Real estate investment firms launch £100m self-storage partnership October 21, 2020 Two real estate investment firms have teamed up to launch a £100m self-storage joint venture, as investors target alternative properties amid uncertainty for office and retail assets. UK-focused real estate fund manager Moorfield Group has entered into a partnership with Stor-Age, a South African self storage Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns Storage King. The [...]
Snakes and Ladders: Who is moving jobs in the City this week? October 21, 2020 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. City firms are continuing to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic as they vie to be in prime position to recover from the economic fallout of [...]
Bulmers owner C&C warns over impact of second wave on cider sales October 21, 2020 Bulmers and Magners owner C&C Group today warned that the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic could dent its recovery due to ongoing restrictions in the hospitality sector. For the six months ended 31 August, the company swung from a €64.4m operating profit to a loss of €11.7m, due to the closure of pubs and [...]
Royal Mail accelerates parcel business pivot with collection service launch October 21, 2020 Royal Mail has stepped up its fight back against online delivery giants as it launched a parcel pick-up service across the UK. The postal service is adapting its service to cater for the boom in online shopping, which has accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the move means sellers and shoppers will “no longer need [...]
H&M, Amazon and Boohoo among retailers to be quizzed by MPs over Uyghur slave labour links October 16, 2020 The bosses of retail giants including H&M, Amazon and Boohoo have been summoned to give evidence to a committee of MPs investigating the use of slave labour in the supply chains of UK companies. The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) committee is probing the extent to which businesses in the UK are exploiting the [...]
London lockdown: 200,000 hospitality workers to lose jobs this weekend, industry body warns October 16, 2020 About 200,000 hospitality workers in central London will lose their jobs this weekend as tier 2 coronavirus lockdown restrictions are imposed, the industry body’s chief executive has warned. UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said the tier 2 lockdown, which prohibits people from separate households from mixing, is a “maximum squeeze on revenue with no [...]
John Lewis unveils five-year plan to return to profit October 16, 2020 John Lewis Partnership has set out plans to return to profit, with a £1bn investment in boosting its online business and a focus on expanding its non-retail offering. The firm this morning said it is aiming to report £400m in profit by the end of the five-year transformation plan. The department store chain, which also [...]
Pret axes 400 jobs amid further store closures October 16, 2020 Pret A Manger will cut 400 jobs and close a further six stores in London due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK. The struggling sandwich chain said the sales growth it had seen since April had slowed from September as Covid-19 injection rates began to rise. Pret declined to specify [...]
Superdry finance chief quits after 16 months October 16, 2020 Superdry has announced that its chief financial officer has stepped down after just 16 months in the role. The fashion brand’s share price dropped more than four per cent this morning after it announced that Nick Gresham had left the company with immediate effect. Superdry, which said Gresham had decided to leave the firm, has [...]
London lockdown: Will the City’s small businesses survive new restrictions? October 15, 2020 Small firms in the City of London have spent the summer in lockdown trying to survive and adapt to the government’s coronavirus regulations. Pubs, shoe repair shops, barbers, dry cleaners and cafes have battled to survive the initial forced closure during lockdown, followed by a sharp decline in City footfall as most office workers remained [...]
