Uber’s creating car parks for waiting drivers at Gatwick and City airports April 9, 2017 Uber is setting up dedicated car parking areas for its drivers close to Gatwick and City airports in London, steering away from rows with locals. It’s understood the ride-sharing startup will most likely lease space near the airports to offer drivers a location to wait for pick ups. Uber drivers and other minicab drivers at [...]
Brewdog is now valued at £1bn as private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners takes a 22 per cent stake April 9, 2017 The “punk” craft beer maker Brewdog has been valued at £1bn after a US-based private equity firm plunged fresh cash into the hipster brand. TSG Consumer Partners, which has previously backed Pop Chips and Vitamin Water, has splashed at least £100m on a 22 per cent stake in the Scottish-born brewery, giving it an enterprise [...]
HS2 starts hunt for designers of railway stations across London and Birmingham April 8, 2017 HS2 has launched its hunt for the architects, designers and developers who will build three brand new railway stations and revamp one of London’s iconic terminals. New stations are set to be built at Birmingham Curzon Street, Birmingham Interchange and London’s Old Oak Common. And London Euston will undergo an overhaul to revitalise the intercity [...]
Banks and asset managers on the prowl for fintech firms with M&A (mergers and acquisitions) buying spree ahead April 7, 2017 Almost one in three banks and asset managers plan to buy a fintech firm in the next 18 months as firms prepare for an increasingly technology-focused future, a new survey showed. Some 31 per cent of financial services firms surveyed have plans to buy another firm, while almost half said they were collaborating or partnering [...]
More than 75 per cent of businesses face a digital skills shortage, warns British Chambers of Commerce April 7, 2017 Companies are facing a shortage of digital skills, according to a survey released today by the British Chambers of Commerce. In January, the BCC conducted an online survey of 1,465 people working in SMEs and the manufacturing and services sectors to discover how great this shortage is and how it affects businesses. The survey found [...]
Free banking threatened by new global financial reality says International Monetary Fund (IMF) April 6, 2017 Free banking services could become a thing of the past as falling demand for credit from consumers makes it less attractive for banks, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a broad-ranging investigation of the effect of a global economic climate of low growth, low interest rates on financial services, the IMF said the [...]
As the far-left and the far-right pick up support in presidential polls, is France simply unreformable? April 6, 2017 Daniel Hamilton, senior director at FTI Consulting, says Yes. France’s pursuit of the joie de vivre may appear attractive – but it comes at a price. At roughly 10 per cent, its unemployment rate is roughly twice that of Germany and the UK. Rather than implement the labour market reforms employers are crying out for, [...]
Unilever gets backing from City investors after FTSE 100 company unveils shake-up including sale of spreads business April 6, 2017 City investors gave their backing to Unilever today after the FTSE 100 company unveiled a shake-up prompted by Kraft Heinz’s failed takeover bid. The firm announced it would be kicking off a €5bn (£4.3bn) share buyback, raise its dividend by 12 per cent, review its dual-listing structure and sell its £6bn-valued spreads business. Asset managers [...]
Three reasons why Amazon’s $50m deal with the NFL is the most significant moment yet for sport’s live streaming revolution April 6, 2017 We read news on our phones, binge-watch TV shows on our laptop and stream our music from the internet. Live sport on TV is yet to be disrupted in a similar manner, but Amazon’s $50m deal to live stream 10 Thursday night NFL games — a significant increase on the $10m Twitter paid for the [...]
Czech koruna (EURCZK) jumps after Czech Republic central bank, the Czech National Bank, unpegs currency from the euro April 6, 2017 The Czech koruna jumped today against major currencies as the country’s central bank abandoned its policy of pegging its value to the euro. The decision, taken today, was announced with immediate effect, sending the koruna, or crown, up by 1.55 per cent against the euro at the time of writing. One euro hit lows of [...]