Budget 2020: Retail and leisure sector reacts to ‘disappointing’ business rates reform March 11, 2020 Business rates have been the key issue for retailers in the run up to today’s budget, made even more crucial by the outbreak of coronavirus. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced measures to support more small leisure, hospitality and retail businesses with a rateable value of less than £51,000. Business rates for those firms will be scrapped [...]
City Moves for 11 March — Who’s switching jobs at Wavemaker, Waypoint Capital and CapitalRise? March 11, 2020 Today’s City Moves includes Wavemaker, Waypoint Capital and CapitalRise Wavemaker Wavemaker UK has announced the appointment of Elliott Millard as head of planning. Based in London, Elliott will lead a team of 65 planners, taking responsibility for the strategic element of key new business pitches. Elliott brings over 18 years of media industry leadership experience [...]
The Westbury Hotel owner seeks £1bn sale of Mayfair portfolio March 10, 2020 Cola Holdings, the owner of the The Westbury Hotel, is seeking a £1bn offer for its Mayfair property estate, which also includes Bond Street’s Burberry store and a private members club. Kurdish-born millionaire Bakir Cola owns the group, which has recently received planning permission to redevelop the five-star hotel in Conduit Street to attract “top [...]
City Moves for 10 March — Who’s switching jobs at Vectura, Heylo and Segro? March 10, 2020 Today’s City Moves includes Vectura, Heylo and Segro Vectura Drug delivery service Vectura has announced the appointment of Mark Bridgewater as chief commercial officer. Mark has more than 20 years of experience in medical device and pharmaceutical services. Prior to joining Vectura, he was vice president of business development and account management for Europe and [...]
Coronavirus: FTSE 100 loses £144bn after worst day since 2008 March 9, 2020 The FTSE 100 has had £144bn wiped off its value today as it closed below 6,000 points and suffered its biggest intraday fall since 2008. The coronavirus outbreak and plunging oil prices dragged the index down as much as 8.7 per cent to just 5,899 points as it opened following a weekend of coronavirus turmoil. [...]
Amazon to sell check-out free store tech to other retailers March 9, 2020 Amazon has launched a new business to sell its check-out free store technology to other retailers. The tech giant launched a website this morning inviting customers to inquire about the service. Amazon, which uses similar technology in its own chain of convenience stores, said it has already signed several deals. The ‘Just Walk Out’ technology [...]
Coronavirus: Tesco rations essential food and household items March 8, 2020 Tesco has begun rationing essential food and household items as shoppers stockpile amid the coronavirus outbreak. Customers are limited to buying no more than five of each of the rationed goods, including antibacterial gels, wipes and sprays, dried pasta and UHT milk. The rules apply both in store and online. Waitrose has also reportedly introduced [...]
Neil Woodford in talks with investors as he plots comeback March 7, 2020 Neil Woodford and a number of colleagues from Woodford Investment Management (WIM) are in talks with investors about snapping up a number of the fallen fund manager’s old investments. Woodford has held talks with institutional and wealth managers in recent weeks about creating a vehicle to buy back some of the unquoted WIM stakes, according [...]
Coronavirus crisis wipes £59bn off FTSE 100 March 6, 2020 Coronavirus wiped £59bn off the FTSE 100 today to cap off another week of stock market turmoil. The blue-chip stock index sank by 3.6 per cent, or 242.88 points, to finish the week on 6,462.55 points – its lowest since July 2016. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was down 2.98 per cent, or 576.62 points to [...]
Coronavirus: Asian stocks follow US into the red as infections near 100,000 March 6, 2020 Coronavirus cases approached the 100,000 mark today as volatility sparked by the global spread of the Covid-19 disease hurt Asian stocks and Wall Street. Asian stocks endured a torrid day of trading as Japan’s Nikkei plunged 2.7 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index sank 2.3 per cent overnight. Asian stocks slumped as traders [...]