Upper Street aiming to fundraise £200,000 on Seedrs for growth February 8, 2015 LUXURY made-to-order shoe firm Upper Street has launched a £200,000 fundraising round using the London-based crowdfunding platform Seedrs as it looks to grow its online platform. The company, which was founded five years ago by Katy Chandler and Julia Elliott Brown, allows customers to design their own shoes online using 3D technology. Shoppers spend an [...]
Spending on contactless cards triples in just one year February 7, 2015 Peoples' penchant for contactless cards pushed total spending on them to a record £2.32bn last year according to data from The UK Cards Association. This was three times more than last year's figure. Shoppers can make contactless payments of up to £20 by touching their cards against a reader. It means small purchases can be made [...]
From Greece to Scotland via BT and EE: What got us talking this week February 6, 2015 It was all Greek to us this week Specifically, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who visited London as part of a Europe-wide charm offensive to support his plan for solving the small matter of the country's giant debt. Free market think tank Adam Smith Institute gave its backing to his debt restructuring [...]
Sofa giant DFS confirms £105m IPO on the London Stock Exchange February 6, 2015 DFS Furniture has confirmed plans for an international public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange, through which it hopes to raise £105m to reduce debts and future financing costs. The furniture retailer, which is owned by private equity firm Advent International, says it has a quarter of the share of the UK's £3bn upholstered furniture [...]
Singapore fund boosts stake in TV firm Nielsen February 5, 2015 SINGAPORE’S sovereign wealth fund GIC has increased its stake in data company Nielsen, and now holds five per cent of the firm’s common stock. According to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the stake comprises of 18,788,010 shares, which has a market value of $16.7bn (£10.9bn). The amount paid by GIC to increase its [...]
Fifty Shades of Grey: Surge in adventurous shoppers looking for sex toys, lingerie and bondage gear February 5, 2015 Retailers are preparing for a surge in sales of lingerie, sex toys and bondage gear as the saucy film Fifty Shades of Grey hits cinema screens. The hotly-anticipated film adaptation of the best-selling erotic book by E.L James, timed for release over the Valentine's Day weekend, is spurring retailers to stock up on titillating products [...]
New issues market gets off to a slow start – Editor’s Letter February 4, 2015 After a cracking 2014 in London’s new issues market, this year was always going to be tricky, with expectations higher than usual. At the beginning of the year many bankers envisaged a pretty strong list of companies coming to the market in the early part of the year before petering out around May, because of [...]
HSS Hire Group float prices at the bottom end of range February 4, 2015 HSS Hire Group will float on the London Stock Exchange at the bottom end of its price range, putting the company's market capitalisation at £325m. The tool hire firm has set its initial public offer (IPO) price at 210 pence per share, the lower end of the 210-262 pence price range given earlier this month, [...]
Tesco global CIO Mike McNamara leaves for US retailer Target as supermarket begins hunt for chief technology officer February 3, 2015 Tesco’s top tech boss who was instrumental in the roll out of the supermarket's online and e-commerce business is exiting the company after 15 years for US retailer Target. Mike McNamara, who also sits on Tesco’s executive committee, has led the supermarket's global technology systems as chief information officer (CIO) since 2011. It's the latest in [...]
Four things we know about China’s luxury consumers: Apple is most desirable but British brands rate among wealthy shoppers February 2, 2015 Chinese spending on luxury goods may be faltering as the economy slows down and the government clamps down on gift-giving of luxury items, but consumer spending is still expected to help carry the country’s economy ahead of the US as the world’s largest over the next decade. The rise of the luxury brand in Asian [...]