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Littlewoods is to shed up to 200 of the 2,000 jobs at its headquarters in Speke, following a review of its home shopping business. 06-Sep-2007 Littlewoods is to close warehouses in Eccles, Worcester and Wigan with the loss of 1,200 jobs next year, in order to centralise the logistics side of its mail order and online shopping business in Oldham. 10-May-2006 Littlewoods is to create 300 jobs at its new financial services call centre in Liverpool over the next six months. 27-Jun-2005 Littlewoods is planning to relocate its home shopping business and 1,500 staff from Crosby to a new multi-million pound site at Netherton's Senate business park. 28-Feb-2005 Littlewoods has received at least one takeover approach for its chain of 186 stores. 31-Jan-2005 Littlewoods is creating 250 temporary jobs at its home shopping call centre in Crosby. 31-Aug-2004 Littlewoods is closing its store in Oxford with immediate effect, with the loss of 26 jobs. 04-Aug-2004 Littlewoods is to close its Shop Direct call centres in Widnes and Leeds with the loss of 600 jobs, in order to transfer the work to its sites in Bolton, Burnley and Preston. 16-Jun-2004 Littlewoods is to close its Business Express home shopping distribution depot in Middlesbrough next month, but most of the 56 staff will be transferred to other sites. 02-Feb-2004 Littlewoods is planning to shed 60 of the 360 jobs in its IT department by the end of the year. 10-Nov-2003 Littlewoods is to close the warehouse in Heywood that supplies its Index catalogue shops over the next 18 months, putting 400 jobs at risk. 06-May-2003 Littlewoods is to relocate about 250 jobs in its JCM media business from Edge Lane in Liverpool to a new office in Whiston, while 50 staff in its Business Express division will also move to Whiston. 18-Apr-2003 Littlewoods has put its 14-storey Old Hall Street building in Liverpool up for sale, and up to 1,750 staff will eventually be moved to new premises nearby. 19-Feb-2003 Littlewoods is planning to shed more than 100 of the 1,800 jobs at its Liverpool headquarters, as part of a strategy to separate the high street and mail order operations. 13-Jan-2003 Littlewoods, the Liverpool-based catalogue retailer with almost 200 stores and 22,000 staff, is to be acquired by the Barclay Brothers in a £750m deal. 07-Oct-2002 Littlewoods is looking to sell its chain of 120 clothing stores for about £250m, and Peacock is said to be interested in acquiring about 20 sites. 26-Jun-2002 Littlewoods is seeking permission to set up a 500-seat call centre on three storeys of its Spinney House store in Liverpool, which could involve the relocation of 210 Liverpool Direct staff and the creation of 290 new jobs. 14-May-2002 Littlewoods and Granada are to close their Shop! home shopping channel next month, with the loss of up to 200 jobs in Liverpool. 15-Mar-2002 Littlewoods has confirmed plans to close its Preston distribution centre at Tulketh Mill, which employs more than 100 temporary staff. 21-Jun-2001 Littlewoods is to relocate its Liverpool-based JCM Media printing operation with the loss of 85 jobs, and is seeking a suitable site elsewhere on Merseyside. 02-May-2001 Littlewoods is considering plans to sell cars through its catalogue, following an in-store trial at its Liverpool store. 19-Mar-2001 Littlewoods and Otto Versand of Germany are discussing the possibility of merging their UK home delivery operations. 15-Feb-2001 Littlewoods is to close 35 Index branches and relocate them into Littlewoods stores. 13-Dec-2000 Littlewoods is planning to invest an additional £300m in the refurbishment of its 120 stores over the next three years. 06-Sep-2000 Littlewoods is planning to create a further 120 jobs at its new financial services call centre in Sunderland, which is a joint venture with the Woolwich. 26-Jul-2000 Littlewoods is selling its football pools and gaming division to Rodime for £161m, in order to focus on high street, internet and catalogue retailing. 28-Jun-2000 Littlewoods is considering plans to sell Littlewoods Leisure, its pools and betting division, for about £250m. 25-Apr-2000 Littlewoods has launched an online betting site called Bet247, and is seeking potential partners for other services such as interactive TV and internet service provision. 14-Mar-2000 Littlewoods is to create up to 120 jobs at its financial services call centre in Sunderland, as part of a joint venture with Woolwich. 29-Feb-2000 Littlewoods is to expand its digital TV shopping channel from seven hours of live shows a day to about 12, in partnership with Granada. 23-Nov-1999 Littlewoods has scrapped its Prizeball 4 online lottery game due to low demand, but has denied that this will affect its plans to run the National Lottery. 10-Sep-1999 Woolwich is to offer financial services to the 3.5m customers of the Littlewoods mail order catalogue, in a £5m joint venture that is expected to be profitable within 18 months. 13-Jul-1999 Littlewoods is planning to spend £120m revamping its high street stores over the next three years, incorporating Index catalogue outlets and cafes. 30-Jun-1999 Littlewoods has announced details of a £31m programme to refurbish 24 stores throughout the country. 17-Jun-1999 Littlewoods is considering plans to install online catalogues in its in-store cafes, to enable customers to order products via the internet. 08-Jun-1999 Littlewoods has put three former cotton mills on the market, two in Oldham and one in Bolton, and expects to generate interest from manufacturing and distribution companies. 08-Jun-1999 Littlewoods has set up a separate board to run its football pools and betting operations, but has denied that the division is being put up for sale. 26-Apr-1999 Littlewoods is to create a further 300 jobs in Warrington and Knowsley in order to expand its telephone-based gambling operation. 08-Apr-1999 Littlewoods has announced a £4m refurbishment programme at its football pools base in Walton, the relocation of its lottery operation to Liverpool, and the loss of a further 250 jobs at Ralli House, Index House and the Albert Dock. 10-Feb-1999 Littlewoods is to close its distribution centres in Preston and Bolton with the loss of more than 250 jobs, and the business will be transferred to a new facility being set up in Oldham. 