Hotel Chocolat shares plummet 13 per cent after profit warning on flagging consumer sentiment June 23, 2023 Hotel Chocolat shares have plummeted by around 12 per cent as the premium brand is expected to be back in the red. The retailer, which has fallen victim to cash-strapped Brits cutting back on luxuries, said it now anticipates revenue of £201.8m and underlying profit before tax of £0.3m for the 2023 financial year. It [...]
FTSE 100 close: Bank of England interest hike piles more pain on markets June 22, 2023 The much scrutinised Bank of England’s interest rate hike by half a point to five percentage points today, piled the pressure on London markets. London opened far lower in anticipation of the rate hike and continued in the red following the announcement, which marked the 13th straight rise from the bank and took interest rates [...]
Wagamama owner waves goodbye to CFO as part of top team shake up June 21, 2023 Wagamama’s owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) is waving goodbye to its chief financial officer, Kirk Davis, as part of a shake up of its top team. The hospitality group, which also owns high street eateries such as Frankie & Bennys, said that Davis will step down after the publication of its interim results in September [...]
We can’t base artificial intelligence laws off of the risks we only imagine to be real June 21, 2023 We’ve heard endless calls to ‘do something’ on artificial intelligence, but politicians are still basing their thinking on the risks they assume to be real, not the ones we know about, writes James Boyd-Wallis. Last week, Rishi Sunak said he wants to balance safety and innovation to realise the potential of artificial intelligence. But to [...]
Westfield’s bailed on San Francisco, but it won’t in London, say experts June 20, 2023 Westfield will hand back the keys to its flagship San Francisco mall following nearly two decades of ownership after it was battered by crime and the exit of its 350,000 ft flagship Nordstrom site. In recent years, the shopping centre’s occupancy level plummeted dramatically to around 55 per cent, with a host of household-name retailers [...]
Hybrid hinders London commercial space as John Lewis slashes head office value by £15.6m June 20, 2023 The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has slashed the value of its London head office by £15.6m in the latest signal that hybrid working trends continue to hinder the capital’s commercial work space. It comes as last month the retail group revealed that it was ending the lease on its head office in Victoria, London as [...]
Digital stores predicted to appear on the high street as automation threatens retail jobs June 19, 2023 Large e-commerce stores are likely to crop up as physical stores across the UK high street in the next five to ten years, according to predictions aided by AI. Money saving website Savoo used AI to visualise the future of the British high street and it suggested more than 11,000 chain stores would disappear by [...]
Next share price up as it thanks sunny spells for raised profit guidance June 19, 2023 Next share price increased over four per cent this afternoon as the retailer raised its sales and profit guidance. The high-street favourite made the surprise announcement after it was bolstered by the arrival of warm weather – but warned that it does not expect the momentum to continue for the rest of the year. In [...]
F1 star Bottas among big name investors to back wine investment firm Cult Wines June 19, 2023 F1 driver Valtteri Bottas and the former chair of Moet-Hennessy are among the names to have backed a fresh £1.7m funding injection in wine investment firm Cult Wines, the firm announced today. Cult Wines, founded in London in 2007, announced today the seed fundraising round was led by Christophe Navarre, the former Moet-Hennessy chief and chairman [...]
Watch news: Omega’s new dressy diver and a Bucherer experience June 16, 2023 While Omega’s dressy diver hops time zones and date lines, fashion giant Saint Laurent makes a muse of a cult Girard-Perregaux digital from the Seventies, and London’s bricks-and-mortar retail scene gets immersive, courtesy of Bucherer. Fully Bucherer Garden today, you’ll be sure of a big surprise. ‘Masterworks’ is a new exhibition concept launched in horological [...]