Will the FCA’s new plan mean cannabis companies can come in from the cold? September 24, 2020 How does the UK’s legal and financial establishment feel about the cannabis industry? The answer to that has changed significantly over the last few years, to the point that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) now contemplates their listing on the London Stock Exchange. But the legal rules around how to do that are far from [...]
Action on climate speaks louder than words, but communicating that action is also key September 24, 2020 Rather than being overshadowed by the pandemic, if anything Climate Week in New York — which began on Monday — has been amplified by the focus on building back greener and fairer. This is mirrored by more and more businesses making Net Zero commitments — PwC being among the organisations to announce one in recent [...]
Counting down to the US election September 24, 2020 US elections are always significant and a point of interest around the world, but many are seeing this November’s as particularly so. Here are the big questions on the minds of investors. Can we trust the polls? Polls, as we all know, are not always correct. This time around they are of particular interest because [...]
The travel industry will not survive without a radical U-turn September 24, 2020 The tourism and outbound travel industries are no strangers to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Across the globe, international and domestic travel has been brought to its knees by the far-reaching impacts of coronavirus, and the ramifications are no clearer than in the United Kingdom. In the last month alone, we have seen the [...]
Shakespeare: Fever-Tree’s a hit with the drink-from-home consumer during lockdown September 23, 2020 This month Fever-Tree, a producer of high quality drink mixers, announced that they are expecting a very gradual recovery as consumers return to restaurants and pubs now that they are reopening following coronavirus. Fever-Tree has managed to limit the hit to its sales as consumers shifted to at-home drinking, helped by the brand’s first national [...]
Green shoots of recovery in the IPO market September 23, 2020 | City Talk IPOs of all shapes and sizes were understandably shelved by the turmoil in global markets in the first half of the year. It would be a brave company that would launch their newly-listed firm into a global stock market that was in the midst of its biggest and most dramatic rout in years. It is [...]
Skating on thin ice: Covid-19 reveals the financial fragility of the self-employed September 23, 2020 Despite the sheer unpredictability and overwhelming nature of the coronavirus outbreak, there have been some positive outcomes since the UK went into lockdown, from the value and resilience of the National Health Service to the revelation that many businesses are able to continue as normal with employees working from home. But the pandemic has undoubtedly [...]
Incentives are a better way to tackle Covid-19 than blanket lockdowns September 23, 2020 A great deal of government policy during the Covid crisis has involved regulation. Given a choice, economists usually prefer to use incentives. Altering the relative costs and benefits of an action is a well-established way to alter behaviour. Perhaps the government has been listening. A big stick will now be waved at people who fail [...]
DEBATE: Can we trust facial recognition technology? September 23, 2020 Can we trust facial recognition technology? James Fisher, chief product officer at Qlik, says YES. We need to move away from discussing whether we can trust a technology as if it has an innate “goodness” or “badness”. Arguing that if we cannot trust it implies that we should dispose of it. As a result, we [...]
The realities of the four-day working week September 23, 2020 Many publications have recently covered the news of how 500,000 new jobs could be created through a four-day working week. While the reality of this extensive job creation remains to be seen, there are certainly those across the nation who can comment on the general effectiveness of a four-day working week. Most UK employers still [...]