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COMPUTER games retailer Game has closed its York stores after the business went into administration

Game, and Gamestation, the brand which was founded in York in 2007 and later bought by Game, appointed Mike Jervis and Stuart Maddison of PwC as joint administrators

The business suspended its shares on the stock exchange on March 21 after revealing losses for the year ended in January 2012 would be £18 million

A number of stores have already closed, including the York branch on Spurriergate, which employed 19 people, and the Monks Cross store, which employs seven people is also to close The Gamestation store on Church Street will close too, although the exact number of redundancies is unknown

The group, which had a turnover of £16 billion in the year to 31 January and operations in the UK and Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Czech Republic and Australia, has 609 stores throughout the UK and Ireland, employing 5,136 people, as well as 385 employees based in the group’s head office in Basingstoke

Mike Jervis, joint administrator and partner at PwC said: “The group has faced serious cashflow and profit issues over the recent past It also has suffered from high fixed costs, an ambitious international roll-out and fluctuating working capital requirements

“Despite these challenges, we believe that there is room for a specialist game retailer in the territories in which it operates, including its biggest one, the UK As a result we are hopeful that a going concern sale of the business is achievable”

The administrators said that stores that had closed may or may not reopen in the event of a sale

Its long been known that owning a pet can be good for your mental and physical health, but new research indicates that it can also make your office a much happier and productive place.

Thats the finding of a first-of-its kind study, which looked at the effects that mans best friend has on employees. In that research, dogs were demonstrated to have many positive benefits in the workplace, most notably that they reduce stress and make working more satisfying.

“Although preliminary, this study provides the first quantitative study of the effects of employees pet dogs in the workplace setting on employee stress, job satisfaction, support and commitment,” said principal investigator Randolph Barker, professor of management in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business. “Dogs in the workplace can make a positive difference.

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In the latest twist, the company is now begging US staff to turn up to work — although they are owed up to 11 weeks’ wages. An email, seen by Building Design, from the firm’s North America human resources manager, was sent out after more than 25 staff failed to turn up for work one day in an organised protest at missing wages.

RMJM chief executive Peter Morrison, who hired Sir Shred, is behind the email which says employees not coming into work will not be paid at all. Staff, whose vital health insurance and pension payments have also stopped, were told that missing salaries would be paid at the beginning of January and then in mid-February.

Blankfein and ‘an irate call in a taxi’

We can all agree that the boss at the top tends to set the tone of the company. So here’s

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INTERNATIONAL. Last week, all markets were fixated upon the news of both the Euro-area and China PMI falling from the February level. Gold futures dropped US$28 to an intra-week low of US$1,627.5 last Thursday before recovering to US$1,662.4, down only US$6.6 for the week.

As of Asia opening on Wednesday, gold futures recovers to around US$1,680, helped by Fed’s Bernanke’s remarks this week that the U.S. needs more growth to reduce the unemployment rate, recovery is not yet on a firm path and the Fed considers all options to stimulate growth.

Monday’s U.S. data also showed that both consumer confidence and home prices are slipping. The fact that Bernanke did not rule out QE3 bodes well for gold as an inflation hedge.

VIX retraced back to the level as of July 2007 at 14.26, SP reached a 3-year high on Monday at 1,416.51 while on Tuesday Euro/dollar bounced to this month’s high at 1.3386 and the Dollar Index slumped 2% from the high in mid-March.

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For online shoppers, live chat has finally reached a tipping point of adoption, new research shows.  By next year, three-quarters of the online shopping population will have engaged in a live chat with a retailer, researchers predict. For Internet retailers, live chat is now becoming a must-have feature

More than 2,000 people in the U.S. and the U.K. were asked about their experiences with live chat last year in a survey conducted online by eMarketer researchers in partnership with the retail consultants at the e-tailing group.

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PALO ALTO, CA, March 21, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ — Sand Hill Global Advisors announced today that the firm has been recognized by NABCAP Premier Advisors, an exclusive group of financial advisors who represent the best in quality wealth management in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The designation is awarded annually by the National Association of Board Certified Advisory Practices , a nationally-registered 501 nonprofit organization, established to serve the needs of the investing public by helping identify top wealth managers. The selection process is based on a proprietary system whose ultimate goal is to provide investors and advisors a trusted standard of excellence to help guide them within the financial services industry.

Sand Hill Global Advisors is honored to be named among the top advisors in the Bay Area, said CEO Jane Williams. Read Full Article…