Thursday 18 May 2023

LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

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CHANCELLOR: FEWER TW*TS, MORE M-FERS

(THAT’S MONDAY TO FRIDAY, BY THE WAY...)

CITY A.M. REPORTERS

THE CHANCELLOR has said that the office should be the “default” location for work, even after the rise of hybrid working in the pandemic.

Vast swathes of workers in white collar jobs have switched out of the office for at least two or three days a week, with the term ‘TW*T’ now used to describe somebody in on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

But the Chancellor yesterday said he worried about the “loss of creativity” when people are working from home permanently, adding it was something for “businesses to find their own way through”.

Many managers have given up on getting staff in on a Friday, but some City bigwigs have called for more staff to come in on Monday.

John Neal, the Lloyd’s of London boss, has called for staff to come into the office at least four days a week, believing it

is particularly important for younger staff.

The insurance marketplace’s chief has argued working in the office helps to “develop… the next generation” in claiming more experienced staff owe a “responsibility” to less experienced colleagues within the historic business.

A host of major firms have begun to call workers –and managers –back into the office more often.

The global investment operation M&G this week told their top brass that they needed to be in more often, as younger more junior staff were already coming

“We’ve all seen the advantages working remotely can offer us — and it’s important we continue to benefit from these and work flexibly to balance the demands of office

and home life,” the email from CEO Andrea Rossi and seen by the Sunday Times said.

“Equally, we must succeed as a business — and for that to happen, it’s essential to make the most of the talent and experience we have at M&G by supporting career development and maximising the value of spending time together.”

Blackrock also called on staff to come back into work at least four days a week in a widely reported missive on Tuesday.

Hunt was speaking at a British Chambers of Commerce event, and did acknowledge that working from home could create “exciting opportunities”.

Not all were convinced by the idea of more regular office working.

Marcus Beaver at Alight Solutions, a tech and HR firm, said: “Employers that force staff back to offices full-time face an uprising” after the Chancellor’s comments.

“Staff will not easily surrender the benefits they are now used to.”

CHRIS DORRELL

PRESIDENT Joe Biden yesterday said he was “confident” of reaching a deal to raise the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling in order to avoid an unprecedented default on US debt.

Over the past few days, House speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, and the White House have been locked in talks to reach an agreement on a new limit.

“I’m confident we’ll get the

agreement on the budget and America will not default,” Biden said, according to reports. “We’re going to come together because there’s no alternative way to do the right thing for the country. We have to move on.” Biden is set to return to Washington on Sunday after travelling to Japan for the G7 leaders summit.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that without more borrowing the government could run out of funds to meet all of its financial obligations as soon as 1 June.

Ex-LC&F boss sentenced after splashing hidden funds on holiday and hot tub

BEN LUCAS

THE FORMER CEO of now collapsed London Capital & Finance (LC&F) was handed a suspended sentence yesterday after he was found to have breached an asset freezing order, splashing hidden funds on a holiday, hotel stay and a hot tub.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) froze Michael Thomson’s assets as part of its ongoing investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering linked to the 2019 collapse, which saw 11,000 investors lose £237m in a mini bond-scheme.

The SFO found that Thomson hid £95,000 after the order was

imposed, partly made up of a £55,000 fraudulent insurance claim for repair works on a barn that wasn’t completed. He then spent some of the hidden cash on a £5,000 holiday in Italy, a £3,900 horse saddle, a £1,170 hotel and spa stay in Torquay, and £5,495 on a hot tub, the SFO said.

As a consequence, he was handed a 10 month sentence, suspended for two years, at Southwark Crown Court yesterday.

Lisa Osofsky, director of the SFO, said the sentence made it clear that “company executives are not above the law”.

The collapse of London Capital &

Finance spawned a range of criticism across the City, particularly of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) oversight of the outfit.

The FCA was at that time run by now Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, who later apologised for the regulator’s failings.

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GLASS HALF FULL Biden says he is ‘confident’ US will avoid default

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY

National housebuilding project needs more Whitehall direction

BACK in these pages today you’ll find an interview with one of the women behind Oceandiva London, a new, all-singing all-dancing corporate events boat currently docked to the east of the City. Built at great expense, it is planned to become an in-demand venue space for summer receptions, soirees and (hopefully) City A.M. Christmas parties. But it has run into an obstacle: regulation.

THE CITY VIEW

Now, for obvious reasons, a boat needs a fair amount of regulatory approval. It’s not that long since London’s worst ferry disaster, The Marchioness. Making sure the thing is seaworthy is, evidently, worth taking our time over. The issue is instead an alcohol

licence –held up in the early part of the year by what one member of the senior team called ‘Chinese whispers’ whizzing around concerned residents about the level of noise and light pollution caused by the boat. Those objections and concerns are set to be weighed up again in due course by Newham council, and ultimately it’s for them to decide whether or not Oceandiva London stays that way or becomes Oceandiva Paris or Dubai.

The housing planning system is, of course, much more difficult to navigate than Oceandiva’s nautical pursuit of its hospitality licence. So much so that Keir Starmer and Michael Gove have both announced grand plans in recent days to get more houses built –Starmer’s willingness to challenge the sacred cow of the green belt being very welcome. But just like any plan for housing, it is inevitable that new sites and projects will run into local

OOH LA LA Honorary Palme d’or Michael Douglas arrived at the Cannes Film Festival with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and daughter Carys as the event marks its 76th year

residents and covenants, preventing us from building the housing we need. Planning should be about pragmatism, but with little incentive to join in a national project it’s hardly a surprise that local authorities err on the side of the minority of aggrieved residents who vote, rather than those new residents who do not yet. More must be done –and if that means more Whitehall, or City Hall, control, so be it.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

THE FINANCIAL TIMES

BRUSSELS AGREES TO SIGN REGULATORY COOPERATION DEAL WITH THE UK

Brussels will sign up to a deal with the UK to boost cooperation on the regulation of financial services, in a further sign of improved relations following the agreement of the Windsor framework.

