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 [...]
Rain and fuel chaos kept shoppers away from the high street October 8, 2021 Shoppers were deterred from the high street last month because of rain and chaos surrounding fuel buying. Total UK footfall dropped by 16.8 per cent in September, compared to pre-pandemic levels, BRC-Sensormatic IQ data found. Out of all regions, London saw the biggest drop of 26.3 per cent, compared to 2019. The city has suffered [...]
An exclusive tasting of the new Penfold’s collection October 7, 2021 Today Penfold’s launches its new 2021 Collection. I was invited to 67 Pall Mall to taste it with the charismatic Peter Gago, the brand’s Chief Winemaker, via zoom. But before I get to the tasting notes, a spot of history. Penfolds began in 1844 when Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold planted the fledgling vines, which [...]
Boris Johnson urges people to get back to the office October 6, 2021 Boris Johnson has called on people to return to their offices and ditch remote working, with the Prime Minister urging young people to embrace traditional working patterns. Johnson said in his keynote Conservative party conference speech today that a “productive workforce” only comes from “face to face meetings and water cooler gossip”. The government has [...]
Ocado invests £10m into self-driving tech startup Wayve October 6, 2021 Self-driving tech startup Wayve’s total funding raised has hit $60m following an investment from grocer Ocado. Ocado is investing £10m ($13.6m) in a partnership with Wayve that will develop autonomous grocery deliveries. An autonomous delivery trial will involve a number of Ocado delivery vans on busy London routes – with a human driver to oversee [...]
European markets tank on toxic mix of threats October 6, 2021 European markets tanked today, driven by a toxic mix of mounting “stagflation” fears, looming rate hikes and soaring energy costs. London was among the worst performers as investors mull whether the British economy could be barrelling toward a biting bout of “stagflation” that would squeeze businesses. The capital’s premier index plummeted 1.28 per cent to [...]
Fast Lane: Lookers raises profit guidance despite challenging market conditions October 6, 2021 Lookers, a leading UK motor retail and aftersale group, has lifted profit expectations for the year on the back of promising Q3 results. While new car sales flagged amid a global semiconductor chip shortage Lookers has outperformed the market by around 3.4 percentage points. Despite the dip the company has said it is expecting profit [...]
Amazon to open its first physical store outside the US in the UK this morning October 6, 2021 E-commerce giant Amazon is opening its first store in the UK this morning, selling items including books, technology and toys, as the online retail behemoth continues its expansion in physical retail. The US company will open the first Amazon 4-star store outside the US on Wednesday at 10am at the Bluewater shopping centre, near Dartford [...]
Cold and costly winter worries: Petrol and gas prices soar October 5, 2021 Brits are bracing for a cold winter as petrol prices hit their highest level in eight years and UK natural gas prices hit record highs. There have been concerns that families in the UK could be forced to “eat or heat” this winter. Gas prices for November delivery have rocketed, surpassing £3 a therm for [...]
Sir Philip Green’s wife spent millions on London homes as BHS collapsed October 5, 2021 Sir Philip Green’s wife spent millions on London properties while thousands of employees working at now-collapsed BHS prepared to lose their jobs. Details of Lady Tina Green’s spending were laid bare in the ‘Pandora Papers – leaked offshore financial documents published by the BBC. Tina Green used a company located in the British Virgin Islands [...]