Victoria set for £4bn investment as Armani and Jimmy Choo relocate February 10, 2014 Victoria is set for a £4bn investment over the next decade as developers cash in on companies following in Armani and Jimmy Choo's footsteps and relocating their headquarters to the area. London’s busy transport hub has undergone a major shift over the last ten years as government departments who were traditionally the biggest office-users in [...]
Shoppers from China and Gulf flock to London February 10, 2014 LONDON’S high-end retailers enjoyed a boom in spending by Chinese customers over the first weekend of February as tourists flocked to the capital for Chinese New Year, according to the latest figures from payments firm WorldPay. The company, which handles nearly half of all card transactions in the UK, recorded a 47.4 per cent increase [...]
Divide between north and south grows for stores February 9, 2014 A GROWING north-south divide has been laid bare by a new retail study that shows that seven of the 10 worst performing town centres are in the north west and north east of the UK. In contrast, six of the 10 best performing town centres – those with the least empty shops – are in [...]
Inside Track: Supermarket set to repair Russian reputation in London February 6, 2014 THERE’S been many a well-known company, from the likes of retailer Harvey Nichols to the property website Zoopla or even the restaurant website Just Eat, tipped to float on the reviving London new issues market, but it looks likely one of the first companies to make it across the line will be Lenta, which is [...]
Cat cure firm Circassia in biggest healthcare float for eight years February 6, 2014 A CURE for cat allergies could soon be hitting the market after its Oxford-based developers yesterday confirmed plans to raise £175m on the London stock market in the biggest healthcare float since 2006. Circassia, which is privately backed by firms like Invesco Perpetual and hedge fund Lansdowne Partners, said it will use the money to [...]
How shopping for watches online went mainstream February 6, 2014 DM London chairman David Coleridge tells us how the watch retail industry is changing with the times DAVID Coleridge has always been a man with a vision; one of those people who are ahead of the curve, a leader rather than a follower. It sounds hyperbolic but without him, in his auspices as chairman of [...]
Green takes a bigger bite out of Big Apple with Fifth Avenue store February 5, 2014 SIR PHILIP GREEN is stepping up his expansion plans for Topshop in the US after announcing plans yesterday to open five new shops, including a flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue. The 40,000 square feet store on the world’s second most expensive street will open in the Autumn next to the Rockefeller Center and [...]
PayPoint eyes growth as new chair named February 5, 2014 UK PAYMENTS service PayPoint, a fixture at many corner shops across London, yesterday announced the appointment of Warren Tucker as chairman of the company, succeeding David Newlands. The FTSE-250 listed group’s services include utility payments at over 25,000 corner stores, click and collect parcel delivery from online retailers to over 5,000 shops and the PaybyPhone [...]
Russian retail giant Lenta set for London float February 3, 2014 RUSSIA’S second biggest hypermarket chain Lenta has become the latest retailer to take part in this year’s IPO revival after announcing plans to float on the London Stock Exchange as early as next month. Lenta, which has 77 hypermarkets and 10 supermarkets in 45 cities across Russia, is aiming to raise finance as it looks [...]
The battle for Smithfield Market is heating up. Here’s what you need to know February 3, 2014 As the day of public inquiry into the redevelopment the western end of Smithfield Market approaches, both sides – developer and multi-billion pound investment management firm Henderson on one side and SAVE Britain’s Heritage on the other – are gearing up with their respective arguments for and against Henderson’s proposed scheme. Here is a brief [...]