THE TIMES THERANOS FOUNDER ELIZABETH HOLMES ORDERED TO PAY $452M

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her top executive have been ordered to pay $452m to victims of the bloodtesting start-up’s fraud. Holmes was last year sentenced to 11 years in prison.

BLOOMBERG

ENERGY CRISIS MEANT UK PAID £29BN MORE FOR POWER LAST YEAR

The surge in wholesale electricity prices last year forced UK consumers to pay more than double the amount for power than they did before the crisis, according to a study by UCL.

Cost of living top concern for British public, new poll finds

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

THE COST of living crisis continues to be the top concern for Britain’s voters, a new poll has found.

Pollsters at More in Common (MiC) found 75 per cent of those surveyed cited the cost of living crisis as their number one priority that the government should address.

Only 44 per cent said supporting the NHS was their top concern.

MiC’s UK director Luke Tryll said: “With the months ticking down to the next general election, the government needs the public to start

believing things are getting better. But as things stand only one in four Brits think the cost of living crisis will end this year or next.”

MiC also found the public’s voting intentions saw a “consistent – but not overwhelming” lead for Labour.

Labour scored a 42 per cent voting intention from the public, down two points on the previous poll, while the Tories secured a one point rise to 31 per cent.

“As the crisis continues, the public are becoming less certain that Labour has the answers either,” Tryll added.

PMQs: Prince Harry, avenged by the Spare red-heads as Rayner and Dowden face off

PRINCE Harry woke up yesterday morning and breathed a sigh of relief: it was revenge for the red-headed Spares. Finally, his day had come.

Oliver Dowden and Angela Rayner, both ginger, both second-in-command, faced off in Prime Minister’s Questions in an almost flirtatious double act.

Rayner kicked off with a nod to Dowden political survival: “I’ve seen three deputy prime ministers in my time, but the third time’s a charm,” she said. Dowden, who has spent most of his political career preparing other leaders for these weekly stoushes with the Labour man or woman of the moment, was startled to

find himself not merely rehearsing the jokes, but actually having to make them himself.

Retorting to a reminder of the last time he resigned, Dowden picked apart the picture-perfect image of Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer.

“They’re the Phil and Holly of British politics,” he taunted from the despatch box.

Rayner’s approach to PMQs (or, deputy PMQs) was a kind of group therapy session, trying to get Dowden & co to take the first step of solving the problem: admitting you have one.

Almost every question, from child poverty to NHS waiting lists, was finished off with demand for Dowden to “stop blaming everyone else and admit the problem is them”.

If Prince Harry was hoping to be avenged by these two unlikely candidates, Rayner and Dowden did as much for those suffering from “gingervitis” as Matt Hancock did for children with dyslexia during his stint on I’m a Celebrity.

UBS to see $17bn hit from Credit Suisse takeover

CHRIS DORRELL

UBS ESTIMATES it will take a $17bn (£13.6bn) hit from the takeover of rival Credit Suisse as regulatory filings reveal it never wanted the deal to take place.

UBS estimates a negative impact of $13bn from fair value adjustments and $4bn in potential litigation and regulatory costs.

UBS execs have previously warned that the deal would impose significant costs on the bank, but that it would not interfere with its existing strategy.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the bank was rushed into the deal, although it had been considering a merger for months.

The bank said it had less than four days to conduct due diligence due to the “emergency circumstances”.

According to the filing, UBS began reviewing the situation at Credit Suisse

in October when the struggling lender was facing substantial deposit outflows amid social media rumours that it may collapse.

Although UBS management presented an assessment of the purchase in December, the UBS strategy committee concluded a deal was “not desirable” in February.

Despite the expected costs, UBS will also book a significant one-off gain of over $35bn in the second quarter if the deal is completed, although this is lower than anticipated. This reflects the difference between the purchase price and the book value of Credit Suisse’s assets.

UBS swooped in for Credit Suisse when it was clear the bank would not be able to withstand asset outflows following years of scandal. In the end Credit Suisse was bought for $3.25bn, less than half its already significantly diminished market value.

Vauxhall owner: Brexit threatens our UK EV plans

CITY A.M. REPORTER

ONE of the world’s largest carmakers has said it will be unable to keep their commitment to make electric vehicles in the UK without changes to the Brexit deal.

Stellantis – the parent company of Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat –told a Commons inquiry into supply of batteries for EV manufacture that

their UK investments were in the balance due to the terms of the trade deal and warned it could be forced to close its UK factories without policy change.

It called on the government to reach agreement with the EU to maintain existing rules until 2027, rather than next year’s planned changes which state 45 per cent of an electric car’s value should

originate in the UK or EU to qualify for trade without tariffs.

Jaguar Land Rover and Ford also joined the calls, the FT reported. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt insisted the government is “very focused” on ensuring Britain improves its EV car manufacturing capacity while trade secretary Kemi Badenoch said she had raised the issue with the European Commission.

JD Sports hails record year as sales pass £10bn

well as supply chain issues which saw JD Sports stock of trainers take a hit.

BCC boss pitches for new members in wake of CBI misconduct scandal

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

THE BOSS of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) made a bold pitch for new members yesterday after a raft of major FTSE 100 businesses left the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which has been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment and rape.

BCC director general Shevaun Haviland stressed “our voice is needed more than ever” as she announced the formation of a new national campaign to boost the Chamber’s ranks.

It came just weeks after the CBI –long the UK’s top lobbying group for business – was engulfed by a sexual misconduct scandal. The City of London Police is currently investigating the allegations of rape. Boss Tony Danker was also forced to quit amid separate claims of workplace misconduct.

Speaking to attendees at the group’s annual conference, Haviland said: “Let me be upfront and frank, business needs a fresh relationship with the government. This is why,

today, we are launching a national campaign – Where Business Belongs –to invite businesses that need a voice to join their Chamber.”

