Crazy markets, Night Tube called off and Jeremy Corbyn goes off the rails: Here’s what got us talking this week August 28, 2015 It was the week in which everything got a bit trippy: the markets went bananas. The South Bank went psychedelic. Someone discovered a Nazi train full of gold (allegedly). And after 60 years of rivalry, Burger King finally proposed a truce with McDonald's… What got us talking 1. Up, down, up, down… Who said August was [...]
The beautiful Caribbean island of Anguilla is the shimmering blue epitome of tropical fun times June 3, 2016 Far out in the well charted waters of the east Caribbean lies the Leeward Island chain, and at its northern tip is an utterly charming little strip of limestone called Anguilla. Its interior is arid, scrubby and overrun with semi-domesticated goats and chickens, but it is frilled with some of the most incredible beaches in [...]
McDonald’s out of fries in Venezuela as tight currency controls worsen food shortages January 7, 2015 Things have got so bad in Venezuela that the Golden Arches have to serve up fried yuca instead of French fries. McDonald's 100 franchises in the oil-dependent state have totally run out of potatoes, forcing them to substitute with regional staples like yuca and maize arepas. Latin America's biggest McDonald's franchise holder Arcos Dorados is [...]
Lazard revenues jump in 2014 as final quarter shows record gains February 5, 2015 Asset manager Lazard reported a record revenue of $2.3bn (£1.5bn) for 2014, up 15 per cent on 2013, while in the final quarter of the year, the company chalked up another record, with revenue hitting $646m. The financial advisory arm of the firm posted $1.2bn in revenue, up 23 per cent compared to 2013, and [...]
Shake Shack IPO price values burger chain at $700m January 30, 2015 Shake Shack shares will be priced $21 per share when it floats in New York today, valuing it at a juicy $700m. The American fast food chain sold 5m shares from its IPO, with a further 750,000 Class A shares potentially made available at the underwriter's discretion. The stock will be listed as “SHAK”. [...]
McDonald’s not lovin’ high-end burgers biting into sales – Brand Index January 6, 2015 Previously unassailable fast food giant McDonald’s is facing a Big Mac-with-bacon-and–extra-cheese-sized challenge as falling sales and negative customer opinion are taking a huge bite out of its market share. Using YouGov BrandIndex data to explore the problems it faces in the year ahead, we see the rise of higher-end restaurants such as Byron Burger and [...]
Former Whitbread boss Parker takes the chair at Park Resorts November 5, 2014 PARK RESORTS yesterday appointed current Mothercare chairman Alan Parker to take up the same role at the holiday home business. Parker, who was also formerly the chief executive of Whitbread and also holds the chair at Darty, will take over from Resorts founder David Vaughan, who is retiring due to ill health. “I look forward [...]
Restaurant review: Be prepared to shell out for Crab Tavern July 21, 2015 Crab Tavern is the tenth restaurant to open at the City’s newest dining destination, Broadgate Circle. It’s now overflowing with the kind of high-end, high-turnover gastro-chains that private equity guys go nuts for: opening branches in the City completes a perfect capitalist ouroboros in which we can literally get rich off of our own appetites. [...]
Ackman: It’s good that Pershing Square’s share price has dropped October 13, 2014 Shares in Bill Ackman's closed-ended fund Pershing Square dropped by more than 10 per cent during its stock market debut – but Ackman has shrugged off the fall as a sign the stock was not overpriced. Pershing Square Holdings' shares were priced at $25 in the IPO, but plummeted as low as $22.30 during [...]
New York Report: Burger merger sends Dow up August 26, 2014 WALL Street’s record-setting rally continued yesterday as the S&P 500 notched its 30th record of the year and closed above 2000 for the first time ever. The Dow also rose but fell short of its record closing high after setting an all-time intraday high earlier in the session. The S&P 500 index rose 2.10 points, [...]