Pub and restaurant giants circle struggling firms and property in post-pandemic expansion push February 17, 2021 Pub and restaurant giants and private equity firms are circling smaller chains and vacant properties, looking to snap up expansion opportunities at a discounted price during the Covid pandemic and reap the rewards when the industry bounces back. Merger and acquisition activity in the hospitality industry has already begun. Figures from restructuring firm Resolve showed [...]
Supreme Court set for long-awaited Uber employment rights judgement February 17, 2021 On Friday the Supreme Court will hand down its judgement as to whether Uber has been successful in its appeal against a ruling recognising its drivers as workers, not independent contractors. The long-running dispute, which has been bouncing through the courts since back in 2016, could have sizeable implications for the future of the gig [...]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp strikes news partnership deal with Google February 17, 2021 Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has inked a three-year deal with Google that will see the US tech giant pay to use the publisher’s news content. New Corp, which owns titles such as the Times, the Sun and the Wall Street Journal, said it will provide “trusted journalism from its news sites around the world in [...]
UK’s tech stocks outperform main market by 19 per cent February 17, 2021 Interest in technology stocks has piqued during the pandemic and are now outperforming their FTSE peers, according to exclusive data shared with City A.M. The FTSE techMARK 100, London’s technology index, rose seven per cent last year as the FTSE floundered and shed 12 points, research by Bowmore Asset Management shows. After what has essentially [...]
Brexit is ‘remarkable opportunity’ to change City regulations, say MPs February 17, 2021 Brexit will provide the UK with a “remarkable opportunity” to change its financial services regulation in a bid to make the City more competitive globally, according to a cross-party group of MPs. A report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on financial services said the UK must not shy away from diverging from EU rules [...]
UK house prices grow at fastest pace since 2014 – but London property slumps February 17, 2021 UK house prices grew at the fastest pace in more than six years in December, but property price growth in London slowed, according to the latest official data. The average price of a house in the UK increased 8.5 per cent in the year to December, up from 7.1 per cent in the previous months, [...]
Live events could drive UK’s mass Covid testing push, says UK Music boss February 17, 2021 The live events sector could be a key driver of the government’s plans to launch a mass Covid testing blitz in England as lockdown is lifted, the chief executive of UK Music has said. Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, a former aide to health secretary Matt Hancock, said widespread testing using lateral flow tests “has huge potential to [...]
World’s first Covid-19 study where people are infected with virus to begin in London February 17, 2021 World's first Covid-19 study, where people are injected with virus, begins in London
City grandee Crispin Odey ‘lunged’ at woman, court hears February 17, 2021 Hedge fund multimillionaire Crispin Odey “lunged” at a young woman and groped her breast during an alleged assault more than 20 years ago, a court heard today. Odey, 62, has denied a single charge of indecent assault at Hendon magistrates’ court in North London. Prosecutor Kerry Broome told the court that Odey accepted he propositioned [...]
UK to announce secretive £800m science research agency called Aria February 17, 2021 The government is set to announce a new £800m research facility that will invest in high-risk military projects. It will be called the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) and is based on the US’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which has overseen the creation of experimental military technologies. Darpa and its predecessor agency [...]