Morrisons revenue tops £9bn, painting picture of health for bidders September 9, 2021 Morrisons has topped a revenue of £9bn in the past six months, as the bidding battle over the supermarket giant escalates. The retailer enjoyed a revenue lift of 3.7 per cent, including its fuel earnings, in its interim results for the six months to 1 August, painting a picture of health for potential buyers. The [...]
How decentralised escrow holds the key to disrupting the e-commerce tech monopolies September 9, 2022 Anton Churyumov discusses how decentralised escrow and peer-to-peer transactions could disrupt the e-commerce industry.
Contenful now worth $3bn after fresh capital rally ahead of rumoured US IPO July 28, 2021 Content platform provider Contentful, led by a former Microsoft and Amazon executive, has hit a valuation of $3bn today after its latest funding round. The fundraiser, led by investment giant Tiger Global, rallied together $175m for its expansion into marketing and sales. The German company, founded in 2012, operates content management systems behind websites like [...]
A withering trade relationship with Latin America should be restored for the planet May 3, 2022 Diplomats from across the world gathered at the Mansion House last week for the Easter Banquet – the first to be held since the pandemic – amid the escalating crisis in Ukraine. The occasion underlined how much the City of London is part of the UK’s diplomacy, its international influence and its soft power. It [...]
Activist investor moves to oust Peloton boss January 24, 2022 Activist investor Blackwells Capital has moved to oust the boss of beleaguered home-fitness firm Peloton after it was revealed that the company was scaling back production last week.
Ocado sales dip as pre-pandemic habits return, supermarket data finds August 17, 2021 The UK’s return to normality has been accompanied by a return to pre-pandemic shopping habits, with online and overall grocery sales declining. The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar for the period ending 8 August show that grocery sales fell by four per cent. The latest twelve weeks saw the lowest level of online [...]
COP26: Meaningful action or a load of hot air? November 1, 2021 City of London Corporation policy chair Catherine McGuinness urged on Friday that we must “ensure that COP26 is about action, not just ‘blah blah blah’,” if we are to finance the transition to net zero and meet the challenge Greta Thunberg has thrown down to us. Her call for meaningful action follows the UN’s weather [...]
Benchmarking has become circular August 31, 2021 Time and again throughout my career I have ranted about the nonsense of benchmarking in all its forms. By now I have given up on the hope that business and investing will ever leave the practice behind, so I don’t expect this post to change anything except to make me feel better. I spoke recently [...]
Ascential acquires software specialists to boost presence on Walmart.com November 15, 2021 Ascential has acquired WhyteSpyder, boosting its presence on Walmart’s website, a key trading marketplace. The newly-purchased company is an e-Commerce specialist that provides software solutions to over 80 brands trading on Walmart.com It relies on a mixture of search engine optimisation, retail insights, content management and media hosting. WhyteSpyder will now join Ascential’s digital commerce business [...]
Maximilian Riedel: The 11-generation boss guiding the legendary glassmaker September 30, 2022 Walking down the street with Maximilian Riedel, the 11th generation chief of the glassware firm that bears his family name, sounds like a demanding experience – at least if you work in his sales team. “I said to Steve (McGraw, Riedel’s UK managing director), when I walk the streets of London, I tend to look [...]