The UK drove a recovery in European private equity activity this year as UK buyout value doubled, according to CMBOR December 13, 2017 European private equity activity saw a rebound this year, thanks to a bull-run in the UK where the value of buyout deals almost doubled. The total amount spent by private equity firms on new buyouts in Europe hit €90.2bn (£79.4bn), up 50 per cent from last year and on a par with pre-Brexit referendum levels, [...]
GBPUSD: Sterling surges against US dollar to yet another post-Brexit-vote high above $1.42 after new employment record January 24, 2018 Sterling today hit a new post-Brexit-vote high after government labour market figures showed employment hitting a record high amid more US dollar weakness. The pound rose by more than two cents against the US dollar over the course of the day, a gain of more than 1.5 per cent. It hit an intraday high of [...]
Focus On Forest Hill: Meet the up-and-coming part of south east London that’s been dubbed the “new nappy valley” November 16, 2017 Like a lot of south east London, Forest Hill likes to keep a low profile – lest anyone find out just how good it is. But as the affordability crisis forces more and more Londoners to search the nooks and crannies of the capital for decent housing, many of them have alighted upon this useful [...]
Last Week in the City: England has an 8.5% chance of winning the World Cup May 18, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (14 to 18 May 2018). UBS has used its City analysts’ predictive firepower to try and work out the winner of the upcoming World Cup in Russia – and England came surprisingly high in its league [...]
ost expensive Hermes Birkin Bag ever sold and the history of blockbuster handbag sales December 7, 2017 The Birkin Bag is the stuff of legend. Everything from its creation to its construction is surrounded by myth and mystique. It apparently came about because Jane Birkin was sitting next to Hèrmes’s CEO Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight and complained about her inability to find a receptacle big enough to hold all her things. [...]
Global markets are correcting not crashing February 7, 2018 When it came, the correction looked brutal: $4 trillion wiped off global stocks in a single day. But let’s not get carried away here. This was a correction rather than a rout whatever the newspapers might have us believe. The Dow Jones is still up 21% compared with the same time a year ago. The [...]
Iconic London toy store Hamleys opens Beijing shop in time for Christmas December 23, 2017 Hamleys, the 257-year-old iconic British-founded toy retailer, has today opened its largest store worldwide in Beijing, China. Just in time to coincide with the start of the Christmas season, the store opening will be accompanied by a celebratory toy parade. Located in Beijing’s Wangfujing area, the city’s main shopping district similar to Oxford Street, the [...]
A stroke of genius: How to get a loan by securing against art November 30, 2017 The world was stunned earlier this month when a 500-year-old Leonardo da Vinci painting smashed the world record by fetching $450m at auction. This figure might sound absurd, but understanding the multitude of factors that determine the value of art will remain a mystery to many of us. “Art is very personal,” says Freya [...]
London Fashion Week 2018: Why do brands still hold catwalk shows in a digital age? February 19, 2018 You might be hard-pressed to identify anyone sat on the front row at Mulberry’s spring/summer fashion show last Friday. Once the reserve of top buyers and the fashion press elite, the front row has undergone a revolution in the past decade. Actresses and models sat shoulder to shoulder with a new breed of fashion VIP: [...]
Island Poké review: Hawaiian street food has hit the streets of Canary Wharf this week, so we try it out to see if it’s any cop December 5, 2017 Island Poké Broadgate Circle, EC2M WHAT? If you haven’t already said aloha to poké, the biggest street food trend of the year, then you better hurry up because there isn’t much of 2017 left. Pronounced pok-eh, the word means “cut” or “dice” in Hawaii. WHERE? The one we visited was nestled into the second tier [...]