London Fashion Week kicks off as China slowdown is becoming an increasing headache for luxury brands September 15, 2015 Friday marks the start of London fashion week, when luxury brands flaunt their Spring/Summer collections on the catwalk and throw champagne-fuelled parties to celebrate the arrival of the next fashion season. But behind the scenes, the party mood is more subdued as luxury companies nervously assess how great an impact the ongoing economic slowdown [...]
City Moves for 14 September 2015 | Who’s switching jobs September 13, 2015 IMPAX ASSET MANAGEMENT The specialist investment manager has appointed David Winborne as senior portfolio manager. He was previously a member of the in-house asset management team at Tesco Pension Investment. Winborne has also previously worked at Sarasin & Partners and Insight Investment Management. AVIVA INVESTORS John Osborn has been appointed real estate fund manager at [...]
The entrepreneurial landscape of power – Investec Comment September 13, 2015 The British power and electricity landscape is changing, and the business of power is changing too. Partly this is down to the growth of renewables. Renewable energy generation had a record quarter this year, accounting for 22.3 per cent of total electricity generation. We’ve seen the emergence of a new wave of independent suppliers – [...]
Lidl plots London expansion drive with 280 stores September 11, 2015 German discounter Lidl is going after London middle class shoppers with plans to open a huge swathe of stores in upmarket boroughs, including Notting Hill and Mayfair. The retailer, which has been rapidly gaining market share, yesterday announced ambitious plans to open 280 stores in London and the M25 area. The areas it [...]
City Moves for 11 September 2015 | Who’s switching jobs September 10, 2015 British land Alice Keown has been appointed asset manager for food and beverage at the real estate company. She joins from Davis Coffer Lyons’s London estate and development team. Keown has also held roles at World Duty Free and BAA, and she was senior food and beverage account manager at the latter. Deutsche Bank Evans [...]
How technology could help alleviate London’s housing crisis September 10, 2015 With no end in sight for London’s housing crisis, London’s major landowners and councils need to think differently about how tenants can access and use space. Technology is changing the way we consume products on a day-to-day basis, enabling individuals to share everything from cars to clothing on a temporary basis. So far this idea [...]
Halifax: Reluctant sellers push UK house price growth up again September 10, 2015 Another day, another confirmation that UK house prices are rocketing, after new figures showed prices were nine per cent higher in the three months to August than they were during the same period last year. To be fair, that was still lower than the impressive 9.6 per cent rise in June – but higher than [...]
John Lewis Group warns of lower profits for 2015 due to higher pension costs September 10, 2015 The John Lewis Partnership has warned of lower profits this year on the back of pension charges and low price inflation. The figures John Lewis reported a 1.9 per cent increase in revenue to £4.5bn for the first half of the year ending 1 August against the same period last year. Like-for-like sales were down [...]
MartinCo bucks General Election uncertainty with 50 per cent surge in half-year profits September 10, 2015 SHARES in MartinCo rallied yesterday after the residential lettings and estate agency posted a 48 per cent jump in half-year sales, boosted by its acquisition of Xperience. The Aim-listed firm, which manages 44,000 properties across 284 offices, has been focused on growing its estate agency business after previously being focussed on lettings. In 2013, MartinCo [...]
Reforms spark frenzy of offices turned into flats September 10, 2015 CHANGES introduced by the government to make it easier to convert offices into residential properties helped to create around 7,600 homes in England last year at the expense of 6m square feet of office space, new research shows. In 2013, the coalition government introduced new rights allowing office buildings to be converted to residential without [...]