28-Jan-1999 Littlewoods is to close its printing operation in Liverpool and move to a new site in Speke, creating about 150 new jobs. 12-Nov-1998 Littlewoods is said to be considering plans to open a distribution and call centre at the Estuary Commerce Park in Speke Garston, Merseyside. 23-Oct-1998 Granada and Littlewoods are planning a home shopping channel called Shop! and it will be launched on digital terrestrial TV in November. 21-Sep-1998 Littlewoods is planning to expand its telephone customer service centre in Sunderland, creating an extra 600 jobs over the next two years. 03-Sep-1998 Littlewoods is planning to review its leisure business, which could result in its withdrawal from football pools in order to focus on its core home shopping operation. 28-Jul-1998 Granada Food Services has won a contract to run the catering operations at Littlewoods' 90 retail outlets, which will be worth £375m over the next seven years. 08-Jun-1998 Littlewoods is said to have been in discussions with a number of potential partners to bid to run the National Lottery, but it will not make a decision until the government has clarified the future structure of the lottery. 15-Apr-1998 Argos is planning to link up with Littlewoods to launch a fashion and furnishings catalogue, but the move will be abandoned if Great Universal Stores succeeds with its £1.6bn bid for Argos. 26-Mar-1998 Littlewoods is linking up with Granada to launch a TV home shopping channel which will be available through British Digital Broadcasting's pay-TV package. 09-Mar-1998 Zetters, the football pools operator, has been told that its Spot-the-Ball partnership with Littlewoods is to end, and Littlewoods will now run the competition by itself. 11-Feb-1998 Littlewoods is forming a joint venture with Burton to enable it to offer high street brands in its catalogues and to give Burton greater access to home shopping. 13-Dec-1997 The government has blocked Littlewoods' plan to acquire the Freemans home-shopping business for £367m, saying it would have been anti-competitive. 19-Nov-1997 Marks & Spencer is acquiring 19 stores from Littlewoods for £192m in order to increase its presence in town centres. 18-Jul-1997 Littlewoods is in discussions to sell up to 30 of its largest stores, and plans to focus its remaining stores on small retail outlets aimed at women over 45. 14-Jul-1997 Littlewoods is to restructure its chain of 135 high street stores with a possible flotation in a few years time, having failed to agree terms to sell the business to Kingfisher. 01-Jul-1997 Sears has reached agreement to sell the Freemans mail order business to Littlewoods for £367m, and also plans to demerge the Selfridges department store next year as part of a restructuring aimed at stemming the losses in its £465m footwear business. 30-Apr-1997 Littlewoods is planning to sell its retail outlets in Russia and India in order to focus on its core business. 04-Apr-1997 Littlewoods Pools is to close its Shore Road site in Birkenhead with the loss of 326 jobs, while a further 100 jobs will be cut at its headquarters, with the company blaming the effect of the National Lottery. 19-Mar-1997 Littlewoods has pulled out of its proposed acquisition of the Freemans home shopping group from Sears, as it is angered by Sears holding discussions to sell the business to N Brown. 08-Mar-1997 Littlewoods is looking to sell its chain of 135 high street stores, and is said to have already received two approaches. 04-Mar-1997 Littlewoods' £395m acquisition of Freemans from Sears has been referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission as it would increase Littlewoods' share of the mail order market from about 15% to 25%. 12-Feb-1997 Littlewoods has acquired a 30% stake in Jacques Vert, the women's wear group, and the two companies will together launch a new niche home-shopping catalogue. 23-Jan-1997 Littlewoods has dropped plans to create 3,000 jobs through the expansion of its department stores, in order to concentrate on home shopping. 10-Jan-1997 Littlewoods is acquiring UK Charity Lotteries for undisclosed terms, in a move which could create a serious competitor to Camelot in the scratch card market. 31-Dec-1996 Littlewoods of the UK and Otto Versand of Germany have both expressed interest in launching a takeover bid for Freemans, Sears' mail order business which is estimated to be worth about £350m. 02-Dec-1996 Littlewoods, the pools business, is launching a £7m marketing campaign to support a new weekly jackpot and improved odds for customers. 07-Aug-1996 Littlewoods is preparing the nationwide launch of its Index Extra mail order catalogue, supported by a £16m advertising campaign this autumn. 24-Jul-1996 Littlewoods Stores is planning a further 40 stores across the country and a distribution centre in Burton on Trent, creating 3,000 jobs over the next four years. 20-Jun-1996 Littlewoods plans to spend £35m opening between 40 and 70 Index catalogue shops over the next four years. 07-Jun-1996 Littlewoods Pools is cutting up to 600 jobs due to investment in new technology, with the closure of its operation at Hillington near Glasgow and cuts in Liverpool and Birkenhead. 15-May-1996 N Brown says it is still interested in buying Littlewoods' mail order business, despite last year's failed attempt. 10-May-1996 Littlewoods is reorganising its retail distribution with a new distribution centre in the Midlands replacing the three existing ones. 15-Mar-1996 Littlewoods Home Shopping Group is to improve customer credit management by using electoral roll and credit information supplied by Equifax Europe. 04-Mar-1996 N Brown, the mail order concern, and Iceland the retailer have launched a £1.1bn bid for Littlewoods, the retailer and football pools company. 04-Dec-1995 Littlewoods is arranging a consortium to bid to operate the South African lottery. 01-Nov-1995 Littlewoods' Index plans a £14m national distribution centre at Wednesbury in the Midlands, creating 380 jobs. 06-Oct-1995
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