European car sales suffer steep June drop July 17, 2019 European car sales slumped 7.8 per cent last month as Nissan, Fiat Chrysler and Volvo suffered the biggest revenue losses. Read more: Volkswagen and Ford team up on driverless cars Registrations dropped to 1.45m units in June, according to the Association of European Carmakers (AEC), the worst decline since December. The AEC blamed two fewer [...]
UK sales slump at Ladbrokes owner GVC as new £2 limit hits betting machine revenues July 17, 2019 Gambling operator GVC Holdings suffered a double-digit slump in its UK retail sales during the first half of 2019, blaming a recently-introduced £2 limit on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT). The Labrokes and Coral owner reported a 10 per cent fall in like-for-like retail net gaming revenue (NGR) in its UK market, driven by a sharp [...]
Let Apollo 11 be an inspiration, mankind can achieve the impossible July 17, 2019 Fifty years ago this week, in one of the seminal moments in the history of humanity, man landed on the moon for the first time. As hundreds of millions watched with bated breath, hoping against hope that nothing would derail this most extraordinary of missions, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface and immortalised [...]
DEBATE: Was Sadiq Khan right to reject plans for the Tulip tower? July 17, 2019 Was Sadiq Khan right to reject plans for the Tulip tower? Caroline Pidgeon, a Liberal Democrat member of the London Assembly, says YES. I seriously disagree with Sadiq Khan on many subjects, but on this issue I think he is right. Innovative and challenging designs of buildings are of course important, but we should never [...]
Facebook’s libra could solve the gig economy’s payment problem July 17, 2019 Ordering your evening meal or weekly groceries online has never been easier. In most cities, you can now book a car from your phone to get you from A to B in minutes. All of this is made possible by two things: the marketplace technology that facilitates instant transactions, and the gig economy that delivers [...]
Relax, the UK (probably) isn’t heading for recession July 17, 2019 Immediate fears of a recession in the UK economy were eased last week with the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate of monthly GDP. The economy had shrunk in April, but growth resumed in May. This has not prevented widespread conjecture that a recession is imminent. The Resolution Foundation claimed last weekend that the [...]
Business bodies unite to attack post-Brexit immigration plans July 17, 2019 A group of business organisations representing thousands of firms have demanded the next prime minister change proposed post-Brexit immigration plans to avoid worsening “chronic skills and labour shortages”. Read more: British businesses attack post-Brexit immigration policy The groups, among them business membership organisation London First, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), and the Recruitment and Employment [...]
City Moves for 17 July – Who’s switching jobs at BGF, FXD Capital and Calastone? July 17, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes BGF, FXD Capital and Calastone. BGF BGF, a UK and Ireland investor in growing companies, has expanded its London team with the appointment of Rowan Bird as an investor. Rowan joins from the M&A team at Lazard where he spent three years working as an investment banking analyst, specialising in basic [...]
Kicking up a fizz: Aldi champagne advert banned after Tesco complaint July 17, 2019 The advertising watchdog has banned an advert promoting Aldi’s own-brand champagne after Tesco complained it was misleading. Read more: TfL revises junk food ad ban after rules spark confusion In the advert, the German discount supermarket claimed customers could save 45 per cent on a selection of products when compared to rival Tesco. The products [...]
UK marketing budgets stall as political uncertainty hits brands July 17, 2019 UK marketing budgets flatlined in the second quarter, as growing uncertainty reversed a surprise ad spend boost at the start of the year. Figures released by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) revealed marketing budget growth stalled in the three months to the end of June, with businesses adopting a more cautious approach to [...]