However, Rain Newton-Smith, CBI director-general, yesterday insisted there was still a key place for her organisation, arguing no other group had the same scale. Newton-Smith pledged she was “absolutely determined” to transform the CBI, including hiring a head of people and “working with global experts on ethics and sexual harassment”.

JD SPORTS yesterday said it expected underlying profits to exceed £1bn for the first time this year, as the fashion retailer continued to perform well despite the cost of living crisis, ongoing macroeconomic “headwinds”, and changes at the top of the business.

The Manchester-based company saw profits before tax and adjusted items of £991.4m in the year ending January 2023, up from £947.2m on the previous year, while full year revenue reached a record £10.1bn.

The retailer has seen a series of major structural changes including the appointment of a new CEO, Regis Schultz, last year.

His appointment followed the exit of longtime executive chair Peter Cowgill, eventually forced to step aside due to governance concerns. However his exit does not seem to have hurt one of Britain’s biggest business success stories.

It comes as retailers have been pummelled by inflationary pressures, as

“To further increase the group’s profitability when the first half was impacted by the well-publicised international supply chain challenges, which resulted in the reduced availability of certain key footwear styles, gives me great confidence in both the strength of our market leading sports fashion proposition and the expertise of our colleagues,” Schultz said.

Bank of England governor Bailey warns inflation likely to stay higher for longer than forecast

He added that the group had been more protected from cost of living pressures on its consumers due to a low rate of unemployment along with JD items being viewed as an “affordable luxury” by its customer base.

Despite this, the group reported a notable drop in pre-tax profit, falling by over £200m to £441m last year due to costs from acquisitions.

Investors seemed to take note, with shares dropping 4.26 per cent, taking JD near the bottom of the FTSE 100.

INFLATION is likely to stay above the Bank of England’s two per cent target for longer than previously expected, the governor of the central bank warned yesterday.

Speaking at the British Chambers of Commerce’s annual conference, Andrew Bailey warned the Bank thinks the likelihood of inflation topping its projections are “skewed significantly to the upside”.

Banks move to ban Whatsapp –but majority unconvinced it will work

CHRIS DORRELL

AN INCREASING number of banks and financial services firms have banned their staff from using encrypted messaging apps such as Whatsapp for work purposes after regulators hit banks with hefty fines for failing to stamp out the practice.

A survey by tech firm Global Relay

found that 59 per cent of respondents, which included some of the largest banks in the UK, US and Europe, have banned platforms like Whatsapp and Wechat.

The bans come after regulators have taken action against firms that have failed to clamp down on private messaging services, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission

handing out $1.8bn in fines to 16 lenders, including Goldman, Citi, and Morgan Stanley, for such breaches. But the survey also revealed that only three per cent of firms feel confident that the bans will prove an effective solution to ensure compliant behaviour. Just over a quarter are unsure about their efficacy.

Economists on Threadneedle Street have arrived at that judgement because “the unwinding of secondround effects may take longer than it did for them to emerge”.

“Our commitment to the two per cent inflation target is unwavering,” Bailey said, however.

Inflation has consistently breached the Bank’s projections, including in March when it hit 10.1 per cent, 0.8 percentage points over its prediction.

Bailey said if further inflation

shocks emerge, “then further tightening in monetary policy would be required”.

Interest rates are currently at 4.5 per cent, their highest level since 2008.

Last week, the Bank hiked its medium term inflation forecasts from its February projection. It now thinks the rate of price increases will still be around five per cent by the end of the year, up from 3.9 per cent, and that it won’t return to its two per cent target until 2025.

GUY TAYLOR

JACK BARNETT

BBC chief Shevaun Haviland yesterday invited businesses to join the Chambers

JD Sports said low unemployment levels had protected consumers

Estate agent Purplebricks to be sold for £1

BEN LUCAS

STRUGGLING online estate agent

Purplebricks will be sold to rival firm Strike for just £1, the company announced yesterday.

After struggling to improve its performance, the firm put itself up for sale in February.

The announcement saw Purplebricks’ share price plummet, closing down 42 per cent yesterday. Shares have fallen 96 per cent over the last year.

Purplebricks chairman Paul Pindar said he was “disappointed with the financial value outcome, both as a five per cent shareholder myself and for shareholders who have supported the company under my and the board’s stewardship”.

But he said “there was no other proposal or offer which provided

a better return for shareholders, with the same certainty of funding and speed of delivery necessary to provide the stability the company needs”.

Other than chief financial officer Dominique Highfield, chief executive Helena Marston and the rest of the board will step down following the sale.

Purplebricks said that all employees will transfer to Strike, but “anticipated that there will be reductions in headcount in the short term”.

Charles Dunstone, a partner at Freston Ventures, which is a major shareholder of Strike, cheered the deal. “Purplebricks has dramatically changed the industry by driving down the cost of estate agency, and we aim to combine its significant brand recognition with an even more disruptive business model,” Dunstone said.

Recession? Rolexes top up retailer revenues

CHRIS DORRELL

WATCHES of Switzerland’s revenue rose 22 per cent in the final quarter but the luxury watchmaker yesterday warned there would be a slight sales dip in the first quarter of the next financial year.

In the quarter to April, revenue rose 22 per cent to £371m on a reported basis. At constant currency, revenue still rose 18 per cent. This

was primarily driven by a 27 per cent increase in revenue from the firm’s US division.

Luxury watches continued to perform well in the quarter, seeing a 28 per cent rise in revenue, though jewellery slowed with revenue slipping 17 per cent on last year.

This brought its full year revenue to £1.5bn, 25 per cent higher than the year before on a reported basis and 19 per cent higher on a constant

currency basis.

