Back in black: Bluewater owner Landsec swings to £275m half-year profit November 16, 2021 Bluewater shopping centre owner Land Securities has revealed it swung to a half-year profit as the retail sector bounces back and workers return to offices thanks to the lifting of pandemic restrictions. The group, also known as Landsec, posted a pre-tax profit of £275m for the six months to September 30, against losses of £835m [...]
The high streets of the UK need to be able to woo global shoppers to stay competitive November 16, 2021 Alongside true love and compound interest, habit is one of the most powerful forces. The familiar click of the Christmas lights brought people back to London’s streets last week, with 2.5 per cent more people treading down the high street. But with the pandemic came new habits and the fairy lights will be switched off [...]
Christmas light switch-on brings shoppers back to the high street November 15, 2021 The number of people on UK's high streets rose by 2.5 per cent last week compared to the previous week, with the Christmas buzz gradually bringing shoppers back.
CBDCs will dominate the future of digital payments – Credit Suisse November 15, 2021 The head of distributed ledger technology for Credit Suisse believes that digital currencies backed by central banks (CBDCs) are the future of payments. Representatives from international banks and crypto projects Bitstamp and Fireblocks debated the future of electronic payments at the Digital Asset Summit – a crypto conference held in London today. “There’s a value [...]
London markets dip as Darktrace continues to tumble November 12, 2021 Cambridge-based cybersecurity firm Darktrace continued to tumble today, dragging London markets down with it. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index dipped 0.49 per cent to 7,347.91 points, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 lost 0.07 per cent, falling to 23,557.52 points. Darktrace plunged over four per cent during morning exchanges, extended a brutal period for the [...]
Focus On: Get yourself into a Pickle in booming Bermondsey November 12, 2021 Located in the south-easterly London Borough of Southwark, Bermondsey has a fascinating past. Back in the 1800s it was known for its industrial plants for processing animal hides (hence some road names such as Tanner Street and Leathermarket), as well as slums for local workers and the notorious docks that inspired scenes in Dickensian novels [...]
Landsec and Blackstone ink near £200m London property deal November 12, 2021 Land Securities Group has inked a nearly £200m deal with Blackstone to sell off its London property Harbour Exchange, a data centre which hosts offices. The £196.5m move forms part of Land Securities’ wider portfolio reshuffle plans – after the pandemic diluted the valuations of some retail and office spaces. “Through this disposal, we [...]
Labour squeeze shows no signs of loosening before Christmas November 12, 2021 The ongoing labour squeeze shows no signs of loosening in the run up to Christmas, raising fresh concerns that usual festive activities could be scuppered. In the first week of this month alone, over 220,000 new job ads were posted in the UK, a historically high print since records began, according to the Recruitment and [...]
The Tulip wilts: Skyscraper set for scrap-heap after appeal fails November 11, 2021 Proposals for the proposed Tulip skyscraper in the eastern heart of the City are set to be scrapped after central Government dismissed the planning applications. The Corporation of the City of London had approved the plans in 2019, but they were blocked by Mayor Sadiq Khan’s office, which feared the unique skyscraper would damage the [...]
Whole Foods was Amazon’s grocery debut, now it’s time for a main course November 11, 2021 Amazon took its first major step into grocery when it bought Whole Foods Market in 2017 for $13.7bn. The purchase sent shockwaves through the retail world at the time. It marked Amazon’s first step into brick-and-mortar retail and analysts interpreted the move as an effort to muscle in on the supermarket sector. But Amazon’s Whole [...]