Before the Bell: Honeymoon in Washington January 21, 2021 Joe Biden was sworn in as the new US President overnight with financial markets granting him a DC honeymoon on his first day as the buy everything trade returned with a vengeance. Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst atOANDA, said this morning that equity markets soared, as did precious metals, and currency markets saw commodity link currencies outperform [...]
One restaurateur’s plea: How am I doing? How the f*** do you think I’m doing? January 20, 2021 How am I doing? How the f*** do you think I’m doing? At every turn I politely say “struggling on” or another platitude: “smiling on the outside, crying on the inside.” But let’s put this into perspective. Pied à Terre has been on Charlotte Street for almost 30 years, 28 of those with a Michelin star. Other [...]
The best of travel: Anguilla is the epitome of tropical fun times January 19, 2021 To tide us over until we’re able to travel again, we’re republishing classic travel stories from our archives. This week we revisit Steve Hogarty’s trip to an island paradise in Anguilla. ••• Far out in the well charted waters of the east Caribbean lies the Leeward Island chain, and at its northern tip is an [...]
Market confidence is only artificially low, says IW Capital CEO January 19, 2021 The impact of Covid has been continually unpredictable since the first ripples in January of last year to the third lockdown of this year. Despite this, there is plenty of reason to feel optimistic about 2021. Both historical evidence and current sentiment point to a period of boom after months of gloom, according to Luke [...]
Deliveroo appoints Next boss Simon Wolfson to board January 19, 2021 Deliveroo has appointed Next chief executive Lord Simon Wolfson to its board as a non-executive director. Wolfson, who has led the high street fashion chain since 2001, took up the role this week. It comes as the food delivery platform gears up for what could be the largest initial public offering of the year. Deliveroo [...]
British Land appoints new chief financial officer from Tesco January 19, 2021 London-based retail landlord British Land has made Bhavesh Mistry its new chief financial officer. Mistry is expected to join British Land no later than 1 August 2021. Until he joins David Walker will continue in his role as interim CFO. The incoming CFO is currently deputy chief financial officer at Tesco, a position has had [...]
Fishing industry to be compensated for Brexit ‘teething problems’ January 19, 2021 Boris Johnson has said that the fishing industry would be compensated for any problems caused by new post Brexit customs procedures. Johnson, echoing comments he made last week, said that problems at the borders, which have seen some exporters unable to sell their catch, were “teething problems”. A fund of £23m will be made available [...]
Drones and robots may get their big breakthrough in 2021, says what3words CEO January 18, 2021 2020 was a volatile and unpredictable year for businesses large and small. In a sink-or-swim situation, the swimmers were those who responded fairly quickly to the pandemic and managed to come up with creative and innovative solutions. This often involved pivoting to an entirely new model, according to Shoreditch-based Chris Sheldrick, co-founder and CEO of [...]
Uptick in central London office interest offers hope to struggling businesses January 18, 2021 There was an uptick in interest in London office properties at the end of 2020, offering city centre firms hope that the end of the remote-working boom is on the horizon. The latest research by real estate giant JLL showed that there had been a “significant” jump in viewings and negotiations, suggesting recovery could be [...]
CMA’s review of market concentration in the pandemic January 18, 2021 In April 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cleared Amazon’s £450million investment into Deliveroo, heeding (and ultimately accepting) warnings from the parties that, absent the investment, Deliveroo would ultimately have to exit the market. Particularly so in the light of the impact of the government imposed lockdown and shuttering of restaurants. It is tempting [...]