Skype billionaire Niklas Zennstrom’s Atomico leads $12m round for London startup StreetBees March 15, 2018 London-based tech startup StreetBees has received backing from the co-founder of Skype among others in a $12m (£8.6m) fundraising round. Niklas Zennstrom’s Atomico led the round, with participation from existing investors including LocalGlobe, Octopus and BGF Ventures. The company has a network of global users who are paid to share moments from their lives on [...]
Can Fevertree shares continue to rise? March 14, 2018 Fevertree Drinks shares were looking distinctly flat today, falling almost 5 per cent in morning trading after it issued its full-year numbers. We already knew that sales were up an impressive 66 per cent year-on-year, as this was revealed in its January trading update. Operating profits also came in about 1.4 per cent ahead of [...]
The social media battle against fake news has begun – beware your own emotions March 14, 2018 Did Donald Tusk, the former Prime Minister of Poland and now president of the European Council, conspire with Vladimir Putin to murder the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski? Many Poles believe this preposterous story, I learned last week at a fascinating conference on social influence at the University of Warsaw. In 2010, a Polish Air [...]
Krafty move: Unilever shareholders condemn potential relocation from London as a protectionist defence February 25, 2018 Top shareholders in Marmite maker Unilever have hinted that they may object to a possible relocation of the company’s headquarters from London. Directors of the Anglo-Dutch group are expected to vote in the coming weeks on where Unilever should maintain its base, after the company promised last year to simplify its corporate structure in the [...]
Officials in London and Rotterdam tussle over future of Unilever HQ February 21, 2018 UK officials are in talks with Unilever to convince the consumer goods giant to keep its headquarters in London. Unilever has been bringing forward changes to the business after Kraft Heinz’s unsuccessful bid for the company this time last year. Unilever’s boss Paul Polman announced a review of the business to deliver shareholder value and [...]
Big, bold, and bionic: The future of commerical creativity February 19, 2018 Last week, heads turned again in Adland, as Unilever marketer Keith Weed became the latest industry name to threaten Google and Facebook with an advertising boycott. Joining others including P&G’s Marc Pritchard, and two colleagues of my own (The&Partnership’s Johnny Hornby and the IPA’s Paul Bainsfair), Weed called on the Silicon Valley giants to step [...]
Unilever threatens to pull advertising spend with tech giants Google, Facebook, and Twitter over toxic culture and fake news February 12, 2018 One of the world’s biggest advertisers is threatening to slash the amount of cash it spends with tech companies if they fail to tackle fake news and toxic cultures on their platforms. The stark warning comes from Unilever and its marketing chief Keith Weed who oversees an annual budget of €7.7bn (£6.8bn), spent on marketing [...]
McLaren F1 team appoints advisers including Sebastian Coe to help boost sponsorship income February 12, 2018 The boss of the McLaren Formula One (F1) team has revealed that he has appointed a panel of business advisers, including former London 2012 frontman Lord Coe, in a bid to boost its sponsorship income after years of dismal results. McLaren has recently announced a string of sponsorship deals culminating in the signing of computer [...]
Don’t listen to the naysayers: The City is Brexit-proof and will remain the world’s financial hub February 5, 2018 The City of London is in a strong position to maintain its status as the world’s financial capital. Many of the City’s strengths are deeply embedded and therefore “Brexit-proof”. Moreover, London is in pole position to become the centre of global fintech. But we cannot be complacent. The international environment is competitive. The biggest challenge [...]
UK leads the pack as Europe hits its highest level of buyout activity since 2007 January 22, 2018 In a year which saw Brexit negotiations grind on while a number of European countries held elections, private equity activity in Europe hit a decade-high. Private equity firms completed 919 buyouts of companies in 2017, up 19 per cent year-on-year and the highest number since 2007’s 1,000 deals, according to Unquote data. The UK drove [...]