Second national lockdown wipes £430m off Primark’s balance sheet December 4, 2020 England’s second national lockdown wiped an estimated £430m off Primark’s balance sheet, as the pandemic continues to decimate British high street retailers. Speaking ahead of Primark’s annual general meeting later today, chairman Michael McLintock said: “Our estimate for the loss of sales for the announced periods of closure this autumn is now some £430m.” The [...]
Money for less: Portugal and Spain borrow more, pay less December 3, 2020 Spain and Portugal are on track to collectively shave at least €17bn off their debt service costs by end-2022, their crisis-borrowing spree essentially underwritten by the European Central Bank. S&P Global Ratings analysis shows the two countries are set to make the saving as their 10-year bond yields teeter on the cusp of 0 per [...]
Cath Kidston returns to the high street with flagship Piccadilly store December 2, 2020 Cath Kidston has this morning opened a flagship store in Piccadilly, which will be its only physical branch after the retro-inspired retailer fell into administration earlier this year. The retailer closed all of its 60 UK stores in April, resulting in the loss of 900 jobs, after its Hong Kong private equity owner Baring appointed [...]
Tokenisation of shares in a company; what is it really? December 1, 2020 We hear about tokenisation of shares regularly. But what does it actually mean? To answer the question we must confront the fact that English company law did not anticipate developments in technology. Considering tokenisation in practice requires an analysis of how the characteristics of ‘tokenised’ shares relate to the particular requirements of English company law. [...]
Debenhams closure: What next for struggling retail landlords? December 1, 2020 Retail landlords are set to take a multimillion pound hit following the collapse of Debenhams and Arcadia’s fall into administration, and could struggle to fill the space left by closed flagship stores. Many property owners, which have already been impacted during the pandemic due to a spike in retail restructurings and renegotiated rents, will lose [...]
Debenhams closure: Timeline of department store chain’s collapse December 1, 2020 Department street chain Debenhams announced this morning that it is preparing to close down after failing to attract a buyer, but the former high street giant’s problems stretch back over several years. Earlier this year the struggling retailer entered administration for the second time in 12 months, even before Covid-19 forced it to close its [...]
Mortgage approvals jump to 13-year high as pandemic prompts house moves November 30, 2020 Mortgage approvals jumped last month as the coronavirus pandemic, and support measures such as the stamp duty holiday, prompted more people to move home. The number of mortgage approvals for house purchase reached 97,500 in October, compared to 92,100 the previous month, reaching the highest level since September 2007. Approvals were 33 per cent higher [...]
Bitcoin parabola signals the starts of a new crypto paradigm November 27, 2020 Bitcoin momentum stalled at around $19,400 as it began to slip into dangerous territory before breaking its parabolic trend that began in the first week of October. However, historical precedent speaks volumes about bitcoin’s mini parabolic run-up, and what’s to come in 2021. While hindsight bias could elaborate on what precipitated the sell off, bitcoin’s technical [...]
London to buck UK trend with uptick in 2020 housing sales completions November 25, 2020 London is expected to buck the national trend to record an uptick in housing sales completions this year, according to the latest research. Completed sales across the UK are expected to fall six per cent compared to last year, an improvement on the original forecast of a 15 per cent drop, as the housing market [...]
BP to sell London headquarters to Hong Kong investment firm for £250m November 20, 2020 BP has announced the sale of its London headquarters to Hong Kong investment firm Lifestyle International for £250m. The oil giant, which is aiming to sell $25bn of assets by 2025, will lease the 1 St James’s Square property back for two years. BP, led by chief executive Bernard Looney, has already divested or agreed [...]