Arcadia taking ‘appropriate steps’ amid second lockdown but denies administration November 16, 2020 Sir Philip Green’s retail empire Arcadia has said it is taking “all appropriate steps” to mitigate the impact of a second lockdown and hit back at claims it is about to enter into administration. The second lockdown in England comes at a precarious time as retailers prepared for the Christmas period hoping to salvage the [...]
Carlyle invests $250m in third-party reseller Pharmapacks November 12, 2020 Private equity giant Carlyle has invested $250m in US e-commerce firm Pharmapacks, one of Amazon’s largest third-party resellers. Launched initially as a pharmacy shop in 2010, Pharmapacks has grown into an online retailer focused on health, personal care and beauty products. The investment, which values Pharmapacks at approximately $1.1bn, came from Carlyle Partners VII, a [...]
Early stage VC funds play catchup with later stage peers November 12, 2020 Early stage VC firms are playing catchup and have the potential to generate higher returns than their later stage peers, according to new research. British Business Bank (BBB) research shows early stage funds have generated a pooled Distributions to Paid In (DPI) multiple – the amount paid to investors – of 1.43, 0.73 per cent [...]
The City View: Addison Lee boss Liam Griffin on London’s prospects November 11, 2020 Today Andy Silvester talks to Liam Griffin, CEO of Addison Lee. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS After a tumultuous few years, the firm remains optimistic about the capital’s prospects – but Griffin believes the capital needs more help from regulators. He also touches on taking on the firm – again – on the very [...]
City veteran Martin Gilbert joins board of wealth firm Saranac Partners November 11, 2020 Former Standard Life Aberdeen chief Martin Gilbert has joined wealth firm Saranac Partners as a non-executive director. The veteran investor has taken on several board positions since standing down from Standard Life Aberdeen in March 2019 to join challenger bank Revolut as chair. He is also a senior independent non-executive director at Glencore, as well [...]
British Business Investments invests in record number of firms November 11, 2020 The commercial arm of the government-backed British Business Bank has invested in a record number of firms but its rate of return has more than halved due to the pandemic. The British Business Investments (BBI) annual report shows an additional 15 commitments totalling £547m in the year to 31 March 2020. It brings the total [...]
Esports brand Fnatic launches crowdfunding campaign after raising $10m November 11, 2020 Shoreditch-based Fnatic is launching a crowdfunding campaign on the back of an increased interest in esports and a recent internal funding round. Venture capital firm Beringea led the $10m round with participation from existing investors Unbound, LVL1 Global and JHD, bringing total investment in Fnatic to nearly $35m. Fnatic, which is the second most watched [...]
‘A horror story’: Brexit and Covid halt international trade for UK SMEs November 11, 2020 Already suffering from the impact of a domestic lockdown, the UK’s SMEs have also been forced to halt international trade this year. The dual hit of Brexit and Covid uncertainty has seen 1.5m small businesses pause international imports and exports in 2020, according to research by fintech Currensea. For many SMEs international trade is the [...]
Gender pension gap narrows but women still lag behind November 11, 2020 Women will need to work beyond 100 to match men’s pension pots even as the gender pension gap narrows. More women are putting money aside for retirement, with the pension gap closing to just one per cent, the narrowest on record according to pension provider Scottish Widows. Despite this, the gender pay gap and part-time [...]
London unemployment rate sees largest rise in a generation November 10, 2020 The number of people out of work in London soared over the summer, with the largest quarterly increase in the unemployment rate in over 30 years. Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show the unemployment rate in the three months to September rose 1.2 per cent from the previous quarter to six per [...]
