Oil: Where do we go from here? April 21, 2020 Oil has collapsed. So how did we get here? Oil has fallen roughly 70% YTD, one of the biggest falls in history, as a result of a combination of supply and demand factors. When Covid-19 was first announced the markets were hesitant about its impact and continued to trade as normal until it started to [...]
Coronavirus: Fleet-of-foot fintech firms will play a part in the recovery April 21, 2020 As coronavirus-hit nations come close to hitting their peaks, and some soften their social distancing rules, the time has come to look ahead to the prospect of recovery. In that respect, the letters V, U, W and L will become highly significant in the coming months. The shape of economic recovery is one of the [...]
Coronavirus: Five things entrepreneurs should be asking their investors April 21, 2020 Fundraising is tricky and time-consuming at the best of times — let alone when there’s a global pandemic. To maximise chances of success in these turbulent times, entrepreneurs with venture capital (VC) funding should remember that a VC is more than just an investor. Many have been entrepreneurs and operators themselves, have experienced uncertain times [...]
Opinion: Supermarkets look a good bet April 20, 2020 The received wisdom at present is that UK property capital markets have pretty much gone into suspended animation in the face of the pandemic, but this certainly isn’t the case in the grocery-led sector. There are currently seven substantial supermarket transactions totalling around £205m which are either under offer or due to imminently complete. And [...]
Coronavirus: Here comes the startup chancellor April 20, 2020 Startups are the economy’s ‘department for the future.’ Their job is to future-proof all the other sectors – from retail and banking through ecommerce to public services. They are vital to the UK’s post-Brexit, post-Covid-19 future. They are also among its most vulnerable. Look up ‘start-up’ in the Cambridge Dictionary and the first example of [...]
Coronavirus: The pragmatism and innovation of the City is on full show April 20, 2020 The importance of technology to our everyday lives has become crystal clear over the last few weeks as we all adjust to staying and working from home to protect the NHS and save lives. This transition has been remarkably swift with the pragmatism and innovation of City workers and businesses coming to the fore. In [...]
Coronavirus: The Chinese Communist Party should not be forgiven April 20, 2020 From a complacent pre-virus fairy tale, we are now very much in the midst of a nightmare. But there is a definite intellectual upside to crises, for they clarify reality wonderfully. In this column in January, I baldly and rightly forecasted that the coming year would see the emergence of a Sino-American Cold War as [...]
Coronavirus hits hospitality: London without the pubs, bars and restaurants would be so much poorer April 19, 2020 Living in London is not always easy. Over recent years, a cottage industry has developed in newspapers’ features sections in which a previously harried writer explains why they’re glad they left the Big Smoke, the packed underground trains, the occasionally grubby air. Good for them. But you try getting some decent Lebanese food at 10:30pm [...]
The Long Read: The coronavirus loan scheme risks failing the people it was designed to help April 19, 2020 When the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, vowed that the government would do “whatever it takes” to keep businesses alive during the pandemic, the immediate reaction from corporate Britain was one of relief. The pledge to pay the wages of employees unable to work and the ambition behind the £350bn package of support (combining grants, sector-specific relief [...]
Coronavirus hits hospitality: Loan scheme leaves restaurants high and dry April 19, 2020 Ranald MacDonald is Managing Director of Boisdale’s Restaurants In newspapers, so I’m told, a cracking story is known as a “marmalade dropper,” so named because it stops you – and indeed your toast – in your tracks. And that’s exactly what Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a £330bn rescue package for British business to get through [...]