Burberry reinstates dividend at pre-pandemic levels as sales bounce back following lockdowns May 13, 2021 Burberry shareholders will receive a payout equal to pre-pandemic levels after the luxury retailer reinstated its dividend, following strong recovery in its core markets. The designer brand said this morning that it will reinstate its full-year dividend at 2019 levels of 42.5p “on the back of strong cash generation”. In the year ended 27 March [...]
75 per cent of nightlife venues face bankruptcy when rent moratorium ends May 13, 2021 There is a £2.5bn pandemic-induced rent crisis brewing in the nightlife industry, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), which has urged the government today to offer a solution. Rising rent arrears threatens to bankrupt 75 per cent of commercial tenants in the sector, once the government’s rent moratorium ends in July, the nightclubs, [...]
Will you show up? UK hotels fear last-minute cancellation chaos this summer May 12, 2021 Holidaymakers are holding on to their UK hotel bookings for this summer, with cancellations rates currently running at just 4 per cent, far below the usual 30 per cent levels. However, rather than this being good news for the industry, there are fears of a late surge of cancellations, as people ditch their UK booking [...]
Calorie labelling to be mandatory for large hospitality businesses from April 2022 May 12, 2021 The government has confirmed it will bring in mandatory calorie labelling for tens of thousands of English restaurants, pubs and cafes from April 2022. The Department of Health announced today that legislation will be brought forward to force all “out-of-home food businesses” with more than 250 staff to display calorie information for all non-prepacked food [...]
Ex-Dragon’s Den star plans £10m placing to fund expansion of London bar chain May 12, 2021 Nightcap, the hospitality investment vehicle founded by ex-Dragon’s Den star Sarah Willingham, has launched a £10m placing to fund the expansion of London’s Adventure Bar Group. Nightcap, which is Aim-listed and was founded to help drinks-led businesses recover from the coronavirus pandemic, said the £10m is “significantly higher than originally planned” due to “strong demand” [...]
Amazon wins €250m in EU back tax battle May 12, 2021 In a fight over back taxes, Amazon will not have to pay €250m to the city of Luxembourg, Europe’s second-highest court heard today. The General Court said that the online retail giant had not received a selective advantage. “The Commission did not prove to the requisite legal standard that there was an undue reduction of [...]
High Court gives Virgin Active CVA green light in further blow for landlords May 12, 2021 Landlords have lost their legal challenge against Virgin Active’s restructuring plan, in the second high profile defeat for commercial property owners this week. Today’s High Court judgement will come as a further blow to landlords hoping to challenge tenants over Company Voluntary Arrangements. It comes after the court gave New Look the green light to [...]
Fashion platform Lyst raises $85m ahead of public listing May 12, 2021 Fashion platform Lyst has raised $85m ahead of its initial public offering as users jumped to 150m. New investors in the ecommerce app include funds managed by Fidelity International, Novator Capital, Giano Capital and C4 Ventures, alongside existing backers Draper Esprit, 14W, Accel, Balderton Capital, Venrex and LVMH. Entrepreneur and strategic advisor Carmen Busquets, who [...]
Tui’s half year revenues drop by nearly €6bn but summer holiday bookings surged in April May 12, 2021 Travel giant Tui took in €700m in sales in the half year to 31 March, down from €6.6bn the year prior, as borders remained closed, and summer holidays looked in doubt as destinations were lockdown. Shares in Tui slumped 3.3 per cent to 413p per share this morning. However, the travel company has since seen a slight [...]
Catering group Compass sounds optimistic note despite pandemic eating into sales and profit May 12, 2021 Catering company Compass Group suffered a sharp drop in revenue and profit in the first half of the year but sounded a positive note on its future prospects this morning. Compass’ revenue dropped 32.4 per cent from £12.48bn to £8.44bn in the six months ended 31 March due to the impact of coronavirus restrictions on [...]