On the back of strong performances, Watches of Switzerland noted that it is entering the 2024 financial year “significantly ahead of schedule”, though it forecast a “modest sales decline” in the first quarter due to the strong previous year and product intake timing.

Shares fell to close down over five per cent on the back of the warning.

The luxury watchmaker said sales of its premium timepieces remained strong in the final quarter

Experian shares go for ride after cautious outlook

CHARLIE CONCHIE

SHARES in credit checker Experian fell sharply in early trading yesterday, before recovering later in the day, after the firm offered a cautious outlook for the year ahead as investors fret over an uncertain borrowing landscape.

The FTSE 100 firm said it had seen “growth in every region” and an eight per cent boost in revenues to $6.59bn (£5.3bn) in the year to the end of March, as cash-strapped borrowers turn to the firm amid a credit squeeze.

But bosses said they were expecting revenue to grow between four per cent to six per cent in the year ahead, after analysts had priced in growth at the higher end of that margin at 5.8 per cent.

Shares in the firm fell over five per

cent in the morning.

“Experian have delivered the growth expected and have painted an outlook which although rosy is, to be honest, no better than that which the market was already expecting them to paint,” said Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown. But its share price recovered during the day, as others gave a more posi-

Capturing the Crystal Palace spirit could fire up UK entrepreneurship

JAMES SILVER

tive read of the results.

“With the breadth and resilience of its portfolio, Experian anticipates another year of growth, projecting organic revenue growth in the range of four to six per cent. This growth potential is supported by the company’s ability to tap into new business prospects,” Edison analyst Neil Shah said.

A NEW ‘Great Exhibition’ could rekindle Britain’s innovative spirit, reckons an entrepreneurs’ think tank. Anton Howes, the head of innovation Research at The Entrepreneurs Network, says in a new report that a festival showcasing “the latest innovations in science, technology and the arts, fostering co-

Sage lifts forecast as cloud drives growth

PAUL SANDLE

SAGE, a British provider of software to small and medium-sized companies, upgraded its full-year organic recurring revenue growth forecast to around 11 per cent yesterday after it saw a strong uptake of cloud services in its first half.

It had previously expected growth to be above the 9.4 per cent level achieved in its last financial year. Shares in Sage, which provides software for accounting, payroll and

other business processes, rose four per cent to a 16-month high of 858 pence yesterday, topping the FTSE 100 index.

Chief executive Steve Hare said growth was coming from the cloud services it has developed in recent years, with customers in North America, Britain and Europe and Africa contributing.

“We’re seeing small and mid-size businesses looking to digitally transform their own businesses,” he said in an interview.

Revenue from Sage Business Cloud

grew 29 per cent in the six months to the end of March, while underlying operating profit increased by 14 per cent to 227 million pounds in the period.

Hare said Sage was excited about the possibilities of generative AI.

“We already have significant AI built into our products,” he said.

“But this next generation of generative AI is very exciting in terms of the ability for us to deliver more productivity to our customers and also benefit from it ourselves within Sage.”

operation, trade and learning between innovators could “could inspire the next generation”.

The UK had planned a so-called ‘festival of Brexit’, which became the Unboxed Festival before being ditched.

The first Great Exhibition, held in Crystal Palace in 1851, was attended by a third of the British population and featured, amongst other things, the world’s first pay toilets.

Plans to clean up water sector fail to impress

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

CRITICS have poured cold water on sewage companies apologising for spills as they prepare to invest £10bn in modernisation.

The bid to clean up Britain’s waters comes in the wake of campaigning from environmental activists about sewage spills from big water firms.

Water UK, the industry membership body, this week announced plans for a transformation scheme dubbed the National Overflows Plan, with a tripling of funding from current levels. It said the project was the biggest modernisation since the Victorian era and the most ambitious programme on sewage spills globally. But Lib Dem leader Ed Davey hit out at firms, saying: “This apology and plan just don’t go far enough.”

He claimed water companies had “arrogantly dismissed” concerns for years and criticised the “billions” in dividends to overseas investors and “multi-million pound CEO bonuses”. Water UK chairman Ruth Kelly said the public was right to be upset: “The message from the water and sewage industry today is clear: we are sorry.”

MAKE MINE A DOUBLE UK’s largest pub group reports fall in profit as costs rise

MITCHELLS & Butlers, the owner of All Bar One, saw its half year profit fall to £100m, down from £120m on the same period last year, as costs keep rising. Sales growth, however, jumped 8.5 per cent.

The Great Exhibition, held in Crystal Palace, was a marvel of Victorian Britain

Experian CEO Brian Cassin said the firm delivered ‘very strong results’

High-end office space wanted by biggest firms

JAMES SILVER

THE GAP between the “best and the rest” is beginning to define the London office market, said property developers British Land yesterday.

Alongside their full year results, the firm said a “flight to quality” across banking, finance, professional and creative services would see rental returns on the best properties continue to look healthy, despite predictions of the demise of the commercial office market in the aftermath of changes to working patterns post-pandemic.

Older offices, however, would struggle to compete, they predicted.

British Land, the developers behind the new Broadgate Campus, described the macroeconomic background as “challenging” but said underlying profit was

up seven per cent on the year, with occupancy rates across the company’s properties now at 96.7 per cent.

Writedowns driven by rising interest rates saw the firm’s portfolio value drop 12.3 per cent.

That meant that while underlying profit was £264m, the technical loss after tax for British Land came to £1.03bn. The firm did, however, up its dividend slightly by three per cent.

“Ultimately, value in real estate is created over the medium to long term. We like to invest in supply constrained segments with pricing power, where we can be market leaders and leverage our competitive strengths to generate attractive returns,” boss Simon Carter (pictured) said yesterday.

The firm recently announced the development of a new logistics centre in Paddington.

British Land’s development at Broadgate has been a success for the developer so far

TWO corporate updates from British Land and Landsec this week tell us plenty: chiefly, portfolio writedowns can make even well-performing businesses look a little green around the edges.

