday, having been called in by her new owner to give some last-minute advice on the economy. At the time of writing, Lola is busy with toilet training and so is yet to set up her own Twitter account. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters
In numbers: Retail rush
20,000
Number of job applications a new Ikea store in Spain received in just three days, causing a computer crash.
400
Total positions that are actually available at the store near the city of Valencia.
26
Percentage unemployment rate in Spain, just in case anyone thought the economic and social crisis in the euro zone had gone away.
The lexicon: Maidstone Mums
Ronny Gottschlich, who is managing director of Lidl's stores in the UK, has described the discount retailer's core shoppers as "Maidstone Mums", which he describes as "someone who probably previously would have thought, I can't be seen in a Lidl store. Those Maidstone Mums are no longer afraid of being seen in a Lidl store."
He didn't specify whether these Middle England shoppers, who may or may not hail from the Kent town of Maidstone, had suddenly discovered the joys of thriftiness, or whether economic circumstance had priced them out of other stores. But safe to say, retail analysts are now wondering how struggling Tesco can win back the loyalty of the "Maidstone Mums".
The list: profit warnings
It was the turn of Qantas to issue a profit warning this week, as the Australian airline highlighted a "marked deterioration" in trading conditions and said it would have to lay off staff. But which other companies have been forced to dial down their optimism in 2013?
1 Unilever: According to accountancy giant EY, more companies on the London Stock Exchange issued profit warnings in September than in any month since the start of the financial crisis. The biggest of these came from the Anglo-Dutch maker of Persil and Dove.
2 Hugo Boss: The luxury goods sector laughed in the face of the global financial crisis thanks to spectacular economic growth in China. But now that growth is slowing, and so is their business.
3 Albemarle & Bond: The listed pawnbroker has suffered in line with heavy falls in the price of gold, obliging it to begin "a programme of exceptional smelting of retail stocks" (melting down and selling gold jewellery) to avoid breaching debt covenants.
