Grocery sales: Ocado on top as supermarkets snag 58m more visits as UK exited lockdown May 25, 2021 As the UK’s vaccination programme pushes on, supermarkets have enjoyed 58m more shopping visits in the first quarter of this year than last year, according to industry data released today. Supermarkets actually had more visits in the 12 weeks to 16 May, than when panic buying gripped shoppers at the start of the pandemic, market [...]
Car dealer Lookers sees sales soar following April reopening May 25, 2021 Car dealership Lookers this morning said sales had soared since the reopening of non-essential retail last month. The firm said that trading across the group has been strong since 12 April, benefitting from increased consumer demand and cost reduction initiatives. Sales for new retail units in the four months to 30 April shot up 33 [...]
Made.com: Online furniture seller plots London IPO May 25, 2021 Made.com has unveiled plans for an initial public offering in London after cashing in on rapid growth during the pandemic. The online furniture retailer today said it will seek to raise roughly £100m through the issue of new shares, while the float will include an offer of shares to be sold by existing shareholders. The [...]
Ted Baker completes bank refinancing as Covid delays results May 25, 2021 Ted Baker today said it has refinanced by extending its revolving credit facility with lenders. Under the new agreement, a facility of £108m maturing in September 2022 and a restricted facility of £25m maturing in January 2022 will be replaced by a new facility of £90m reducing to £80m in January 2022 until maturity in [...]
City A.M. TV: A Market Snapshot May 24, 2021 Are markets resilient or rolling? That’s a key question currently on investors’ minds. That’s especially so given the concerns about the recent high US core CPI inflation print as well as the troubling price action in Bitcoin. In this clip, we stand back from the market noise and look at what the price action is [...]
London shopper numbers surge as return of indoor dining drives up trips to city centre May 24, 2021 shopper numbers surge as return of indoor dining drives up trips
Can companies really balance the needs of all stakeholders? May 24, 2021 The question of whether companies can combine profits with purpose continues to be a thorny one. In March, management change at French food producer Danone underlined the difficulties some companies face in trying to become more sustainable businesses. The CEO-chairman, who had made a powerful statement of intent by formally turning Danone into a “purpose-driven [...]
Flood the streets with art: traffic-free weekends and an all-night celebration in the City for a cultural comeback May 24, 2021 The City’s reopening is building up to a crescendo with the return of visitors and audiences to some of the Square Mile’s iconic cultural institutions. One of the things that I – like many others – have missed the most during lockdown has been the opportunity to enjoy world-class art and culture in person rather [...]
Marks & Spencer set to buy more food from EU amid border disruption in Northern Ireland May 23, 2021 Marks & Spencer will reportedly start buying more food from the EU as it looks to reshape some of its supply chain amidst chaos on the Northern Ireland border. The retailer is looking to source more products from companies on the Continent as well as from Ireland and Northern Ireland, the Telegraph reported. It comes [...]
Beyond Pret sandwich sales, how do we measure the recovery of London? May 23, 2021 After more than a year of lockdown restrictions, words like “recovery” are thick in the air. Indeed, the Bank of England is forecasting annual growth of 7.25 per cent, the fastest rate since 1941; positive news, but it is not the most digestible statistic for much of Britain’s population. The most important benchmarks are ones [...]