Fintech is all the rage, but is the bubble about to burst? September 5, 2019 Fintechs are all the rage. Scarcely a day goes by without a new challenger bank or money app making headlines about how it seeks to disrupt traditional banking and solve personal finance problems. As a result, capital is pouring into the sector – last year, global investment into financial technology ventures more than doubled to [...]
Editor’s Notes: The EU simply chooses which rules to enforce and which to ignore February 14, 2019 Allow me a moment away from our own Brexit turmoil and to focus instead on a nasty spot of rot right at the heart of the European Commission. While the Brexit process has made some of the EU’s top brass more recognisable to a British audience, it’s unlikely that many could identify one of its [...]
Gap shares surge on plans to close 230 stores as it splits off Old Navy March 1, 2019 Gap is set to split off Old Navy into its own brand, it said today as it revealed 230 planned store closures. The news sent shares soaring in the late afternoon, with their value climbing 19 per cent to $30.21. As a part of the restructuring, Gap will split into Old Navy and an as yet unnamed [...]
Does Hargreaves Lansdown’s strategy cause too much money to pour into too few funds? August 28, 2019 Given that diversification is one of the most important principles of investing, we should question why the UK’s largest investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown doesn’t seem to be following this basic idea. This became apparent in the wake of the scandal around Britain’s most famous fund manager, as £1.6bn was funnelled into Neil Woodford’s still-suspended fund [...]
Editor’s Notes: Canary Wharf is still the place to meat June 13, 2019 We live in interesting times. A few years ago, who would have expected vegan sausage rolls to fly off Greggs’ heated shelves, or for KFC to announce a new vegan “chicken” burger called The Imposter? Veganism is alive and well… but not so much at the Canary Wharf branch of Boisdale this week, where the [...]
Bidding war on the cards as Just Eat rejects £4.9bn hostile bid from Prosus October 22, 2019 Just Eat could find itself at the centre of a bidding war after rejecting a hostile £4.9bn bid from investment firm Prosus that threatens to disrupt its merger with Takeaway.com. The firm’s share price leapt 24 per cent to 732.8p despite the rejection in favour of its £8.3bn tie-up with the Dutch Takeaway.com as a [...]
How a Lexus mid-life crisis led to a £3m yacht and a car that outshines Jaguar and Porsche October 30, 2019 A few years ago, at the prestigious Pebble Beach concours in California, the president of the Toyota Motor Company was holding court and pressing flesh. Akio Toyoda, 63, is the grandson of Toyota’s founder and so, you can imagine, he takes enormous pride in its products, and none more so than its luxury off-shoot, Lexus. [...]
What do a scarecrow, a five foot chocolate Easter bunny and a glass eye have in common? January 2, 2019 Budget hotel brand Travelodge said today that weird and wacky items customers had left behind in its rooms last year included a blue eyed cockatoo called Brexit, a five foot teddy bear made of popcorn and a doggy throne. The hotel chain said pet owners had been particularly forgetful with three butterfly tail fish named [...]
Burning film review: Lee Chang-dong’s Haruki Murakami adaptation is more proof he’s the best director you’ve never heard of February 1, 2019 Lee Chang-dong may be the best director you’ve never heard of. He has made just six films, each of them wonderful and largely unknown to Western audiences, over a peripatetic career that has also included a stint as culture minister in the South Korean government. Burning, adapted from a Haruki Murakami story, is his best [...]
Hunting the hunters: We go on safari with the Serengeti’s canine anti-poaching unit September 13, 2019 We bounced along at high speed, our eyes glued on the dramatic chase unfolding on the Serengeti plains. An agile, golden-coated beast bounded forward in pursuit, its rowdy team striving to catch up. The target now cowered in a small thicket of acacia tree, a fairly lame strategy but it looked to be all it [...]