Paperchase puts administrators on standby – but ‘interested parties’ in talks January 17, 2023 Stationery outfit Paperchase has put administrators on standby as it scrambles to find new financial backers. Sky News’ Mark Kleinman has reported that Begbies Traynor has been lined up to handle any potential insolvency. The firm has been bruised and battered by the pandemic and changes to the high street, though City sources told Kleinman [...]
How Gaucho’s boss has turned the once-troubled steakhouse into a success story January 17, 2023 Martin Williams – the man behind M Restaurants – and his partners pulled Gaucho out of administration in 2018. Since then he’s turned the brand into one of the hospitality industry’s shining lights, with profits up and expansion continuing. We ask him how he’s done it. ASK regular restaurant-goers what their biggest bug bear is [...]
David Carrick failures see the Met betray the trust of Londoners – again January 16, 2023 A failure of leadership? A broken culture? An abject lack of responsibility? All three seem evident at the Metropolitan Police – an organisation which has lost the trust of Londoners. Yesterday’s lurid details of the crimes of David Carrick – a serial rapist who used his warrant card to win the trust of his victims [...]
Matalan deal done but founder Hargreaves won’t be coming back January 16, 2023 A long-awaited debt-for-equity swap which will save retailer Matalan has been confirmed – but founder John Hargreaves, who has been around the business for forty years, will not be part of the new management structure. Hargreaves had tried to put a bid together with Elliot Advisers to take over the business. But a host of [...]
Fintech: City minister Andrew Griffith says UK must “raise our aspirations” in growth race January 16, 2023 THE City minister Andrew Griffith has said it is time to raise the “aspirations” of the United Kingdom in order to create a more innovative, growing economy. Griffith, a former Sky exec, writes in City A.M. today that the “stunning success of UK fintech, which supports tens of thousands of jobs,” can provide a roadmap [...]
Eddie Jones the new Australia coach – setting up potential QF World Cup clash with England January 16, 2023 Former England boss Eddie Jones has been reappointed as head coach of his native Australia on a deal running to 2027. Jones’ seven-year tenure in charge of England ended in December with his sacking after a run of results in 2022 that included six defeats and a draw in 12 matches. The 62-year-old returns to [...]
Gaucho to open Covent Garden restaurant as steak success continues January 16, 2023 COVENT GARDEN has been the home of ballerinas, opera singers and street performers for more than a century – and it will soon add Argentinian cowboys to its cast with the opening of a new outpost of steakhouse favourite Gaucho. The man behind the group, Rare Restaurants’ boss Martin Williams, told City A.M. he would [...]
The Notebook: Reforming the NHS, how the world got rich, and tax breaks for the over-50s January 16, 2023 The notebook is a place for interesting people to say interesting things. Today, it’s the turn of John O’Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance Reforming the NHS no longer so unsayable? As the NHS endures its annual winter crisis – before it moves into its inevitable summer crisis – thousands of doctors are reportedly [...]
Reasons to be cheerful on the UK economy? They’re there, if you’re looking for them January 16, 2023 Nobody likes to be negative, so perhaps that explains the surprising survey results on our front page today. Perhaps confidence in the economy is coming not from sensible forecasting but from unguarded new year’s optimism. Or, to borrow a line from Blackadder’s General Melchett, “that’s the spirit: if nothing else works, then a total pig-headed [...]
Takeover bid: MJ Hudson to declare offers after suspension of shares January 15, 2023 The embattled financial services firm MJ Hudson is set to tell markets tomorrow it has received offers for parts of the business. Sky News’ Mark Kleinman has reported that the group – whose shares are currently suspended after it reported “issues” around historical trading reports – appointed Alvarez & Marsal to look at possible disposals. [...]