Burberry shares fall as transformation plan takes toll on growth May 16, 2019 Shares in Burberry fell 4.5 per cent this morning after the firm posted broadly flat revenue and profit in the first year of its major transformation plan. Read more: Burberry keeps momentum from China despite trade war fears The figures Revenue remained broadly flat at £2.72bn for the year to the end of March. Pre-tax profit [...]
Inside the Batcave: City A.M. tours London’s secret supercar bunker April 28, 2019 They call it the bat cave, and it’s the most exclusive car park in Britain. Inside a secret west London underground bunker there are rows of Aston Martins, Ferraris and Rolls Royces hibernating under blue blankets while their millionaire owners are away. It is easy to see the appeal of the high security vault: safe [...]
Hotels stump up for new business rate bills April 7, 2019 Some of London’s most iconic hotels are facing renewed pressure from rising property taxes, according to business rate experts who fear that the sector could be hit by the latest round of bills. Real estate services firm Colliers found that 93 London hotels have been charged with a combined total rates bill of £12.2m this [...]
A stay at Valsana Hotel in Switzerland, the geothermally powered Alpine retreat January 4, 2019 These days, a sense of wellbeing isn’t just about body and spirit but also about leaving a lighter carbon footprint. Which is why the new, eco-friendly Valsana Hotel is the perfect place to spend an Alpine spa weekend without feeling that you’ve given Mother Nature a battering. The Valsana is Switzerland’s first hotel to be [...]
The Kenyan island of Rusinga is considered to be the cradle of humanity. Today it’s an archaeologist’s playground October 22, 2018 "Whose baby is this?" I asked a crowd of fifty children, one of whom had just handed me a baby younger than some of the food in my fridge. They all laughed and pointed, and I began to worry that I’d somehow been tricked into becoming an adoptive father. But before I could start making [...]
Bored of Bora Bora? Set sail to the islands of Rangiroa, Moorea, and Tahiti to discover the real French Polynesia September 28, 2018 French Polynesia is the archetypal island paradise. A place of such astounding natural beauty that superlatives fail from overuse. This French overseas territory sits in the heart of the South Pacific, at the centre of the Polynesian-triangle; roughly equidistant between Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand. It consists of five culturally and geographically diverse island [...]
Lustica Bay, Montenegro’s €1.1bn regeneration project, is set to transform property values in the area April 30, 2018 In Montenegro, legend has it, the island of Our Lady of the Rocks was built up from nothing over centuries by fishermen laying a boulder at the site after every successful catch. Lustica Bay, Montenegro, from €297,000 For sheer force of will, the huge development taking place at nearby Lustica Bay must surely be the [...]
Record-breaking Chinese tourists in the UK inspires schemes to continue the momentum March 13, 2018 The UK is trying to build on its momentum of record-breaking Chinese visitors — and money — into the country. Nearly 532,000 visitor visas for the UK were issued to Chinese residents last year, and Global Blue, a tourism tax refund company, found that Chinese visitors accounted for 25 per cent of all the tax-free [...]
The digital nomads: How to pack a suitcase and start a new life working from abroad January 25, 2018 Who among us hasn’t dreamed of jacking in their day job to trade forex from a laptop in Malibu or open a beach bar in Thailand? You might have read The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss and asked why you haven’t yet “escaped the nine-to-five to live anywhere and join the new rich”. I [...]
Holiday Homes in Porto, Portugal: We scout out the bargains October 20, 2017 The snaking queues of tourists outside Porto’s 19th century Livraria Lello bookstore are not people seeking a good read. They’re tourists wanting to glimpse the second floor café where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone while raising her daughter and teaching English in the City. Potter fans believe the shop’s spiral art [...]