Can Dr Martens get off on the right foot with investors this week? May 29, 2023 All eyes remain on Dr Martens ahead of its full year results on Thursday as investors hope the boot maker can offer signs of a turnaround following disruptions in its US warehouse and its struggling share price. The London-based bootmaker has downgraded its profit forecast twice in three months, telling the markets in April that [...]
A tribute to Martin Amis: ‘He wanted time itself to flow backwards’ May 28, 2023 Last weekend Martin Amis died in Fort Worth, Florida at the age of 73 – the same age as his father Sir Kingsley Amis – of a disease I hadn’t known he had, in a house I wasn’t aware he had owned. Why should the death of our heroes be so shocking, being as it [...]
Net migration to UK hits record high of 606,000 as Brexit scales EU movement back May 25, 2023 Net migration to the UK has hit a record high of 606,000, new figures released this morning reveal. The significant surge in legal migration for 2022 has hit the highest level on record, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. It follows weeks of speculation over the numbers with prime minister Rishi Sunak seeking [...]
Flexi office firm Workspace slips to loss despite hybrid working boom May 25, 2023 London-focused office-space provider Workspace Group posted an annual loss on Thursday, hurt by a more than 3 per cent drop in the valuation of its properties, and warned high inflation levels would impact service charge and administrative costs. Office space providers across the globe have been battling with valuation and rental declines amid an increased shift [...]
The Square Mile and Me with HowdenCAP’s Mary O’Connor May 25, 2023 Each week we ask the Square Mile’s great and good to take a trip down memory lane. This week, it’s HowdenCAP’s Mary O’Connor on her time as a regulator, the insurance industry, and a well-hidden bar What was your first job? Filling jam doughnuts at the local bakery. I started at 5am! What was your [...]
City Pages: The five new books on our radar this month May 25, 2023 From hacking bears to scandal in Westminster, here's what we've been reading at City A.M. this month.
London ‘busier and busier’ as return to office gathers pace – but demand for flexible working remains May 24, 2023 Great Portland Estates, a leading landlord in office space said London has got “busier and busier,” but noted that it does not expect the the recovery of offices in the capital to be “uniform” as a demand for flexible working and best space remains. Throughout the year, the property firm recorded £55.5m of leasing, as [...]
Rain, rain, go away: B&Q sales hit by UK’s miserable spring weather May 24, 2023 B&Q owner Kingfisher saw its sales dip in the first quarter to £3.3bn, down 3.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis, as the home improvement company saw performance dampened by grim April weather in the UK and France, and ongoing inflation. Despite this, the retail giant said the results showed “resilience” to the economic climate, [...]
Angry motorists clash with Just Stop Oil on Blackfriars, Tower and London Bridges May 23, 2023 Climate change protesters have again clashed with drivers as they staged marches on three bridges in central London. Forty-five Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists blocked the roads on Blackfriars, London and Tower bridges on Tuesday morning by walking slowly in the road. One man was handcuffed by police after he appeared to push two JSO [...]
Britain still on track to dodge a recession this year but inflation returns May 23, 2023 Britain is still on track to avoid a recession in 2023 driven by consumer spending holding up amid a tough cost of living crisis, a closely watched survey out today shows. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for May hit 53.9 points. While the number was [...]