London’s open economy was exploited by corrupt money, now we must make it our strength April 6, 2022 For centuries, London has been a haven for people fleeing persecution, war, famine, and other catastrophes. From the French Huguenots of the 18th Century to Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis, we have a strong and proud tradition in this city of welcoming, integrating, and supporting refugees. It is in London’s DNA and an integral part [...]
Missguided seeks rescue plan as supply chain chaos strains finances October 24, 2021 Missguided’s multimillionaire owner is scrambling to save the fast fashion brand from supply chain pressures. The online retailer has been hit by a perfect storm of price rises and delivery disruption. Missguided founder Nitin Passi is thought to be in talks with City crisis experts from AlixPartners to look at dramatic restructuring options, according to [...]
Klarna considering a listing but not ‘right now’ August 18, 2021 Swedish fintech Klarna Bank, which offers ‘buy now and pay later’ loan plans to shoppers, may consider listing as early as 2022. The firm does not have “immediate plans” for an IPO amid “very volatile” markets, chief executive and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg in Warsaw. Klarna was valued at $45.6bn in its latest funding [...]
Shakespeare on branding: A Lidl marketing stunt goes a long way October 4, 2021 Lidl might not come to mind as quickly as Nike, Adidas, Converse, or Veja when it comes to trendy footwear brands. But in September 2021, the low-budget German supermarket may have (temporarily) joined their ranks – following reports that its new line of £12.99 trainers were selling on eBay for considerably more than face value. [...]
High street decline May 5, 2021 With high streets in turmoil and recovery slow, high street graveyards are becoming a common sight across the UK. The past 12 months have not been easy for the vast majority of companies, in particular for those without an online platform. However, the struggle of the high street is not a new problem. Rewind a few years [...]
Pandemic: High Street demise leads to explosion in demand for gigantic warehouses August 31, 2021 The enforced closure of high street stores saw the trend towards greater online sales rocket further this year, with retailers having to invest further into their warehousing capabilities to cope with delivery demand. In fact, the explosive growth in e-commerce, as a result of the pandemic, has seen almost 15m sq ft of new “super [...]
Topshop owner Arcadia collapsed with debts of hundreds of millions of pounds January 26, 2021 Troubled retailer Arcadia collapsed with gross liabilities of more than £550m, according to documents prepared by Deloitte, Arcadia’s administrator. Reports prepared at the end of November 2020 revealed Topshop – Arcadia’s flagship brand – and Topman failed with gross liabilities of more than £550m, the Telegraph revealed. Discount brand Outfit owed £80m. The Telegraph [...]
‘It was either streaming, scrabble or lingerie’: Sales at Samantha Cameron’s favourite lingerie firm get 200 per cent pandemic boost February 27, 2022 A UK-based lingerie and swimwear company once favoured by Samantha Cameron said this weekend it has seen a 200 per cent spike in lingerie sales during the pandemic as customers looked to spice up their bedroom attire. The founder of Pour Moi said he saw customer numbers soar to help sales reach £31m in the [...]
AIM outperforms London’s main market during 12 months of Covid-19 March 8, 2021 A year on from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the AIM has strongly outperformed London’s main market, something highly unusual in periods of economic downturn. London’s AIM outperformed the FTSE All-Share by a number of metrics, in part due to several of its listed companies performing well during the pandemic. The AIM All-Share index [...]
SoftBank-backed AI startup Peak raises $75m in second funding round in six months August 31, 2021 Manchester-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) provider Peak will expand into new global markets after raising $75m in its latest funding round, led by SoftBank’s $100bn Vision Fund Two. Peak AI, which sells its “decision intelligence” enterprise software platform to non-tech companies to help with their operations, plans to use the latest raise to double its workforce [...]