Central London footfall growth behind other regional cities February 14, 2022 Central London footfall has lagged behind the recovery of other regional cities last week. According to the latest data from Springboard, footfall rose in all types of town centres in the UK last week. However, while regional cities outside of London saw the largest boost, up 7.1 per cent, Central London growth was only 3.3 [...]
Studio Retail Group preparing to call in administrators in blow for largest shareholder Mike Ashley’s Fraser Group February 14, 2022 Online value retailer Studio Retail Group, whose largest shareholder is Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, is posed to call in administrators. The Accrington-based firm said it had not been able to reach agreement with its UK lenders for additional funding it needed. Studio Retail had requested a short-term loan of £25m to fund surplus stockholding which [...]
Formula 1 teams up with Fight Club and Puttshack founder to launch motor-racing venues on UK high streets February 14, 2022 To launch ambitious plans for a series of entertainment venues with motor-racing simulators across the UK, Formula 1 has joined forces with the founder of Flight Club and Puttshack. Adam Breeden, founder and chief executive of Kindred Concepts, said the company that runs the international motor-racing series has taken an undisclosed investment into the proposed [...]
Office space: Inside the swanky new Conran and Partners offices February 11, 2022 The return to the office and the advent of hybrid working has been a hot topic for almost two years and it shows little sign of dying down. If you are lucky enough to work for Conran and Partners, you will have left Butler’s Wharf near Tower Bridge for your lockdowns at home, only to [...]
Mark Zuckerberg and team consider shutting down Facebook and Instagram in Europe if Meta can not process Europeans’ data on US servers February 10, 2022 If Meta is not given the option to transfer, store and process data from its European users on US-based servers, Facebook and Instagram may be shut down across Europe, the social media giants’ owner reportedly warned in its annual report. The key issue for Meta is transatlantic data transfers, regulated via the so-called Privacy Shield [...]
London markets boosted by financials rally February 9, 2022 London markets soared yesterday to a two-year high driven by a rally among travel stocks after the UK government signalled it intends to scrap remaining Covid-19 rules soon. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index rose 1.01 per cent to 7,643.42 points, while the domestically-focused FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of [...]
Competition watchdog brands Amazon as ‘grocery retailer’ enforcing UK supplier protection February 9, 2022 UK competition watchdog has branded Amazon as a “grocery retailer” after the ecommerce giant announced it would be increasing its activity in the sector, with plans to launch 15 new Amazon Fresh stores in London. The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision is aimed at protecting suppliers and ensuring fairer payment terms, forcing Amazon, as [...]
Hunting for “10 baggers” – how the UK beat the US February 9, 2022 The ups and downs of US technology stocks dominate headlines. Before this year’s tech correction it would have been hard to miss the news, for instance, that Apple’s market capitalisation had exceeded $3 trillion. That was not too far short of the entire value of the UK stock market. What is less well known, however, [...]
UK loses £7bn from Omicron restrictions’ impact on travel and tourism February 8, 2022 The UK has lost around £7bn from the impact of Omicron restrictions on travel and tourism, according to World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) data. “Imposing unnecessary travel restrictions to ‘deal’ with Omicron was not backed by science and cost the UK economy £7bn in lost revenues,” said WTTC’s chief executive Julia Simpson. “Travel is [...]
CarFinance 247 reports 11 per cent increase in prices following used-car market boom February 8, 2022 UK motor finance platform CarFinance 247 has registered an 11 per cent increase in the average price of vehicles sold going up from £9,364 in October 2020 to £10,434 a year later. As a result of supply chain issues and strikingly high levels of demand, prices have gone up almost 30 per cent on 2019 [...]