Retailer The Works which is backed by private equity firm Endless and the founder of the Card Factory launches £100m London float | City A.M. July 13, 2018 Retail chain The Works plans to float on the London Stock Exchange later this month with a valuation of £100m. The offer price has been set at 160p per share and dealings are expected to start on 19 July. The Works sells arts, crafts, gifts, toys, books and stationery from more than 430 stores in [...]
Bank of Cyprus offloads UK subsidiary for £103m to ‘Cynergy’ consortium July 10, 2018 The Bank of Cyprus has agreed to sell its UK banking operations to a consortium of investors in a £103m deal. The all-cash sale, which will complete by the end of the year, comes as Bank of Cyprus refocuses its efforts on the Cypriot economy. The lender was bailed out in 2013 by European authorities, [...]
Westminster council presses ahead with Oxford Street strategy – without TfL’s help July 10, 2018 Westminster City Council (WCC) has pressed ahead with its plans for Oxford Street without funding from Transport for London (TfL). At a council meeting yesterday evening, WCC agreed to draw up its own strategy work for the area after it scrapped TfL's plans on the grounds there was not a "strong democratic mandate" following complaints [...]
Why pockets of retailers are thriving in London July 10, 2018 The obituary of high street retail, according to the press, has been written. Physical stores are closing at a rapid rate. We don’t think this tells the whole story. The daily announcements of retailer bankruptcies points to an ever-decreasing pool of occupiers. However, we argue that the pendulum of pessimism in investment markets often swings [...]
Asian buyers dominate City of London property market July 9, 2018 More than half of all commercial property purchases in the City of London come from Asian investment, new figures reveal. While 57 per cent of commercial properties in the Square Mile are bought by Asians, the second-highest investors by continent are the Europeans, buying 14 per cent over the same period of the most recent [...]
Perk up your wallet: Digital receipts fintech startup Flux partners with Costa Coffee and Barclays Launchpad July 9, 2018 Paperless receipts and digital rewards startup Flux has teamed up with Costa Coffee to trial its tech in a number of central London stores. The trial will begin with a first phase of cashback rewards via Flux’s challenger bank partners Starling and Monzo, which is in a closed pilot, before expanding from there to explore [...]
Stobart finance boss steps down ahead of contentious AGM July 6, 2018 Stobart Group’s finance chief has announced that he will step down ahead of this morning’s general meeting, in which the company faces a battle with activist investors. Richard Laycock will not go up for re-election, but will continue to support the business. The board is searching for an interim replacement. The news comes as Stobart [...]
The Petersham at Petersham Nurseries in Covent Garden review: Some decent, basic food for those willing to splurge an obscene amount July 5, 2018 Covent Garden has reinvented itself more times than Madonna, had more facelifts than Mickey Rourke, seen more costume changes than Matthew Kelly. Once a Monk’s vegetable patch, it’s been home to prostitutes and drunks, clowns and mimes, apples and Apple. Before Capital & Counties (Capco) bought the market and the surrounding seven acres in 2006, [...]
Want tomorrow’s tech titans to be British? Here’s how to do it July 4, 2018 There’s an often-quoted adage, which goes something like this: “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.” What unites them all? Yes, they are all [...]
Behind the deal: Benjamin and Ariane de Rothschild revealed as backers of London tech startup Exo Investing July 3, 2018 London wealthtech startup Exo Investing has today announced the close of a €16.5m (£14.6m) seed round last summer, powered by a private investment from Benjamin and Ariane de Rothschild. The round also included backing from Madrid-based asset management firm ETS, and Daniel Treves and Hugo Ferreira, both former heads of La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild. [...]