Asos expected to reveal sales boosted by post freedom day shopping October 10, 2021 Online fashion retailer Asos is expected to outline a slowdown in sales growth this week as its profit margins take a hammering from global freight shortages. The fashion giant saw sales jump during the pandemic as shoppers turned to online shops for comfortable clothes to lock down in. Analysts said they anticipated freight shortages, currency [...]
Burger King UK prepares for whopper £600m London listing October 10, 2021 Fast-food chain Burger King is preparing to float on the London Stock Exchange for around £600m, according to reports. Burger King UK is understood to be in advanced discussions with potential advisers, including Investec and Numis bankers, as the company readies itself to list next year, according to The Times, which first reported the news. [...]
Property of the Week: Lancer Square, a shiny new development on the edge of Kensington Gardens October 8, 2021 At the Kensington High Street end of Kensington Church Street, Lancer Square, which has been in development for many years, saw its first residents move in this week. The show apartment is a four-bedroom, five-bathroom enclave on the fourth floor overlooking the development’s sunken garden, and I think I can safely say that £15m doesn’t [...]
Sun, sea and a whole new me: A fitness retreat in St Lucia October 6, 2021 London life is made up of extremes. Pricey gym classes, sobriety attempts and intermittent fasting experiments alternate with booze binges, tasting menus and frenzied socialising in a cycle of two steps forward three steps back. Even my holidays leave me feeling like I need time off to recover. To tone up and tune in without [...]
Produce workers ‘nabbed from farms by hospitality recruiters’ October 5, 2021 Hospitality recruiters have attempted to recruit seasonal pickers from farms in a bid to stem labour shortages, a trade body has claimed. Jack Ward, chief executive of the British Growers Association, told CityA.M., that recruiters were attempting to recruit people to work in bars “wherever they could find them.” “Particularly in the summer, competition for [...]
Burger chain Five Guys thanks ‘curbside collection’ for mitigating Covid impact October 4, 2021 Burger chain Five Guys has said it is keen to continue a roll out of venues in the UK. New store openings were offset by the impact of the Covid pandemic in 2020, accounts filed to Companies House laid bare. The chain opened 10 new stores in the year, boasting 110 restaurants by the year [...]
Where to eat, drink and sleep in Manchester this Tory conference October 2, 2021 Conservative Party Conference, which starts tomorrow, is a useful opportunity for the London bubble dwellers amongst us to be reminded of the promise beyond the M25. It sometimes feels as if Manchester is more familiar to football-crazy kids in the Far East than to denizens of this country’s capital city. So for out of the [...]
Wetherspoons blames ‘draconian’ Covid rules for poor financial performance October 1, 2021 J.D. Wetherspoon defended a poor financial performance saying pubs had faced an “impossible burden” during the pandemic Revenue from sales tumbled by -38.4 per cent to £772.6m, the lowest level since 2003, and the company made a record loss of £154.6m after tax. Investors were hit hard, with losses per share jumping by 256 per [...]
VAT rise likely to hurt hospitality recovery and may cause more permanent closures September 30, 2021 The upcoming 7.5 per cent VAT rise will slow down Covid recovery for the hospitality sector and may lead to a number of additional closures, a SME tax expert told City A.M. today. The Government’s scaling back of its Covid support measure is coming too soon for businesses with little or no cash reserves, according [...]
Sunak should slash taxes at budget to protect recovery, urges taxpayers’ lobby group September 30, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak should slash taxes at the budget to prevent the UK’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis running out of steam. That’s according to the chief of the top lobby group for taxpayers, who warned looming tax hikes will hit hardworking families and businesses and cause the recovery to “fall flat”. John O’Connell, [...]