Competition: Win a case of Sauternes with City A.M. Wine Club May 19, 2015 *This competition is now closed To make joining the City A.M. Wine Club taste even sweeter, we are offering two lucky entrants the opportunity to win a full case of Sauternes from one of Bordeaux’s top chateaux. Chateau Rieussec is one of nine estates originally classified by Napoleon in 1855 as a Sauternes Premier Cru. [...]
UK national rail strike: Disruption could ruin bank holiday Monday, cause train travel chaos and cost Britain £600m May 18, 2015 Yesterday’s peace talks continue into today in a bid to avert a strike that could cost Britain £600m. In terms of timing, next week’s proposed national rail strike, the first in 21 years, could hardly be worse. Starting on Bank Holiday Monday, the planned day-long industrial action by 25,000 workers would cut short [...]
Online music shop Gear4Music to announce £25m Aim float May 17, 2015 GEAR4MUSIC, the online musical instruments retailer, will announce plans this morning to float on London’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim), in a move that will value the firm at around £25m. Launched in 2003, the Yorkshire-based music shop sells 27,000 different items ranging from £8,000 pianos to 99p kazoos. It has 19 country-specific websites across Europe [...]
British retail traffic lower in April but City shoppers buck the trend May 14, 2015 LONDONERS haven’t lost the buzz of bargain-hunting, despite the rest of the UK seeing a small drop in shoppers on the High Street. The British Retail Consortium monthly measure of shopping activity released today found average footfall across the UK in April was 0.8 per cent lower than a year ago, down from a 0.2 [...]
Matalan chief Jason Hargreaves makes retailer a family affair May 14, 2015 Jason Hargreaves made a trip to Oxford Street earlier this year with his four-year-old daughter in tow. The managing director of Matalan, the out-of-town value fashion and homeware chain founded by his father, John Hargreaves, 30 years ago, came to view its first ever central London store at the east end of on Oxford [...]
UK banking’s falling competitiveness should worry the whole of the country May 14, 2015 Contrary to most expectations, we have a government. And although David Cameron might have felt he had it difficult in his first term as Prime Minister – dealing with a huge budget deficit while in coalition – this term also has its challenges. His majority is slim, there is the far from little matter of [...]
City Moves for 14 May 2015 | Who’s switching jobs May 13, 2015 Nexus Planning Amanda Balson has been appointed director of the planning and regeneration consultancy’s London office. She joins from Terence O’Rourke, and in her 20 years in the industry has also held director roles at Turley and DTZ Pieda Consulting. Allianz Global Investors Tobias C Pross has been appointed head of Europe, Middle East and [...]
FTSE ends flat after weak US data but Mondi moves on up – London Report May 13, 2015 THE FTSE was broadly flat but outperformed Europe yesterday after weak US retail data erased gains on the back of the Bank of England saying it will raise rates in about a year’s time. The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed up 0.2 per cent at 6,949.63 points by 1625 London time after falling 1.4 per cent in [...]
Insurer Hiscox’s growth lifted by fewer disasters in first months of 2015 May 12, 2015 International specialist insurer Hiscox has reported a 12 per cent quarterly increase in gross written premiums (GWP), boosted by currency movements and fewer disasters. The London-listed company said premiums for the three months ending 31 March rose to £561.7m from £501.6m at the same time last year. Chief executive Bronek Masojada said: “It’s been an [...]
City Moves for 12 May 2015 | Who’s switching jobs May 11, 2015 Colliers International Martin Mahmuti has been appointed senior property economist in the commercial real estate services firm’s research and forecasting team. He began his career at Cushman and Wakefield, where he primarily reported on UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa retail markets. Hermes Investment Management Philip Nell has been appointed fund director in the asset [...]