Note to our next Mayor – don’t rush towards a morning lorry ban without a thought-through plan March 24, 2016 In recent months’ mayoral election debates have seen an increasing focus on quality of life issues. Certainly everyone can agree that we all want London to remain a great place in which to live and work. However, to remain great, London also has to be a good place to run business and succeed. That’s why the growing calls [...]
Premium high street retailer Whistles bought out by Phase Eight parent The Foschini Group for undisclosed sum March 24, 2016 Premium high street retailer Whistles has been bought out by Phase Eight parent The Foschini Group. The South African business, which owns 20 retail brands and has a footprint of more than 2,700 stores, has taken a "substantial majority" stake in the British firm, headed by Jane Shepherdson sine 2008. Foschini, which bought Phase Eight [...]
Ding’s Mark Roden talks Dubai, Elon Musk and the importance of sticking to what you know with Harriet Green March 21, 2016 While on what was supposed to be a relaxing family holiday to Dubai in 2005, Mark Roden was cooking up a business. “I’d taken my wife Nicola and our then three under three away to celebrate the sale of my previous business to RBS.” Roden owned a successful network of in-store cash ATMs, which he had [...]
Fashion retailer New Look to move 800 staff to new London headquarters at King’s Cross March 21, 2016 New Look is moving 800 staff to new headquarters at King’s Cross after signing up for seven floors on the 67-acre regeneration site. The fashion retailer, which was bought last year by South African billionaire Christo Wiese, has taken a lease for 123,000 square feet of space in building R7 on Handyside Street on the north-eastern part of the site. It [...]
“Students are fans”: Metro Bank chair Vernon Hill gets an honourary professorship at Cass Business School and gives his top tips for UK students March 21, 2016 Everywhere Metro Bank's American founder Vernon Hill goes he sees fans. Hill was sworn into an honorary professorship at London's Cass Business School on Monday morning, and it's safe to say he takes the same view of students as he does of the challenger bank's customers. "Universities should definitely be thinking of their students as fans", Hill told The Capitalist [...]
The so-called flat white economy has overtaken finance and retail March 21, 2016 The UK's digital economy, which has made a home for itself in East London is driving the country’s economic growth, according to new research published today by a think tank. The so-called flat white economy of media, internet and creative businesses is now the second largest business sector in the UK. It accounts for 8.7 per [...]
From the Budget 2016 and Brexit to Cheltenham and the world’s first pizza robot: Here’s what got us talking this week March 18, 2016 Humanities students were given a fright in this week's Budget. Getting pizza suddenly got a lot easier. And we learned that when it comes to houses, Britons don't dream big. Bookies have had to pay out £50m already at Cheltenham according to William Hill (Source: Getty) 1) Budget blues Whether you were a sugar lover or a second [...]
Battersea Power Station unveils the first “local, artisanal” tenants at its Circus West retail development March 17, 2016 Battersea Power Station has unveiled the first of the tenants for its Circus West retail development – and there's a decidedly olde worlde feel about them. The team behind the giant development, which will eventually include thousands of homes, shops and offices – as well as leisure space and parkland – said each of the [...]
Ted Baker raises dividend 18.6 per cent as profits jump 20 per cent March 17, 2016 The figures: Group revenue rose 17.7 per cent to £456.2m in the 52 weeks ended 30 January, up from £387.6m a year earlier. Pre-tax profit jumped 20.3 per cent to £58.7m during this period, up from £48.8m in the year to January 2015. This was helped by e-commerce sales which swelled 45.8 per cent to £53.5m, up from £36.7m. The board hiked Ted Baker's [...]
Budget 2016: Before small businesses celebrate George Osborne’s speech, they should check the small print for details March 16, 2016 The review of the small business rate relief scheme in chancellor George Osborne’s latest Budget is a very welcome one for UK businesses and is a better outcome than many expected. The news that many more qualifying businesses will pay no rates whatsoever from 2017 is also cause for celebration for small business throughout the [...]