Goldman Sachs ‘in talks’ to partner with Amazon on small business loans February 3, 2020 Goldman Sachs is reportedly in advanced talks with Amazon to offer small business loans in the US, as the Wall Street giant looks to the tech titan in a bid to break into the mainstream areas of financial services. Goldman Sachs has begun building technology that would allow it to offer loans to small and [...]
DEBATE: Has the classic British cup of tea fallen out of fashion? February 3, 2020 Unilever could be selling its PG Tips and Lipton tea brands. Has the classic British cuppa fallen out of fashion? YES, says Jeff Young, founder of the London Coffee Festival, which celebrates its tenth anniversary on 2–5 April 2020. Britain is becoming a nation of coffee drinkers. This journey started 20 years ago with the [...]
Boxpark’s profits jump as pop-up venue targets UK expansion February 3, 2020 Boxpark reported a jump in profit last year as the pop-up shipping container venue sets its sights on expansion outside of London. The food and retail operator – which launched in Shoreditch in 2011 – said net profit was up 22 per cent to £1.6m and turnover soared 58 per cent to £12.5m in the [...]
Outernet: Is London’s new media complex the future of urban entertainment? February 3, 2020 Trying to find a definition for Outernet can sometimes feel like explaining Tiktok to a grandparent. Once completed, the 34,000 square feet (sq ft) site — sat squarely on the corner of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road — will boast the world’s largest deployment of LED screens, as well as shops, restaurants, offices, a [...]
New RBS boss Alison Rose to be based solely in London February 2, 2020 New Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Alison Rose is to be based solely in London, even though the state-owned lender is headquartered in Edinburgh. Rose’s employment contrast lists RBS’s office on Bishopsgate as her sole place of work, the Sunday Times reported. Her predecessor, Ross McEwan, had a contract for London and Edinburgh. Rose, [...]
Exclusive: Politicians slam House of Fraser for continuing to sell Presidents Club clothing line January 30, 2020 Politicians, businesswomen and equality campaigners have called on House of Fraser to stop selling a clothing line appearing to reference the Presidents Club dinner where businessmen allegedly groped hostesses. The Presidents Club annual dinner was plunged into scandal in 2018 after details emerged of attendees’ behaviour and revealing dresses hostesses were told to wear. The [...]
Retail property market misses out on ‘Boris bounce’ January 30, 2020 London’s retail property market has continued to struggle, despite a bounce in the wider commercial real estate sector driven by the General Election result. Occupier demand in the retail sector fell in the fourth quarter of last year, according to research published today that found 70 per cent of chartered surveyors in the capital had [...]
Barclays takes a stake in digital receipts startup Flux January 29, 2020 Barclays will today take its relationship with digital receipts startup Flux one step further by acquiring a minority stake in the London tech firm. The startup said Barclays will also soon begin an expansion of its ongoing partnership with Flux to reach its entire UK mobile banking customer base, after a successful trial period on [...]
Consumer optimism rises to five-year high January 28, 2020 Consumer optimism for the coming year has jumped to a five-year high due to increased political certainty, according to the latest research. More UK consumers believe they will be financially better off over the next 12 months than worse off, as net sentiment has jumped from minus seven to three for the first time in [...]
Number of UK firms in ‘significant financial distress’ hits record high January 27, 2020 The number of UK businesses in significant financial distress has risen to almost 500,000, hitting the highest level since records began 16 years ago. The latest research showed that the number of firms facing significant difficulties has soared 81 per cent since 2016, reaching 494,000 in the fourth quarter of last year. Recently formed companies [...]