Ladies who don’t lunch: Sue Round talks fund management, sentimentality and being broke March 26, 2015 Buongiorno signora!” bellows the exuberant waiter at Bolton’s, an Italian tucked away in an unassuming corner near Leadenhall Market. “Hello, hellooo” comes the response. I know Sue Round has arrived, even before I see her. She greets me warmly, as if we’ve known each other for years. In fact, I’ve met Sue only once before [...]
Focus on Victoria: Grab a prime bargain in SW1 November 27, 2014 Victoria has long been a place of work, but it’s been a while since it’s been a place to live. Dominated by a mixture of grey government office blocks and its various transport hubs, it certainly doesn’t fit the desirable London village trend. But that may be about to change. Developer Land Securities [...]
Falling foul of local Japanese culture: Raw fish and faux pas in the land of the rising sun February 8, 2015 It’s customary in travel articles about Japan to talk about how weird it is, and it is weird. This got me thinking: what do the Japanese find weird when they come to the UK? I asked my tour guide as she led me through the bamboo gardens of Kodaiji temple on the outskirts of Kyoto. [...]
City Moves for 9 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 8, 2014 Fidelity Worldwide Investment Peter Horrell has been appointed managing director of the investment firm’s UK business. He has spent the past 24 years at Barclays, where he was most recently chief executive of wealth and investment management. Sovereign Land The retail and leisure developer and asset management firm has appointed Luke Winstanley as senior analyst. [...]
A pint with your meal? SABMiller targets women and wine drinkers in new strategy October 6, 2014 Could beer become as popular with women as coffee? That is certainly what SAB Miller chief executive Alan Clark and marketing director Nick Fell are banking on. In an investor seminar in London today, the pair talked through plans to build the company – which owns brands including Coors, Grolsch, Peroni and, of [...]
Lending Club flotation: It’s good news and bad news December 12, 2014 Lending Club is a US-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lender. It acts as a conduit for the passage of money from individuals and institutions to businesses. Some call that crowdfunding – though increasingly that term is being reserved for platforms that raise money for equity, or property investment, or special purposes such as charity. Whatever you [...]
Mitchells & Butlers pulls off £266m Orchid deal June 16, 2014 HARVESTER and All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers yesterday announced it has acquired rival pub operator Orchid Group for £266m in cash, in a deal that the firm expects will lead to a double digit boost to earnings. Orchid’s 173 pubs will join Mitchells & Butlers’ existing estate of 1,592 managed pubs and 52 [...]
The Riverlight development in Battersea’s Nine Elms is welcoming residents November 13, 2014 Visitors to Riverlight, a new housing development on the south bank of the Thames, are confronted by a rather extraordinary, large artwork in the lobby. It layers towering elm trees, cranes from the docks, industrial waste and six, serrated glass towers lining the river bank. “History in the Making” by Royal College of Art [...]
Playing by the book February 18, 2015 Annabel Denham talks to CrowdBnk founder and chief executive Ayan Mitra about plugging the SME funding gap and the importance of regulation in a new industry CROWDFUNDING appears to be experiencing an interminable growth spurt. According to Nesta, the UK alternative finance market grew by 91 per cent between 2012 and 2013, and crowdfunding represented [...]
Pub food drives Fuller’s revenue increase November 22, 2013 Independent brewer Fuller Smith&Turner has reported revenue growth of six per cent, reaching £146.3m for the six months ended 28 September. The London-based brewer saw an eight per cent rise in in adjusted profit before tax to £18.1m, with adjusted earnings per share rising nine per cent to 24.79p. The company enjoyed like-for-like sales growth [...]