Next lifts profit forecast to £822m as shareholders await New Year payday January 6, 2022 Next has told shareholders to expect a special dividend at the end of the month, after lifting its profit guidance for the full year. The high street retailer has raised in profit before tax guidance by £22m, to £822m – up nearly 10 per cent in comparison with pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, investors eye a £205m [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? January 6, 2022 City A.M.’s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every morning. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Bibby Financial Services Bibby Financial Services (BFS) has poached its new chief people and organisation officer from British Business Bank as it seeks to boost support for SMEs in the new year. Helen Norris, who brings [...]
Commuter cuts: London’s suburbs out in the cold amid reduced rail services January 6, 2022 London’s commuters are in for a colder winter, as cuts to rail services curb the New Year march back to work. The latest wave of Covid-19 has pushed a spike in staff absences – with one in 15 people testing positive with the virus last week, the Office for National Statistics found – a landslide [...]
Investment in London office space returns to pre-pandemic levels January 5, 2022 Investment into London offices has returned to pre-pandemic levels, new research has revealed, after the pandemic nearly killed off the traditional workplace. Investors pumped £11.3bn into office transactions last year, preliminary data from property agent CBRE found, matching 2019’s figure. The cash injection was nearly 50 per cent higher than the £7.6bn recorded in 2020, [...]
Follow-up PCR tests scrapped as government seeks to relieve growing staff absences January 5, 2022 The government has scrapped the necessary PCR tests following a positive Covid-19 result from a lateral flow today, in a bid to tackle growing staff shortages. The changes will come into effect on January 11 – a move which has been called for by an increasing number of businesses. It comes as “around a million [...]
Investors eye Concurrent Technologies as it navigates chip shortage storm January 5, 2022 Concurrent Technologies has enjoyed a share price jump today after confirming to shareholders that it has successfully navigated the chip shortage storm so far. The global shortage of semi-conductor chips amid the pandemic has prompted several automotive and technology firms to draw back production due to the restricted supply over the past 12 months. However, [...]
Hong Kong to ground flights from UK in two-week Covid-19 circuit breaker January 5, 2022 Hong Kong is set to ground flights from several countries including the UK for two weeks as it attempts to stamp out a spike in Covid-19 cases. Other countries that will see tightened restrictions between January 8 and January 21 are the US, Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. The city-state recorded 38 [...]
Magic Circle: Clifford Chance partner takes home record £3.2m earnings January 5, 2022 Clifford Chance’s highest earning lawyer took home more than £3m in earnings last year, as firms battle it out for the best pay. The Magic Circle law firm confirmed in July that the average take-home for full equity partners has jumped nine per cent to £1.85m each over the last 12 months. Fellow City law [...]
First IPO of 2022: Media production trailer provider debuts in London January 5, 2022 Film and TV production trailer provider ADF will debut on London’s market, in the first float of 2022 so far. After raising more than £18m from institutional investors, ADF is set to trade at 50p per share. The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to land ADF a valuation of £37.8m, as it looks to [...]
Banker bots: Amid increasing competition for top talent, banks could turn to AI January 4, 2022 Banks could begin to turn to artificial intelligence (AI), after the competition for top talent has prompted a battle of who can name the highest salary figure for newcomers. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs have already dedicated teams to modernising their M&A advisory and capital markets businesses. And with pay for junior analysts at rival Morgan [...]