Innovation Diary: Why food innovators have broken out of the development kitchen October 13, 2013 THINK of food innovation and the cronut (a croissant/doughnut) or the duffin (its doughnut/muffin cousin) may come to mind. Such foody portmanteaus – while reflecting the vibrancy of an industry that has weathered the last five years well – can have unpredictable results. Frappuccinos and banoffee pie now barely raise an eyebrow. The pluot (a [...]
The charitable venture that grew into a thriving firm October 6, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks to the founders of Hire Space – London’s online venue rental business THE PUBLIC has grown increasingly comfortable with the notion of sharing assets – homes, cars, hairdressing skills – and buying second hand products through websites like eBay. Airbnb, the San Francisco-based holiday rental website and sharing pioneer, for example, was [...]
Innovation Diary: Why economic revival has its own challenges for UK entrepreneurs October 6, 2013 FOR BUSINESSES weathering a difficult economy, hoarding cash has been the order of the day. Research by Capita Asset Services found that FTSE 100-listed UK firms increased their cash holdings by 34 per cent in the five years since 2008. But as the economic pendulum swings, investors are grumbling. Apple, which according to Moody’s holds [...]
Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur: Wikipedia for wingers: Back up your banter with smartphone smart Alec October 6, 2013 I SAT there with the ignominy of defeat hanging over me. Even though I tried to keep the shame and sorrow off my face, and to adopt the good grace of a good loser, I was indeed a loser. A bunch of us were on our way to a Fleetwood Mac concert and really chirpy [...]
UK holds fund management position September 30, 2013 The UK has managed to fend off a challenge by Japan to stay the second largest fund management centre in the world behind the US, a report out yesterday revealed. Japan remains third with a 7.5 per cent market share. The UK is second with 8.3 per cent, while the US dominates with 45 per [...]
Foodie who hit the ground running September 29, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks to David Moore, the restauranteur behind London’s Pied a Terre THE GLOBAL restaurant industry is forecast to increase in size by 7.2 per cent over the next three years, rising from total revenues of $2.45 trillion (£1.53 trillion) in 2011 to $3.48 trillion by the end of 2016. And in the UK, [...]
Two former City workers who built businesses out of the financial crisis September 29, 2013 Adam Taylor and Lexi Tamasan’s pet food subscription service is taking a sizeable bite out of a large market PET FOOD is not the first product most think about when founding a company. But when Adam Taylor saw his mother, who suffers from arthritis, struggling with a large bag of dog biscuits, it struck him [...]
Innovation Diary: Startup collaboration isn’t new – but it’s increasingly intentional September 29, 2013 ROYAL Mail’s privatisation is certainly an expression of confidence in the company, with investment set to speed up the pace of restructuring away from its declining letters business. But the future may not be so rosy. Writing in City PM, the futurist Ian Pearson suggested that Royal Mail’s profitable package business could itself be challenged [...]
Parcels deliver Royal Mail’s future September 24, 2013 THE PRIVATISATION of Royal Mail started to become a likely event in May this year after the restructured group posted profits of £403m, up from £152m the previous year. “When we saw that profit margins had gone from around one per cent to 4.4 per cent we realised that the time was right to act,” [...]
Inside Track: London is ready and waiting for the Royal Mail flotation September 24, 2013 THE FORTHCOMING privatisation of Royal Mail is the biggest post-financial crisis test so far of the market for new issues in London, which was virtually closed for business just a couple of years ago. In the years following the financial crisis, London became a notoriously difficult place on which to list shares in a new [...]
