City Moves: Who is switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? March 24, 2021 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. BDBF lands former Slater & Gordon’s head Employment law firm BDBF has hired former national head of employment at Slater & Gordon’s as its new equity partner. Most recently a partner at employment [...]
Car dealer Pendragon speeds into profit as cost cuts cushion pandemic blow March 24, 2021 British car dealer Pendragon has recovered from a pre-tax loss of £31m in the first half of 2020 to finish the year with an underlying profit of £8.2m. Pendragon said cost cuts helped it report a profit for 2020, compared to a £16.4m loss a year earlier. The firm attributed its recovery to online sales, [...]
Global online tax on tech giants ‘in our grasp’, says Rishi Sunak March 23, 2021 Rishi Sunak has today said a global online tax on internet giants like Amazon and Facebook is “in our grasp”. Sunak said he was “very keen to see a resolution” on the issue, with the chancellor making it one of his top three priorities in G7 meetings this year that are hosted by the UK. [...]
Pawnbroker H&T suffers profit slump as consumers wary of taking on debt in pandemic March 23, 2021 H&T Group, the high street pawnbroker and loan provider, suffered a drop in profit last year as fewer customers borrowed money during the pandemic. The company announced this morning that profit before tax fell 22.4 per cent to £15.6m in 2020 as its pledge book fell 33.1 per cent to £48.3m. H&T’s share price fell [...]
Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet sells for $2.9m as a non-fungible token March 22, 2021 Twitter boss Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for just over $2.9m earlier today. The tweet is in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) – a kind of unique digital asset that has exploded in popularity so far in 2021. Each NFT has its own blockchain-based digital signature, which serves as [...]
Sir Philip Green’s office furniture up for sale as administrators flog Arcadia assets after collapse March 22, 2021 Administrators have begun flogging Arcadia’s assets, including sewing machines and Sir Philip Green’s office furniture, following the collapse of his retail empire. Deloitte has appointed Hilco Global to sell the former Topshop owner’s London headquarters in a dramatic fall from high street royalty to the auction house. Arcadia collapsed into administration last year, putting 13,000 [...]
Which lockdown habits could last a lifetime? March 22, 2021 “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” This cautionary quip, attributed to Nobel Prize winning quantum physicist Niels Bohr, is applicable to anyone making forecasts, and particularly investors at this point in time. Stock markets will continue to be buffeted by daily newsflow around the pandemic. Successful investing in consumer stocks over the next [...]
City A.M. TV: Daily Market Snapshot (video) March 22, 2021 City A.M. TV: Daily Market Snapshot (video)
All bets car off: Lamborghini enjoys most profitable year ever despite Covid-19 March 19, 2021 Lamborghini enjoyed its most profitable year ever in 2020, despite coronavirus restrictions and a two-month shutdown of its Italian factory during the pandemic. The luxury car retailer delivered 7,430 vehicles in 2020, generating a record turnover of €1.61bn. Although sales were slightly lower than in 2019, Lamborghini sold more expensive, customised supercars, sending profits soaring. The [...]
FTSE 100 falls as fresh lockdowns across Europe dampen economic outlook March 19, 2021 The FTSE 100 fell this morning as fresh Covid-19 lockdowns across Europe dampened hopes of a swift recovery in demand for industrial stocks including energy. London’s blue-chip index sank 1.2 per cent, before recovering slightly to sit 0.6 per cent down at 8.30am. Oil heavyweights BP and Royal Dutch Shell fell 3.2 per cent and [...]