Westfield breaks records September 13, 2012 ■ Westfield shopping centre in Stratford yesterday announced a record breaking 47m people had walked through its doors since its opening last year. The centre, which celebrated its first birthday yesterday, also said it had 8.5m visitors over the course of the Olympics and Paralympics events this summer. The number of visitors attracted to the [...]
Olympics boom sees 5.5m flock to Stratford City August 15, 2012 STRATFORD City, Europe’s biggest shopping mall, attracted 5.5m visitors during the Olympic Games, its Australian developer Westfield said as it reported a 31 per cent increase in its first-half profits. Stratford’s bustling shops contrast with retailers in west London that lamented a lack of visitors, particularly in the first week of the Games, after warnings [...]
Britain’s business champions cheer on Olympic success August 12, 2012 Sir Richard Branson President, Virgin Group “The Games have gone fantastically well. They’ve provided us with some incredible performances from the likes of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, while from a British perspective it’s been wonderful to see our athletes having such a successful Games. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect has been how the vast [...]
London must become a global tourist magnet August 5, 2012 EXTRAORDINARY. That was the only way to describe the atmosphere at the Olympic stadium this weekend. Team GB’s astonishing triumph has enthused the nation – it has become virtually impossible to walk anywhere in London without spotting someone sporting a Union Jack – and Usain Bolt’s spectacular 100m Olympic record last night was a magical [...]
London is suffering as Olympic boost outweighed by losses July 31, 2012 SOMETIMES, we don’t need statistics to tell us what is happening to the economy. London during the past few days has been a case in point: the Olympics are a great success, of course, and those retailers and companies positioned to cash in (such as the Westfield Stratford shopping centre) are doing a roaring trade. [...]
PROPERTY GROUP OF THE YEAR July 31, 2012 IT HAS been another testing year for most industries, not least for the property sector. The main theme has been the continued lack of available debt, which has dried up development projects, while ongoing uncertainty in the global economy has shaken confidence and in turn stifled demand for space. But it has not all been [...]
Westfield co-chief plans £3bn future investment into Britain July 30, 2012 AUSTRALIAN shopping mall developer Westfield plans to invest some £3bn expanding its presence in Britain, its co-chief executive said yesterday, providing a vote of confidence in the country’s struggling retail sector. The figure include the expansion of £2bn Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush, proposals to redevelop Croydon’s Whitgift Centre and the development of the Broadway [...]
RISING STAR OF THE YEAR July 30, 2012 TODAY’S shorlists for City A.M.’s third annual awards present our pick of the best rising stars and fund managers in the Square Mile. Even in economically straitened times, there are plenty of young men and women in the City on the rise, as shown in the Rising Star category. From entrepreneurs and private equity experts [...]
The Olympics has made East London a hub for investors July 29, 2012 I AM lucky enough to have spent the last decade immersed in the east of London. Home of the 2012 Olympics, this is the area I believe will be the next addition to London’s core market, bringing huge opportunities for investors. Will London succeed where (some) others have failed, by delivering an Olympic Games where [...]
Sunday shoppers give London retailers a run for their money July 22, 2012 AS THE Olympic torch wound its way around the streets of London yesterday, the city’s shopkeepers did their best to tempt milling spectators through their doors by using new powers to extend their Sunday trading hours. Recent profits at several high street names have fallen flat as the expected Jubilee Jump failed to materialise, and [...]