Is bling out? What Chinese “common prosperity” means for luxury goods October 8, 2021 Evergrande Group will not have helped to calm the nerves of investors in European luxury goods companies. They’ve viewed recent developments in China with some trepidation. The difficulties facing the country’s second largest property developer (by sales) add to a checklist of concerns. These concerns include a slowdown in economic activity (for background, see: China: what [...]
CMA closes investigation into Ryanair and British Airways October 7, 2021 The UK’s competition watchdog has closed an investigation into the legality of airlines failing to refund passengers who were prevented from flying by Covid restrictions. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation in June 2021 after British Airways offered customers vouchers or rebooking and Ryanair provided the option to rebook flights which could [...]
Brexit exclusive: UK firms face IBAN discrimination across EU as GB payments are refused October 7, 2021 As the clocks turned 2020 into 2021 the UK left the European Union after 47 years. The decision divided the country, and businesses everywhere were forced to adapt to, and comply with, new regulations. Certain industries were more affected than others, and businesses which had some sort of international presence benefited from a smoother transitioning period, [...]
Brexit exclusive: UK firms face refused GB payments due to IBAN discrimination across EU – CityAM : CityAM October 7, 2021 As the clocks turned 2020 into 2021 the UK left the European Union after 47 years. The decision divided the country, and businesses everywhere were forced to adapt to, and comply with, new regulations. Certain industries were more affected than others, and businesses which had some sort of international presence benefited from a smoother transitioning period, [...]
Tory conference: Boris Johnson’s speech in full October 6, 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered his second leader’s speech at Conservative conference today. Here is his speech in full. Isn’t it amazing to be here in person the first time we have met since you defied the sceptics by winning councils and communities that Conservatives have never won in before – such as Hartlepool in [...]
EG Group to divest some petrol filling stations after watchdog concerns October 5, 2021 Petrol station forecourt operator EG Group has announced it will divest 27 petrol filling stations. The group – owned by the billionaire Issa brothers – said it had entered into a binding agreement to divest more than two dozen stations across the country to Park Garage Group. It comes after the competition watchdog expressed concerns [...]
Scantily clad CMA guidelines will do little to fend off greenwashing on our high streets and in our banks October 5, 2021 restore it. The term greenwashing wasn’t invented by the environmentally active Gen Z or even the older cohort of millenials. It dates back to 1986 when American environmentalist Jay Westerveld used it to describe hotels asking their customers to reuse towels to limit water usage while they abused neighbouring nature areas for their premises. Washing [...]
Swiss police raid Credit Suisse offices over Greensill Capital funds October 3, 2021 Swiss police have raided Credit Suisse offices and seized documents relating to the failure of the bank’s $10bn range of supply chain finance (SCF) funds that were linked to Softbank-backed Greensill. Police carried out the raids last week after the Zurich public prosecutor’s office launched criminal proceedings into Greensill. The prosecutor’s actions followed a criminal [...]
Going once, going twice: LiveAuctioneers sold to London’s ATG for $500m October 1, 2021 London-based Auction Technology Group (ATG) has snapped up the holding company of online auction business LiveAuctioneers for a dear $500m. The acquisition, for Platinum Parent, involves both cash and the issue of new shares after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) gave the deal the green light on Wednesday, The deal also features an earnout [...]
Leicester City and JD Sports probed by watchdog over merchandise September 30, 2021 The Premier League’s Leicester City and retailer JD Sports are being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over suspected anti-competitive behaviour relating to merchandise. The watchdog said in its case that it has “reasonable grounds to suspect one or more breaches of competition law” and that the CMA “has not yet reached a [...]