Take British Land, for instance –a 12.3 per cent writedown on portfolio value at the same time as leasing almost all of its space at levels ahead of management expectations. Costs are under control, too. What’s really interesting is where the two firms are putting their money. The race for premium office space is clearly more important than ever, with campuses like British

Land’s Broadgate Circus a model for the future of the central city workplace.

So too campuses elsewhere, at Canada Water, and an increasing interest in life sciences and logistics inside of cities (at Paddington, for one) rather than on the outskirts.

Landsec meanwhile is doubling down on retail space, with high end central London retail a key part of the strategy. The message seems to be go big (and go swanky) or go home. AS

Ashley’s outfit ups stake in fast fashioner Asos

RADHIKA ANILKUMAR

FRASERS Group has raised its stake in online fashion retailer ASOS, a filing showed yesterday, as Mike Ashley’s (pictured) sportswear retailer continues its drive into a more premium market.

Frasers, formerly called Sports Direct, increased its stake in ASOS to 7.4 per cent from a prior stake of more than five per cent, as of 15 May.

Shares in ASOS, which have lost about 30 per cent of their value in the past week, finished up by almost eight per cent yesterday.

The increase in stake comes a week after ASOS swung to a firsthalf loss, hit by a squeeze on household budgets, and forecast a further drop in sales.

Frasers, known for picking up stakes in fellow retailers in recent years, currently owns a 2.6 per cent stake in German fashion house Hugo Boss, according to Refinitiv data.

Reuters

Blank-cheque firm raises £400m in London’s biggest IPO so far this year

CHARLIE CONCHIE

A SPECIAL purpose acquisition company (SPAC) yesterday bagged over half a million dollars in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in the UK’s biggest listing so far this year.

Admiral Acquisition, a blankcheque acquisition vehicle firm co-founded by dealmaker Sir Martin E Franklin, raised $550m (£400.9m) in a boost for London’s capital markets after a bruising period for the city.

In a statement, the firm said it had no particular acquisition target in mind and no “specific expected target value”.

“The company’s efforts in identifying a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region,” the firm said.

Admiral is based in the British Virgin Islands and founded by American-British businessman Sir Martin E Franklin alongside Robert Franklin, Michael Franklin,

Ian Ashken, Desiree DeStefano and James Lillie.

Franklin is known as a pioneer in the world of SPACs having launched several such vehicles, including J2 Acquisition, which raised $1.25bn in a London IPO in 2017.

The IPO comes after a torrid period for London’s public markets, with total cash raised in the first quarter of the year plunging by 80 per cent on last year and 99 per cent down on the first quarter of 2021, according to big four firm EY.

All aboard London’s newest event spaceon the Thames

ANDY SILVESTER

BUSINESSES are mobile –and that’s especially true in the case of Oceandiva, an 86m long, three storey events vessel that arrived in London’s Royal Docks earlier this week.

For Chloe Jackson (right), one of the brains behind the project, the docking of one of the most talked about new ships in the world in the capital is a “vote of confidence” in London’s recovery.

“One client told us they saw the boat, and they had to have their event in London, they wanted this James Bond feel. Something like this can be a draw to London and then to other venues and events,” she tells me.

It’s been a long journey for Oceandiva, built in a Dutch shipyard and the result of a partnership between a Dutch events company and The Smart Group, where Jackson serves as MD.

In short, it’s an events space on an extremely snazzy vessel shooting up and down the Thames–one that also happens to be extremely green, being carbon neutral and earlier this week receiving the Green Award’s Gold Certificate.

The launch of the self-styled “Sustainable Megaboat”, delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, is still something of a movable feast. For all the boat’s green credentials, it has become stuck in a rather complex planning process involving the borough of Newham, where it has applied for an

alcohol licence, and residents of surrounding boroughs including Southwark, Greenwich and Tower Hamlets.

Most of the objections revolve around fears of drunk partygoers disembarking in Butler’s Wharf in Shadthames into the small hours. With the boat now in London, Oceandiva plans to host a series of test events and getting-to-know-you sessions with those same residents.

“A lot of the information out there is incorrect. Some are suggesting there’s a helipad on board, that we’re going for 1,500 people and a 24-hour licence,” says Jackson.

“We needed to get the boat here so that we can demonstrate it is, you know, essentially a corporate events venue, just like many others within London, the difference being this is on the Thames.”

Jackson credits organisations like London and Partners for being supportive. “Should this not come to London it would be really a travesty. It is such an exciting opportunity for the city and it does bring so much positivity along with it.”

Whether Newham Council agree with Jackson is another matter, but it’s hard to see too many people on Oceandiva complaining about a highend events space and views from the river itself on a sunny evening.

And, of course, business is mobile. If Oceandiva doesn’t get its licence after these test events,that truism will no doubt be proven correct.

We’ve had better years, admit fund managers at Scottish Mortgage Trust

CHARLIE CONCHIE

BOSSES at Bailie Gifford’s Scottish Mortgage Board Investment Trust yesterday admitted the last year had been “painful” after it suffered a 33 per cent plunge in its share price over the 12 months to March.

In its full year report yesterday, the co-managers of the £11.5bn high-

growth fund urged its investors to be “disciplined and patient” as it mounted a defence of its strategy, including its holding of private unlisted firms.

The £11.5bn fund had built a reputation for bumper returns prior to last year by punting on highgrowth tech companies and “agents of change”, including the likes of

Tesla and Amazon. However, it was caught up in the sharp sell-off of tech stocks last year triggered by soaring inflation and rising interest rates.

“We know this has been painful for shareholders, but history shows that periods of poor performance are inevitable,” managers said. The year included a boardroom bust-up which cost the fund its chairman.

