‘Business as usual’ as West End landlord Shaftesbury Group defies retail woes November 27, 2018 West End owner Shaftesbury Group reported higher take-up and rising asset values this morning, defying the retail gloom that has been forecasted for many of Britain’s high street landlords. The Chinatown and Carnaby Street property group posted lower vacancies across its £3bn portfolio, with net income rising by 6.2 per cent to £93.8m in the [...]
Services giant Jacobs to move into new 1,000-worker London Bridge office November 27, 2018 Services giant Jacobs Engineering Group is combining its three UK premises to move into a new 80,000 sq ft office in London Bridge. The US firm, which provided infrastructure for the 2012 Olympics, has secured the Cottons Centre site for the next decade, providing offices for around 1,000 employees working on infrastructure projects. The site, [...]
Theresa May’s Brexit deal is ‘doomed’, warns former defence secretary Michael Fallon November 27, 2018 Former defence secretary Michael Fallon has said Theresa May's Brexit deal is "doomed" and must be negotiated. Fallon, who resigned last year and wanted to remain in the EU, echoed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is calling the deal the "worst of all worlds". He told the BBC that it was "up to his colleagues" to decide [...]
Economist disputes claim that Brexit deal could shrink UK economy November 27, 2018 Research claiming that Theresa May’s Brexit deal could reduce Britain’s economy by up to 5.5 per cent over the next decade compared to staying in the EU has come under fire from a pro-Brexit economist. Researchers at the London School of Economics, King’s College London and the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the withdrawal agreement [...]
Volkswagen slashes 90 per cent of ad agencies to drive down costs November 27, 2018 Volkswagen is cutting the number of advertising agencies it works with by more than 90 per cent in a bid to improve marketing efficiency. The German car manufacturer has said it will reduce its pool of 40 agencies to just three, while keeping its marketing budget stable at roughly €1.5bn (£1.3bn). Omnicon will be responsible [...]
Musk says employees should work 80 to 100 hours a week if they want to ‘change the world’ November 27, 2018 Entrepreneur and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk has said people need to work around 80 hours a week, up to above 100 hours at peak times, if they want to succeed in business. Responding to the news that Tesla is one of Silicon Valley's most in-demand employers, Musk invited his Twitter followers to join one of his [...]
Gin o’clock: UK gin sales account for three-quarters of EU production November 27, 2018 The British gin boom continued to gather pace last year with UK sales accounting for 72 per cent of the total EU production, according to figures published today. UK manufacturers' sales of gin have now increased 267 per cent since 2009, climbing from £130m to £461m, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Whisky sales [...]
Tech outages at financial firms double as watchdog warns of data breach risk November 27, 2018 IT failures at financial institutions have more than doubled in the last year, the Financial Conduct Authority has revealed, as firms fight to update their legacy technology to keep apace with fintech startups. In the 12 months to October, the UK's financial firms reported a 138 per cent increase in technology outages to the FCA, as [...]
Owned-social networks are replacing Facebook as a way for brands to market to their communities November 27, 2018 Two months ago, I helped Blewbury in Oxfordshire become the first village in the UK to launch its own social network. We were inspired by the MP Matt Hancock, who during his tenure as digital minister launched a social network for his constituency. His decision to call it “Matt Hancock” attracted much media attention. But [...]
A no-deal Brexit might be the best thing for the UK, so argue the contrarians November 27, 2018 The Prime Minister is fighting for her deal. So she should. There is no majority in parliament for a hard Brexit. Nor is the EU likely to grant meaningful concessions at this stage apart from cosmetic tweaking, if that. Labour’s position is to disregard the referendum result by staying in the single market and the [...]