Do you want fries with that? Metrobank opens London’s first drive thru bank October 20, 2015 Metro Bank is bringing a little slice of American life to London, with its first drive-thru bank offering customers cash "from the comfort of their cars." Customers will be able to pay in cash and cheques and withdraw funds at two drive thru windows, staffed by cashiers in a retail park in Southall. The drive-thru [...]
Trouble for the big four supermarkets as Aldi and Lidl growth speeds up again October 20, 2015 German discounters Aldi and Lidl both saw growth rates return to over 17 per cent over the last three months, dashing hopes for the Big Four that a slowdown earlier in the year may have been part of a longer term trend. The cut-price chains have been the fastest-growing grocers in the sector for some time now. But in [...]
Judge P2P firms on whether they’re profitable – not just on how much money they’ve lent October 19, 2015 Three years ago this week, the veteran venture capitalist Robin Klein made the case in these pages for greater support for UK high growth technology companies in their push into mainstream London capital markets. Over time, confidence grew and several good firms were helped onto the public markets through the London Stock Exchange’s High Growth [...]
Asda backtracks on London expansion plans as it seeks to revive flagging sales October 19, 2015 Asda has become the latest supermarket to backtrack on store opening plans after scrapping ambitions to expand in London in favour of reviving deteriorating sales at existing stores. US-owned supermarket chain said it is “temporarily” slowing down the planned expansion of smaller format stores in London as well as its programme to develop more stand-alone petrol [...]
Reiss to ramp up expansion overseas after doubling full-year profits October 19, 2015 Family-owned fashion retailer Reiss has said it plans to ramp up expansion overseas next year by adding 40 new stores, after it revealed record sales and profits. The upmarket high street brand, a favourite with royals and celebrities including the Duchess of Cambridge and Olivia Palermo, said strong growth through its website and existing stores help drive a [...]
UK footfall recovers in September but high streets lose out to retail parks October 19, 2015 Retailers enjoyed more visitors through their doors in September, boosted by the onset of the colder autumn weather and the August bank holiday falling into last month’s survey period. Footfall was almost flat on September last year, down by just 0.2 per cent, figures released today by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and retail analysts Springboard [...]
Retail website StreetHub reveals $2.6m funding round led by Octopus Ventures October 19, 2015 StreetHub, a network of independent retailers, has announced a $2.6m (£1.7m) funding round, led by Octopus Ventures. The group also received investments from Index Ventures, which has stakes in online retailers Asos, Farfetch and Net-a-Porter, among others, as well as a number of other angel investors. The new funding round coincides with the launch of [...]
Looking beyond London: These are the five best cities to buy property in right now October 16, 2015 When considering real estate investment opportunities, people normally think of western cities like London and New York. But by dong so, they could lose out – emerging cities across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America are filled with openings that could bring great rewards. Based on market trends, infrastructure developments and commercial, residential [...]
City Moves for 16 October 2015 | Who’s switching jobs October 15, 2015 PEMBERTON The asset manager has appointed Corinna Mitchell as general counsel. She has over 20 years’ experience as a banking and finance lawyer, and was a partner in the London office of Dechert for the past seven years. Mitchell has also worked as a partner at Baker & McKenzie in London, and as a solicitor [...]
Console owners help drive profit jump at Game Digital October 15, 2015 GAME Digital said a rapidly growing population of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 console owners helped the video games retailer post forecast beating full-year profits. Demand for the latest generation of consoles has cooled and their average selling price has dropped since their initial launch two years ago. But a strong performance in accessories, new [...]