Fiona McBain left earlier this year after a bust-up with fellow director Amar Bhide

The listing marks a boost for London’s markets, which have seen a bruising year

THE NOTE BOOK

notebook comes from Advertising Week chairman Matt Scheckner, currently hosting Advertising Week Europe

AI will

not

be the death of creativity, so long as we embrace it

WITH every turn of the page, we are reminded just how much the world has changed and continues to do so. But with progress comes the concern of whether my industry or my job will be the next to be replaced by the latest technology. For the past few weeks, the world has been flooded with headlines speculating which jobs are safe from AI, and who should start retraining.

Perhaps nowhere is this being discussed more than within the creative industries. Can a machine ever truly create? Just a few months ago, this would more likely have been a question debated in the philosophy departments of London’s universities rather than in its creative shops. Yet quite a few pages have been turned in the past few months.

You might have spotted some futuristic 3D billboards and videos

in your social media feed. For instance, Visit Denmark’s most recent ad featured an AI-modified Mona Lisa and Van Gogh, telling the viewer to do something better with their trip than lining up to watch them. You might expect me – an industry veteran with more than 20 years in the industry – to be hesitant about such

developments, but you’re wrong.

I am convinced that change is a constant and the ones who succeed are those who embrace it – especially creatives. Digital marketing allowed companies to reach new audiences. Social media made brands grow stronger and interact with their customers. Likewise, AI has the potential to be a new frontier for creativity

At its core, embracing change is about finding optimism where it seems like none can be found, and being the proponent of action to foster positive change.

One constant not to undermine is that London’s indomitable spirit and boundless creativity are arguably the UK’s most enduring, prolific natural resource. For this very reason, Advertising Week Europe, which is taking place this week, is convening the best and brightest in the creative industries in London.

£ Ad agencies, recruiters, and marketers are all struggling to get a grasp of ‘Who is Gen-Z?’. A recent study revealed that aspiring lawyers now look past the big law firms – once considered desirable workplaces. Unlike previous generations, Gen-Z is, broadly speaking, idealistic – choosing ethics over profit. For brands, this is a tricky generation to tap into. With short attention spans, they are also notorious scrutinizers of any brand claiming to be ‘green’ or ‘fair’ –indicating a new era for the industry. And rightfully so.

£ I flew into London from India last week fresh off the news that it has recently surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation. You can certainly feel the future in Mumbai, an incredible city full of contrasts and extremes. India will replace China as the world’s leading centre of manufacturing and it’s no coincidence that so many great global C-Suite leaders are ex-patriots from India. I am excited to see what the future holds for the nation.

Societe Generale taps Thierry d’Argent as its new top banker in Canary Wharf

CHRIS DORRELL

SOCIETE Generale’s London head has been promoted and will be replaced by the aptly named Thierry d’Argent.

The new boss, d’Argent, has been named SocGen group country head for the UK and Ireland and chief executive of the bank’s wellestablished London branch.

D’Argent began his career in 1988 at Oliver Wyman. He then joined Barings and JP Morgan in 1998 to

develop its investment banking franchise in Europe.

In 2001, he became head of M&A for JP Morgan in France.

He has been at Societe Generale since 2009.

He will replace Demetrio Salorio, who has been appointed head of global banking and advisory.

The appointments will be effective as of 24 May. Both d’Argent and Salorio will report to Anne-Christine Champion and Alexandre Fleury.

Slawomir Krupa, deputy general manager, head of global banking and investor solutions for SocGen, said both appointees are “seasoned leaders in their respective fields”.

“Their diversified French and international background and their in-depth knowledge of the group’s businesses and high-level client relationships will be key enablers to the success of our strategic roadmap,” Krupa continued in the announcement of the move.

THERE’S YOU YOU , THEN THERE’S

Today’s

Thierry d’Argent will take the rein’s of the bank’s UK and Ireland division next week

I am convinced that change is a constant and the ones who succeed are those who embrace it

Brexit. We must consider the very reason 10m Americans watched the coronation and attempted their own song contest. There is much to learn from Britain’s enduring appeal and much of this relies on the renaissance of the 2012 Olympic spirit.

Coronation and Eurovision –a reminder of Brand Britain

ACCA

THE recent turmoil in the banking sector has underlined the importance of risk culture as a fundamental component of business resilience. The failures of Credit Suisse, First Republic and other banks are a stark reminder of why we must incorporate risk into governance and strategy.

All too often, risk management is associated with compliance and ‘box-ticking’. Unfortunately, this approach is itself a risk since it causes boards and leadership teams to miss the warning signs of failures waiting to happen. What is needed instead is a strong risk culture, which permeates every level of an organisation.

A strong risk culture can be defined as a culture where individuals share a common sense of purpose, values, beliefs, behaviours and understanding about the risks that their organisation faces. They also have a shared awareness of their organisation’s level of accepted risk.

OVERCONFIDENCE PREVAILS

Today the growing interest in risk cultures has been largely driven by regulators, particularly within the financial services sector, who see it as a means of tackling and preventing governance failures. The mounting focus on risk culture is also linked to increasingly disconnected organisations and volatile business environments. This climate presents a widening range of risks, including many that are hard to detect, predict and quantify.

Yet, while there is an increasing will to improve, many businesses are still not getting their risk culture right. In fact, a recent study by ACCA, conducted in partnership with the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (Airmic) and the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA), suggests that companies are overconfident about the effectiveness of their risk cultures. The study is based on an online survey of more than 1,800 risk and financial professionals globally, and was also informed by roundtables, one-on-one interviews and an online community pop-up platform.

Around 80 per cent of survey respondents said they had a good understanding of the risk appetite within their organisation. Furthermore, 57 per cent said their organisation’s risk culture had changed for the better since the pandemic. Nevertheless, the research also found that just 60 per cent of respondents thought that risks are sufficiently discussed at all levels within their organisation. Worryingly, the risk conversations that do occur often seem to be happening in a vacuum at the top.

