Derwent London snaps up Bloomsbury buildings as return to office builds August 10, 2021 Property giant Derwent London has announced the acquisition of five buildings around Bloomsbury and Marylebone as demand for new office space starts to rebound. Derwent London exchanged contracts for two properties totalling 182,100 sq ft located in the so-called knowledge quarter around University College London for £214.6m. The freehold office building at 250 Euston Road [...]
M&G investment shares slip after reporting loss August 10, 2021 Investment manager M&G saw shares fall after today reporting a loss after tax of £248m for the first half of the year. Before tax the company saw a six per cent improvement in its profits for the half-year, at £327m, but the FTSE 100 company swung to a loss after tax of £248m for the six [...]
Oops: Traffic chaos mounts after Tower Bridge gets stuck open August 9, 2021 The moving elements of Tower Bridge remain stuck in the raised position tonight, shutting down one of the main road arteries across the Thames. The Bridge was raised to allow a sailboat passage along the river, but the bridge’s bascules this afternoon became lodged in the raised position. The technical fault last occurred in August [...]
BBC headquarters ‘in lockdown’ as anti-vax protesters target broadcaster August 9, 2021 The BBC’s central London headquarters have reportedly been placed under lockdown as anti-vaccination protesters target the public service broadcaster. Earlier today the clueless mob attempted to storm Television Centre in west London, which stopped serving as the BBC’s headquarters in 2013. It is now home to studios for daytime ITV shows including Loose Women, luxury [...]
Recruitment firm PageGroup sees revived revenue amid pent-up demand August 9, 2021 Recruitment firm PageGroup has seen its financials on the uplift towards pre-pandemic levels in the past six months, which its boss hopes is “sustainable” amid pent-up demand. Shares sank 3.3 per cent in its afternoon trading, down to 602p per share. Revenue hit £766.4m in the six months to 30 June, up from £655m last [...]
Future of work: ‘Freedom Day’ fails to trigger mass return to the office August 9, 2021 “Freedom Day” has failed to trigger a mass return to the office, according to new data published today. Research from Remit Consulting shows the proportion of staff in the office in the UK hit 11.7 per cent in July, a meager increase from 11.1 per cent before the Work From Home guidance was dropped by [...]
London law firms launch first global crypto fraud network August 9, 2021 A network for crypto-related fraud has been launched by a group of law firms, including Grant Thornton, in a bid to make the UK a global centre for crypto dispute resolution, amid a rise in scams. The ‘Crypto Fraud and Asset Recovery’ (CFAAR) network has been created with the aim of becoming a “known body [...]
London Stock Exchange Group sees profits recover from 2020’s wave of pandemic uncertainty August 6, 2021 The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has seen its total profits recover in response to pandemic uncertainty which rocked its financial markets in the first half of 2020. Total profit hit £2.7bn in the six months to 30 June, up from just £914m in the first half of last year when the stock market faced [...]
‘No parade, no protest’: London Pride cancelled due to Covid restrictions August 6, 2021 This year’s Pride celebrations in London have been cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions, the event’s organisers have confirmed. The flagship LGBTQ+ event, which was first postponed from 11 June to September, had been expected to attract some 35,000 people. Organisers, who performed risk assessments for the event, said the parade could not be held within [...]
London compared: How hard has your borough been hit by Covid-19? August 6, 2021 Almost three weeks after the majority of restrictions were lifted in the UK on “Freedom Day”, City AM analysis has revealed which London boroughs suffered the most Covid deaths during the last year of the pandemic. From the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 to when the UK’s third lockdown began to wind down [...]