The UK’s first national steel strike in 30 years could happen this month after Unite schedules Tata Steel action for June 22 June 8, 2015 The UK is facing its first national steel strike for 30 years, after union members voted for action against Tata Steel. Unite the union announced today the strike – agreed last week – would go ahead on June 22. It is part of an ongoing dispute over pensions, with the manufacturer telling workers [...]
Online farmers market Farmdrop receives funding from Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman June 7, 2015 Farmdrop, the online farmers’ market for Londoners, has received significant funding from Alex Chesterman, the man behind Zoopla, It is also preparing to launch another major crowdfunding campaign. This is expected to launch in the next two to three weeks. Chesterman, who also founded LoveFilm, invested £100,000 in the final quarter of 2014. Farmdrop founder, [...]
The fast lane: Spencer Ogden co-founder David Spencer-Percival talks medevacs, detoxes, the youth of today and why banks get a hard time June 7, 2015 It is unlikely that David Spencer-Percival, co-founder of Spencer Ogden, will be reading this any time soon. On Saturday, he and his wife embarked on a caffeine, alcohol and tech detox in an Ibizan forest. “I feel frazzled. Our offices are end-to-end in terms of timezones, so I just never stop. You have to have [...]
How entrepreneurs can secure their legacy – Investec Comment June 7, 2015 When a founder has been in the driving seat of a business for many years, it can often be difficult to relinquish control: either passing the company onto the next generation or selling up entirely to move on to another venture. But business owners also face another dilemma, particularly when selling part or all of [...]
Tesco’s Dunnhumby has another suitor as Hellman & Friedman join WPP, Nielsen and several private equity firms June 7, 2015 Yet another company has joined the clamor for a slice of Tesco's data business which was behind the supermarket's hugely successful Clubcard loyalty scheme. Hellman & Friedman, the US private equity firm, is the latest bidder said to be interested in Dunnhumby, joining a crowded line-up of potential buyers willing to splash out as much as [...]
Deutsche Bank eyes FinTech startups with innovation labs in London, Berlin and Silicon Valley June 4, 2015 Deutsche Bank is the latest big lender to turn to the startup world for business innovation, eyeing FinTech startups to help kickstart its €1bn (£735m) digital strategy with the opening of three new innovation labs in Europe and the US. The bank will partner with HCL, Microsoft and IBM to open centres in London, Berlin and Silicon [...]
Peer-to-peer lending isn’t shadow banking: It’s now more transparent than ever June 3, 2015 Whether we in the industry like it or not, peer-to-peer lending has for some time been lumped together with the likes of hedge funds, offbeat types of investment vehicles and even payday lenders in what is known as the “shadow banking sector”. This term was originally designed to cover those entities outside the regular banking [...]
Crowdfunding regulation: What’s the ideal position? Sector must not run on due negligence June 3, 2015 The dynamic growth of the crowdfunding industry in the UK is both an exciting and structurally important development for our economy. It has attracted a lot of interest, as excess money searches for better returns in a decade of low interest rates, low growth, low inflation and therefore, for many, low returns. While many [...]
City set for a decade of job growth as finance and technology hiring to soar in London June 2, 2015 Booming finance and technology hiring will help create 145,000 new jobs in central London over the next decade in a sustained bounce-back from the financial crisis, according to a study out today from the City of London Corporation. The Square Mile can expect an additional 39,000 workers, with the remainder created across the other central [...]
Fighting forward: The Black Farmer’s Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones talks sausages, political incorrectness and willpower May 31, 2015 Being an entrepreneur is all about timing. You can have the best-laid plans in the world, a huge amount of skill, but it’s really about catching the zeitgeist.” This is Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones’s opening line to me. After a brief pause, he adds, “life is also all about timing”. This is something the founder of [...]