Survey respondents ranked regulatory, compliance and legal risks as the top priority for their organisations, followed by technology, data and cyber security risks. There were some understandable differences between sectors, however, with inflation and the prospect of recession being a top risk priority for the financial services sector, while the corporate sector ranked logistics and supply chain issues among its main concerns.

Despite corporate fraud being on the

WHY RISK CULTURE COULD BE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR YOUR BUSINESS

rise, the corporate sector ranked misconduct, fraud and reputational damage bottom of its list of risk priorities. This suggests that companies are confident – or perhaps overconfident –about their ability to manage these kinds of culture and conduct risks.

A STRONG RISK CULTURE

Given the varied and complex nature of today’s risk landscape, businesses must prioritise building a strong risk culture. A good starting point is to assess the organisation’s current culture, the behaviours it breeds and the risks that those behaviours might drive. A recurrent theme from our research was that businesses should focus on building a risk culture that commits to

proactively dealing with risks. To do this, they will need to align their strategy with the risks they face and integrate risk into their core processes. They will also need to get early access to information on a broad range of risks, break down the existing silos around risk governance, and build their capacity to deal with change.

Businesses should not overly focus on compliance and processes to the detriment of attitudes, knowledge, and ethical values. Our research highlighted that a good risk culture is an organisation that gives its people the capacity to spot emerging risks, and act on them. On the other hand, a weak risk culture was defined as ‘bureaucratic’, ‘misaligned’ and ‘process-driven’. Audit

professionals can play an important role in strengthening risk cultures by ensuring that functional decision-making is in line with the overall risk appetite of the organisation.

As our research rightly noted, an effective risk culture does not just avert disasters; it also brings a host of new opportunities. By taking a more dynamic and collaborative approach to risk management, businesses can build a risk culture that boosts their resilience today while acting as the foundation for long term, sustainable success.

To learn more about our research, visit Risk culture: building resilience and seizing opportunities. accaglobal.com/insights

Helen Brand

Around 80 per cent of survey respondents said they had a good understanding of the risk appetite within their organisation

Charlie Conchie interviews the biggest movers and shakers in tech, fintech and financial services

“WE NEED TO MAKE EQUITIES SEXY”

Aquis chief Alasdair Haynes talks taking on the London Stock Exchange and boosting the City

AFTER New York’s Nasdaq exchange transformed itself from a small electronic quotation system in the 1970s into a technology-backed giant that attracted the premier names of the dot com era, it coined a new 1998 tagline: ‘the stock market for the next hundred years’.

The subsequent crash may have briefly dented its hubris, but the challenger bourse has since become the undisputed hub of global tech and sits alongside New York’s storied exchange with a collective market cap of some $18 trillion.

Looking back at that growth, Alasdair Haynes, chief of the capital’s upstart exchange Aquis, believes there is a lesson to be learned for London.

“That competitive tension in the 90s really created great innovation and the deep equity markets they have [in the US] today,” he tells City A.M. in an interview. “We desperately need that.” Haynes’s comments come on the cusp of Aquis’s tenth birthday amid a period of introspection in London, as the London Stock Exchange grapples with a historic slump in listings.

Regulators and officials are scrambling to overhaul the red tape governing the market and a slew of reports and reviews have been launched to carve out London’s new place in the world.

But Haynes, perhaps understandably as the founder and chief of the capital’s challenger bourse, thinks there could be a more direct route.

“The best way of creating fast change is through competition –because eat somebody else’s lunch and it’s amazing how quickly people respond.”

EATING LSE’S LUNCH

Aquis was launched in 2013 as a subscription-based exchange for pan-European cash equities but launched its stock exchange in 2020, with the aim of catering to the underserved smaller end of the growth market.

It was founded in an environment which did not make it easy –Compa-

nies House prevented any firm from using the term ‘stock exchange’ that is not the London Stock Exchange –but it has since grown to 107 firms and is now looking to scoop up more market share.

He says he is already now eating the lunch of the London Stock Exchange to some extent, hosting 22 IPOs last year, more than its rival AIM.

SLASHING RED TAPE

Haynes says tempting firms onto the market is all about making it a benefit rather than a burden; giving firms something that fits them rather than the market at large. He offers an extended analogy:

“Companies are very much like children. They start small, they grow and they mature. We send our children off to a primary school, we teach them how to learn,” he says.

“Then we move them to secondary school, we put pressure, we give them homework… ultimately, we send them off to university where they’re on their own, but under the guidance of a professor.”

When it comes to the London Stock Exchange, he says, we have been “taking primary school students and sticking them in university”.

“We were bringing rapidly growing businesses and making them have the governance standards of BP or shell. It didn’t really make sense.”

RED TAPE AND REFORM

The weighty bureaucracy of London has oft been cited as a deterrent and has been singled out as one of the key areas in need of reform in a host of reviews in the past three years.

One of the main measures cited by Lord Hill’s landmark review of the listings regime in 2020 was an overhaul of prospectuses, which Payne argues needs completely stripping back.

“Today I get a prospectus and it takes me a weekend to read –there’s 200300 pages of risk disclosure statements, and some might be the chief executive falls off their bicycle on the way to work,” he says.

But outside of the technical tweaks too, he points to a deeper groundswell needed to make the public markets a pleasant place to be once again.

Equities, he argues, are just no longer in vogue for investors and the public. The days of ‘Tell Sid’ investment and retail enthusiasm for stocks are gone, and pension cash too has stopped flowing into UK firms.

He says the British public needs to realise the returns offered and begin to put their money to use on the markets.

“There’s literally billions of pounds sitting in cash. That is not a good thing for somebody who’s holding that long term, particularly in a high inflationary environment,” he says. “We need to get those people invested.”

There’s no lack of appetite among the younger cohort, he argues, who are already punting on risky crypto assets. What’s needed is an equity rebrand.

“We need to make equities sexy,” he adds.

