Greensill files for administration putting thousands of steel jobs at risk March 8, 2021 Greensill Capital has this afternoon filed for administration, potentially putting at risk thousands of jobs in the UK steel industry. Lawyers for the boutique bank, which is one of the main sources of funding for steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta’s business empire, appeared before a UK court today, the FT reported. According to court documents, Greensill [...]
This IWD, meet the women changing the booze industry March 8, 2021 The world of beer, wine and spirits has also been dominated during our lifetime by men, with phallocentric brands including Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker aimed squarely at male drinkers. But it wasn’t always so – for thousands of years brewing was undertaken by women. And as we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), there are [...]
Lawyers know best: Is it time law firms left the LLP behind? March 8, 2021 Recent legislative changes have paved the way for new, alternative structures in law firms, a sector that was previously dominated by traditional partnerships and LLPs – limited liability partnerships. Alternative business structures (ABSs) – which allow non-lawyers to have a financial stake in a firm – have grown in popularity throughout the 2010s, and for [...]
Marks & Spencer expands online presence to more than 100 markets with launch of 46 new websites March 8, 2021 Marks & Spencer (M&S) has launched 46 new flagship websites across the world, expanding its online reach to more than 100 countries. The launch, announced this morning, is part of M&S’s plan to “turbocharge” its online business, and almost doubles the number of international markets where it has a pureplay online presence. In it’s most [...]
Before the Bell: Europe set for positive start despite softness in Asia markets March 8, 2021 No one can complain about a lack of volatility in financial markets at the moment. The tug-of-war between economic recovery and inflation risks continued on Wall Street on Friday and spilt out onto the street in Asia. Friday’s outsized 379,000 gain in Non-Farm Payrolls caused US yields to spike initially. Still, equity markets just couldn’t [...]
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 [...]
Brexit fuels sharper fall in takeovers by UK investors in continental Europe than worldwide average March 8, 2021 The coronavirus pandemic and Brexit hampered deal activity between the UK and continental Europe in 2020, with the number of European businesses bought by UK acquirers falling by nearly a third. The number of takeovers by UK acquirers of continental European businesses fell 30% from 488 in 2019 to 342 in 2020, new research has [...]
Finance need an overhaul to price in climate change risk and push green agenda forward March 6, 2021 Why did the credit and wider financial system only take off in the last 400 years? Despite money and lending being around for millennia, financial services only truly got going alongside the Enlightenment. According to the writer Yuval Noah Harari, the fundamental shift was to be found in humanity’s belief about the future. In previous [...]
UK-Kenya trade deal in jeopardy as mood in Nairobi turns outright hostile March 5, 2021 The future of the recently signed trade agreement between the UK and Kenya seems increasingly uncertain as MPs and a group of farmers in Nairobi are threatening to shoot down the pact. Yesterday, multiple Kenyan lawmakers came out against the trade deal, saying the agreement is ‘illegal’ under Kenyan law, while a collective of farmers [...]
Prime outer London house prices boom as demand for extra space continues to rise March 5, 2021 House prices in prime outer London boroughs boomed last month as demand for more space has driven suburban property markets in the capital. In the year to February there were 1.1 per cent more transactions in prime outer London than over the previous 12-month period, underlying the strength of activity given the UK property market [...]