The City View podcast, from City A.M., with Miles Celic April 28, 2020 In this episode Christian is joined by Miles Celic, chief executive of The City UK – the membership group for financial and professional services, a sector accounting for 10 per cent of the UK’s economic output. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS The sector is also under intense [...]
UK events industry calls for access to government support amid business collapse fears April 27, 2020 The UK events industry has urged the government to provide clarification on the financial support available for the sector, amid concerns that thousands of businesses could collapse over the next three months. Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed in the House of Commons last month that event hire firms are eligible for the business rates holiday and [...]
Blackmore Bond topples into administration owing £45m April 23, 2020 Mini-bond investment firm Blackmore Bond has collapsed into administration. The joint administrators, Geoff Bouchier and Benjamin Wiles of Duff & Phelps, were appointed yesterday. Blackmore was founded in Manchester in 2016. It issued mini-bonds to retail investors with a minimum investment of £5,000. The company used the money to invest in a portfolio of property [...]
What’s happening to dividends and what next? 11 questions answered April 23, 2020 Nick Kirrage, co-head of the Value team, and Sean Markowicz, part of the Research and Analytics team, chatted with us about the future of dividends and buybacks. With so many investors reliant on dividends to boost their income or support their retirement we wanted know what’s happening now, whether investors should be concerned and what [...]
Brent crude falls below $20 as extreme volatility rattles oil prices April 21, 2020 The price of worldwide oil benchmark Brent crude dropped below $20 for the first time in 18 years this morning after extreme volatility battered global oil markets. A mid-morning plunge sent Brent down to nearly $18, before the commodity recovered to stand 24 per cent down on the day at exactly $20. The fall weighed [...]
FTSE 100 sinks deeper as oil prices continue collapse April 21, 2020 The FTSE 100’s losses mounted up today as US oil prices returned into negative territory despite Europe beginning to relax coronavirus lockdowns. London’s blue-chip index dropped 2.25 per cent by 2pm, after opening around 1.3 per cent down this morning. The FTSE 100 lost 131 points to hit 5,681 points as oil majors and energy [...]
More than £6bn of coronavirus grants given to English businesses April 21, 2020 More than £6bn of business grants have been distributed to English small and medium sized businesses through the government’s coronavirus grant schemes. A total of 491,725 grants, worth £6.11bn, have been distributed out of a pot of £12.3bn as of last night, translating into a 49.58 per cent delivery rate. Grants of £10,000 are available to [...]
The City View podcast: M Restaurants CEO Martin Williams on cooking for the NHS April 21, 2020 In this episode, Christian is joined by the CEO of Gaucho and M Restaurants, Martin Williams. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Martin is one of the country’s best known restaurateurs having launched his high-end M Restaurants in London before bringing the Gaucho empire into the fold. He talks [...]
Coronavirus: What firms will survive the pandemic? April 20, 2020 The coronavirus outbreak has created clear winners in businesses such as Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Google and Apple, and losers such as Uber, Airbnb, and WeWork. The vast majority of industries are losers as they are effectively shut by the lockdown. Taxi usage has collapsed which means it may be a long time before Uber approaches [...]
UK coronavirus lockdown: Consumers spend more on video games and online shopping April 20, 2020 Britons have been spending more on video games and with Amazon, Apple and Argos during the UK coronavirus lockdown, according to the latest research. Digital bank Starling said its customers spent almost 300 per cent more on Playstation and Nintendo in the week ending 5 April compared to the week to 15 March, before the [...]