London SMEs committing over half of annual revenue to tech investment, data reveals August 22, 2023 London’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are ramping up their tech budgets, allocating over half of their annual revenue to technology investments, according to a report by Barclays. In the capital, SMEs are directing an average of 54 per cent of their annual revenue to technology investments, such as data analytics and artificial intelligence tools, [...]
Polymetal hopes for Russian asset sale within six months August 21, 2023 Polymetal plans to sell its Russian business within six months, with mining groups from the country and Chinese investors among the potential suitors.
HomeServe founder pours £110m in crusade to revive flailing British high street August 20, 2023 HomeServe founder Richard Harpin is injecting £110m of his own cash into medium-sized businesses, aiming to breathe life back into the UK’s beleaguered high streets. After cashing in on the sale of insurance company HomeServe to Brookfield last year for a cool £4.1bn, the home repairs mogul Harpin said he is trying to “help others [...]
M&S digital chief exits amid business boom August 20, 2023 The top dog behind Marks & Spencer’s digital growth is reportedly leaving the retailer just months after being promoted. Chief digital and technology officer Jeremy Pee, who landed the position in January, is understood to be leaving the business to return to Canada. According to a report in The Sunday Times, M&S’s co-chief executive officer [...]
FTSE 100 live: London slow as retail sales dip and China concerns weigh UK down August 18, 2023 The FTSE 100 continued Friday in sluggish fashion as UK retail sales fell almost double the amount expected. London’s premier blue-chip index dipped as much as 0.8 per cent in early trading, slouching at 7,251.32, 0.8 per cent down by midday. Nearing market close, it fluctuated between 0.8 and one per cent with largest caller [...]
London Oxford Street to get new retail space near Tottenham Court Road’s Elizabeth Line with £70m GPE swoop August 18, 2023 London’s West End could be getting a new retail and office space, following the purchase of King Sloane Properties by Great Portland Estates for £70m. The acquisition means GPE get their hands on the freehold interests at 16/19 Soho Square, 29.43 Oxford Street 7 Falconberg Mews, from Belgravia & Chelsea Property Services Limited. Worth around [...]
The Square Mile and Me: Jim Wood-Smith on impostor syndrome, City shenanigans and a birthday redundancy August 17, 2023 Our weekly feature digs into the careers of the City’s great and good: this week, Hawksmoor Investment Management’s Jim Wood-Smith takes us down a most eventful memory lane What was your first job?I never did the Saturday paper round or the gap year saving-the-sloth thing. I was classically middle class and went to work for [...]
Interactive Investor founder Sherry Coutu on her next big challenge – and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro August 17, 2023 As a decade-spanning serial entrepreneur, it seems only too on the nose that Sherry Coutu likes to spend her spare time climbing mountains. When we speak, the founder of the retail investment stalwart Interactive Investor has just returned from a jaunt up Rinjani volcano in Indonesia for the third time. She’s gearing up to take [...]
Interactive Investor founder Sherry Coutu: entrepreneurship, climbing mountains and why Sunak’s maths plans don’t quite add up August 17, 2023 Interactive Investor founder Sherry Coutu on education, climbing mountains and entrepreneurship
Square Mile and Me: Jim Wood-Smith on all-day breakfasts, birthday redundancies and why the City needs to watch Monty Python August 17, 2023 Every week we ask the financial services industry’s great and good to delve into memory lane. This week, it’s Hawksmoor Investment Management’s Market Commentator and Head of Climate Transition Jim Wood-Smith who gives us an insight into a City left behind in more ways than one… What was your first job? I never did the [...]