Retail and casual dining bounce back in March amid sunny spring weather April 15, 2019 Britain's pubs and restaurants cheered a recovery in trading last month, as warmer weather boosted the nation’s appetite for drinking and eating out. A bounceback from cold, snowy weather last year saw collective like-for-like sales in restaurants and pubs grow by nearly four per cent in March, new data released today by the Coffer Peach [...]
Government moves to ban controversial ‘no-fault’ evictions April 15, 2019 The government will ban landlords from evicting tenants at short notice without providing a reason, it announced today, as it continues its shake-up of the private rental sector. Read more: Private Rented Sector investment to hit £75bn by 2025 The move was applauded by campaign groups for giving renters security and a ban has cross-party support, but landlords [...]
Activist investors turn their backs on troubled retailers April 15, 2019 While activist investors are known for their interest in underperforming businesses, there is one sector in the UK so troubled that even opportunistic shareholders are now turning their backs: high street retailers. Such are the difficulties facing Britain’s bricks-and-mortar retail giants that many have become "too distressed to attract activist interest", according to a new [...]
London’s junior stock market sees fewest IPOs in ten years in first quarter April 15, 2019 Flotations on London’s junior stock market fell to the lowest level in a decade in the first three months of the year amid political and economic uncertainty, new analysis has shown. Read more: London Stock Exchange to buy €278.5m stake in Euroclear London’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim) saw just one company offer up shares for [...]
Brexit impasse sends UK business confidence plummeting, new surveys show April 15, 2019 The political crisis surrounding Brexit has sapped confidence from some of the UK's biggest and smallest companies alike, as crunch talks between Labour and the Conservatives reach a “delicate stage” this week. Read more: MPs could be forced to choose a Brexit option if talks with Labour fail More than eight in 10 finance chiefs [...]
UK dividends jump to first quarter record due to huge one-off payouts April 15, 2019 UK dividends hit record highs in the first three months of the year thanks to huge one-off special payouts from some companies, new analysis has shown. Read more: Ranked: The best-performing assets of 2019 so far Yet underlying growth was weaker than expected from larger and smaller companies alike as a slowing global economy acted [...]
City Moves for 15 April 2019 – Who’s switching jobs at Herbert Smith Freehills, Trussle and Osborne Clarke? April 15, 2019 Today's City Moves includes Herbert Smith Freehills, Trussle and Osborne Clarke. Herbert Smith Freehills Herbert Smith Freehills partner Chris Bushell has been elected as the new vice-president of The London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA). Chris, who is also the organisation’s membership secretary, is a former member of the Junior LSLA Committee and has been actively [...]
Nothing but the truth: Inside Facebook’s UK fact-checking war room April 15, 2019 The war against fake news on social media has been raging since 2016, though it wasn’t until January this year that Facebook decided to take its fight to the British shores. “If this is a war room, I don’t know who the generalissimo would be,” jokes Will Moy, director of the fact-checking charity Full Fact [...]
Happy holidays, Westminster – Now sort out this utter mess April 14, 2019 City workers may have had little sympathy for MPs complaining of their long hours and stressful jobs in recent weeks. As for the wider public, the fact that politicians have had to postpone their ski trips because of Brexit’s legislative unpredictability is unlikely to generate cries of “poor dears” in the Dog and Duck. Still, [...]
Retail veteran Terry Duddy set to replace Bucher as Debenhams boss April 14, 2019 Retail veteran Terry Duddy is being lined up to take over as chief executive of department store chain Debenhams as administrators pin their hopes on the troubled firm’s interim chairman to lead a major restructuring plan. Read more: Revealed: All 15 LK Bennett stores set to close in Chinese sale Current chief executive Sergio Bucher is [...]