London Tube journeys propelled to above pre-pandemic levels thanks to Harry Styles and the Ashes August 10, 2023 A blockbuster summer of events, coupled with booming tourism, has seen journeys on London’s network of tubes, buses and trains exceed pre-pandemic levels on multiple occasions this year. Stations in central London are regularly hitting pre-pandemic levels of traffic at the weekend, and often exceeding them, according to figures from Transport for London (TfL). Tube [...]
Red White and Royal Blue director Matthew Lopez on filming ‘tender’ gay sex scenes August 10, 2023 You’re no doubt sick of reading about Barbie and Oppenheimer by now, so we’ve got good news: a new duo of releases are here for you to get excited about. TV series Heartstopper has just dropped its second season on Netflix and so has new Amazon film Red, White & Royal Blue. Unlike Barbenheimer, what [...]
How Data Changed the Game for Aon’s Brokers August 10, 2023 | Sponsored Despite playing a very important role at the heart of London’s reinsurance market, James Milne, AON’s UK and Ireland head, tells City A.M. that he doesn’t often hear about insurance around the dinner party table. But when he does, it’s usually the cost of car insurance, which has gone up significantly over recent months as [...]
West End faces office supply crunch as back to work demand picks up August 10, 2023 Central London, particularly the West-End, is facing an office space supply crunch as demand for in person working picks up, property investment trust Derwent London has said. According to reports in its half year results, the listed business described the West-End as “very tight” with only 3.8 per cent of vacancy levels on office space. [...]
Wilko collapses into administration, placing 12,000 jobs at risk August 10, 2023 Wilko has collapsed into administration today after the struggling high street retailer failed to find a rescuer. The 400 strong high street store has appointed PWC as administrator, after a number of talks to save the business failed to come to fruition. In a statement, chief of Wilko, Mark Jackson, said the company had been [...]
Taking the Mickey: Disney hikes subscription costs 27 per cent – even as users fall by 11 million August 10, 2023 Disney has upped subscription prices and is rolling out an ad-supported plan despite losing subscribers since February. Current users of the Disney+ advertising-free plan now face a 27 per cent price hike for the streaming service, which features Disney classics and the Marvel franchise movies among other shows. Disney+ is set to launch a new [...]
Persimmon slashes number of homes built as rate rise rattles business August 10, 2023 Persimmon has cut the number of homes it’s building by more than a third as the housebuilder faces up to rapidly rising mortgage rates and a slowdown in consumer confidence. The construction company built a total of 4,249 homes in the first half of the year down from 6,652 homes compared to the same period [...]
OneSavings Bank profits slump as customers race to refinance mortgages August 10, 2023 Profit at OneSavings Bank (OSB) Group slumped in the first half of the year as the lender dealt with a £180m hit from changing customer behaviour. Pretax profit at the FTSE-250 listed specialist bank fell 71 per cent to £76.7m from £268.1m in the same period last year. The bank announced a dividend of 10.2p, [...]
Deliveroo raises guidance for year despite orders slipping August 10, 2023 Deliveroo upped its guidance for the year to a range of £60-80m, ahead of previous range of £20-50m, as the group shows signs of weathering the economic storm. Total revenues rose five per cent to £1.02bn up from £972.9bn as the group increased the cost of payment fees it charges customers. The food delivery business, [...]
Executives ‘sleepwalking into cyber catastrophe’, warns cybersecurity boss August 10, 2023 The cyberattack on the Electoral Commission should “serve as a wake-up call to executives”, the boss of a cybersecurity firm has warned. Suid Adeyanju, chief executive of British cybersecurity company Riversafe, said an underestimation of the threat of cyberattacks meant executives were “sleepwalking into a cyber catastrophe”. His comments came after the Electoral Commission revealed [...]