Wagamama owner Restaurant Group swings to a loss on £115m writedown September 3, 2019 Restaurant Group plunged into the red as it recorded a loss for the first six months of 2019 following its controversial £559m takeover of pan-Asian chain Wagamama. The figures Revenue rocketed 58.2 per cent from £326.1m in the first half of 2018 to £515.9m in the first half of 2019. Restaurant Group fell to a [...]
Focus on Balham: The family-friendly outpost is now pricier than Wimbledon and Putney August 30, 2019 In the post-war era, Balham was mocked as the ‘Gateway to the South’ in that infamous Peter Sellers sketch sending up radio adverts for far-flung holiday destinations. The joke was that nothing much exciting happened there – it was an archetypal dreary suburb. How times have changed. It is now a fiercely sought after location [...]
Franco Manca owner serves up revenue boost August 28, 2019 Franco Manca owner The Fulham Shore reported growing revenues as it continues to expand the pizza chain outside London. The restaurant chain has opened Franco Manca branches in Birmingham, Exeter, Leeds and Edinburgh in first half of the financial year as the group eyes opportunities outside of the capital. It also opened another London branch [...]
Restaurant sector gloom takes a slice out of Pizza Express profit August 28, 2019 Pizza Express has fallen victim to the gloom which has enveloped the casual dining sector, with first half profits shrinking. The company blamed a drop in earnings of nearly one-tenth on “industry-wide cost pressures” in its key home market. Pizza Express, founded in 1965, runs 480 restaurants across Britain and 148 abroad in Asia and [...]
Papa John’s shares sizzle after appointment of new chief August 27, 2019 Shares in Papa John’s have jumped six per cent, after the company hired the head of US restaurant chain Arby’s as its new chief executive. The world’s third largest pizza chain appointed Arby’s president Rob Lynch today, replacing Steve Ritchie just 19 months after he took the role. Read more: Sainsbury’s partners with Deliveroo on [...]
Meet Par Hedberg – the godfather of Sweden’s tech startups August 27, 2019 If you were asked where the most tech innovation comes from, you’d probably answer Silicon Valley – the home of Google, Amazon and Facebook. And you’d be right. But what you might not know is that Stockholm is a close second. The Swedish capital produces more billion-dollar companies per capita than any other region in [...]
Property of the week: Celeb-spot in this historic Abbey Road church August 23, 2019 If you are looking for a home with an interesting history, you could do a lot worse than this penthouse apartment in St John’’s Wood. Not only does the flat sit within a converted, grade II-listed baptist church, but it is also located directly across the street from Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles recorded [...]
Greene King shares surge 50 per cent on news of purchase by Hong Kong’s richest man August 19, 2019 Investors raised a glass to Greene King after the pub and brewery group agreed to be taken over by Hong Kong’s richest man in a £2.7bn deal. Shares shot up more than 50 per cent yesterday following the announcement that a subsidiary of CK Asset Holdings (CKA) will buy the entirety of Greene King’s shares [...]
City Moves for 16 August – Who’s switching jobs at Matterport, the Portman Estate and Eversheds Sutherland? August 16, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Matterport, the Portman Estate and Eversheds Sutherland. Matterport Matterport, a leader in 3D capture technology and data, has expanded its UK team with five key hires, including Nick Samuels (pictured) as strategic operational director. The growing team will support Matterport’s strategic expansion across Europe. Nick joins from property investment company Property [...]
The Weekly Grill: The Mantl’s Serdar Demir talks about microwaving eggs and the temperature of ice cream August 13, 2019 Who are you and what do you do? My name is Serdar Demir and I’m an entrepreneur mainly involved in restaurants and property. The Mantl is a new restaurant concept that focuses on traditional Turkish cuisine with a twist. It involves traditional cooking over hot coals to prepare modern Turkish cuisine that’s designed to share. [...]