A struggle to get credit: Bank lending to hospitality nosedives following end of Covid loans CBILS and BBLS June 14, 2022 Outstanding bank lending to small businesses in the hospitality sector has fallen by more than £1.4bn since the end of CBILS and BBLS loans schemes. According to new data shared with City A.M., bank lending dropped to £14.6bn in April 2022, down from £16.08 billion in March 2021. With the cost of living crisis eating [...]
UK economy: Footfall at highest level since March but job postings fall August 20, 2020 The number of Britons venturing out to shops and restaurants rose to its highest level since March, with footfall running at two-thirds of the level seen a year ago, new figures have shown. However, the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) said one in ten UK businesses reported they were at “moderate” risk of insolvency, indicating [...]
Fill it up: Saudi Aramco mulls an IPO for its retail fuels business October 7, 2021 Oil giant Saudi Aramco is said to be considering an IPO for its retail fuels and lubricants business. Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s most valuable companies, want to pursue the float plans so that it can maintain its multi-billion-dollar dividend policy, Bloomberg reports. The unit is reasonable new, having only been set up as [...]
Ocado to raise £1 billion to match demand from Covid-19 crisis June 10, 2020 Ocado, the British online supermarket and technology group, plans to raise 1 billion pounds, giving it more firepower to capitalise on the rapid growth of the online grocery market triggered by the coronavirus crisis. The group said on Wednesday it would raise about 657 million pounds through an equity placing and retail offer and about [...]
The fate of John Lewis vs Debenhams is a parable in how to adapt to the future December 7, 2022 Emerging technologies, from AI and machine learning to edge computing and the metaverse, are fundamentally revolutionising how data is captured and used by businesses in the UK. The effective application of this data can have a transformational effect on the performance of an organisation. In the UK, we’ve had clear examples of this working to [...]
The future of commercial property post-Covid March 25, 2021 Will Fulton, Lead Manager, UK Commercial Property REIT The pandemic has brought real challenges for commercial tenants and landlords Strong asset allocation, prudent negotiation with tenants and strategic portfolio shifts have helped mitigate the impact of the crisis From here, the portfolio is geared into a number of long-term structural changes This has been a [...]
Week ahead: City eyes housing stats and BoE governor Bailey remarks June 26, 2022 The UK’s red hot housing market is set to revert to more normal territory driven by the cost of living crunch chilling demand for homes, fresh data released this week that will be closely watched by the City. London’s premier FTSE 100 index has rebounded after suffering bruising losses of late caused by investors around [...]
Retail footfall soars over bank holiday weekend May 26, 2020 Retail footfall soared over the weekend compared to the Easter bank holiday as shoppers made the most of the relaxation of lockdown restrictions in England. High street footfall surged 49 per cent yesterday compared to Easter Monday, while coastal towns saw visitor numbers jump 62 per cent. Footfall at retail parks was up 42 per [...]
Retail fund sales bounce back after six months of outflows June 6, 2019 The fund market returned to positive net retail sales for the first time in six months in April as investor confidence bounced back. Sales reached £2.2bn as savers embraced ISA season, with sales that can be directly traced back to an ISA wrapper hitting £826m. Read more: Brexit chaos sparks fifth consecutive month of fund [...]
FTSE 100: London edges ever closer to a new record high January 14, 2023 The FTSE 100 fell short of hitting some all-time highs on Friday after a strong start to the year. Pushing up to fresh five-year highs, the FTSE hit its highest score since the record points it had tallied in May 2018. It closed at 7,844.07 on Friday after briefly peaking at 7,864.95 a little earlier [...]