“It is the black sheep of the family [but] it shouldn’t be –it is probably the best asset class out there historically. If we can change that you will change the UK economy.”

Haynes is calling for an exemption on capital gains tax on regulated growth markets to tempt investors to back growth companies, alongside an overhaul in financial education to help investors understand the market.

There are already moves to encourage the public back in. The City minister Andrew Griffith yesterday called “come back Sid” to a conference of City chiefs, and M&S chair Archie Norman has called for a new wave of shareholder democracy to boost participation.

Changing the mindset will “take some time”, Haynes admits. “But that is why I keep on preaching.”

While the Nasdaq dubbed itself the stock market for the next hundred years, Haynes is hoping Aquis can usher in reform slightly quicker than that.

City of London update

Applications open for Cyber Innovation Challenge

APPLICATIONS are now open for the second Cyber Innovation Challenge which aims to support the Financial Services (FS) sector and enhance the UK’s cyber security offer.

Applications are particularly encouraged from tech companies that can help address the key questions: How can technology capture live threat intelligence from FS firms and securely transfer this to law enforcement to improve oversight? And in return, how can technology share anonymised updates back to the FS sector to provide an enhanced insight into the industry threat level?

Applications are open until 31 May. Successful tech companies will have the opportunity to collaborate 1-1 with FS firms to address these questions across a six week ‘sprint’ during June-July.

To apply go to: cityoflondon.gov.uk/ cyberinnovationchallenge2023

Have your say on ‘Healthy Stree ts’

THE City Corporation, in partnership with the Fleet Street Quarter Business Improvement District, is developing a programme of improvements to streets and spaces in the neighbourhoods around Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill.

The Fleet Street Area Healthy Streets Plan is a set of proposals to redesign streets and manage access to make streets more accessible, engaging and safe places for people to walk, cycle and spend time.

Local residents, businesses and

community organisations can comment on the initial proposals, attend consultation events and provide suggestions until 20 June. To find out more or comment go to: fleetstreetarea.commonplace.is

Stockport named ‘one of the coolest areas of the country’ by The Times

8 minutes by train to Manchester city centre. Under 2 hours by train to London

Largest economy in Greater Manchester, topping UK regional growth forecasts Capital growth is forecast to increase by 19.3% in the next four years*

Limited investor options, high tenant demand Regeneration area with funding from Stockport council and The Heritage Fund Rental growth is forecast to rise by 21.6% in the same period*

St Mary’s Gate at The Underbanks Stockport

is phase one of a small residential development in the heart of The Underbanks regeneration area, built by a family run developer with a 25 year track record.

1&2

bed apartments

from just £173,000

Estimated completion Q3 2024. Many apartments have private entrance, outside space or winter gardens.

MARK KLEINMAN

BREAKING BUSINESS STORIES AND ANALYSIS

Apollo’s failure to launch now a worrying trend

APOLLO and ground-breaking missions of accomplishment have long been synonymous. Right now, for the USbased investment firm of the same name, simply getting the takeover of a UK-listed company over the line would rank alongside the lunar landings as an achievement.

In the space of a week, Apollo Global Management has abandoned offers for THG, the online beauty and nutrition retailer, and Wood Group, the oil and gas engineering company – the latter after five written takeover proposals and several months of pursuit.

Bankers frequently complain that public-toprivate deals have become acutely difficult in recent years after revisions to the UK takeover code. Apollo’s flakiness can only exacerbate that sentiment.

Boards’ fiduciary obligation to take seriously any bona fide offeror who comes knocking is now at risk of causing their directors major embarrassment. In Wood Group’s case, countless board meetings, substantial advisory fees and the inevitable distraction from running its business might all

IT’s been more than five months since the FTSE100 investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown named Dan Olley (right) as its new chief executive amid pressure from founderturned activist Peter Hargreaves.

He still hasn’t turned up though. Insiders say that Tesco, where Olley runs the data consulting arm Dunnhumby, is keeping him to the letter of his 12-month notice period unless it finds a successor who

can start earlier, according to insiders.

be put down to the everyday perils of life as a listed company.

The risk feels asymmetrical, however. True, Apollo itself incurred substantial financial costs from its forays into the THG and Wood boardrooms. These were, however, minuscule in the context of its global scale and $550bn of assets under management.

Tyre-kicking is, of course, part and parcel of a private equity investor’s approach to sizing up deal opportunities. But add RPC Group, Pearson, William Hill and Wm Morrison to the list of public companies that Apollo has approached and failed to consummate a deal with in recent times, and a pattern is obvious.

“Taking companies private in the UK is hard enough,” a rival buyout firm executive lamented. “Apollo is going to make it harder for the whole industry.”

The private equity firm headed by Marc Rowan shouldn’t, then, be surprised if boards seek to insert more antiembarrassment measures like go-shop clauses into future negotiations with it. Apollo’s next UK mission looks like being even tougher to pull off.

A spokesperson for HL said it was “looking forward to Dan joining as CEO and will announce his start date as soon as possible”.

It’s far from ideal for Hargreaves Lansdown given its co-founder’s vocal criticism of the company’s strategy and performance.

With a sizeable stake, Hargreaves is destined to continue being a thorn in its leadership’s side. Tesco’s stance must be particularly aggravating for Deanna Oppenheimer, the company’s chairman. After all, she spent years on the board of Britain’s biggest retailer. Every little doesn’t always help, it seems.

Ofgem: Could Lord Tyrie be the man for the job?

THE Financial Conduct Authority, the Court of the Bank of England, a stint as chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority: there aren’t many public sector jobs that Lord Tyrie, former chair of the Treasury Select Committee, hasn’t either done or been linked with in recent years.

He can now add Ofgem, the energy regulator, to the list. And while Lord Tyrie’s (right) candidacy may well strike fear into the heart of the Ofgem chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, there are sound reasons to consider him seriously for the role.

First, Ofgem is in need of a radical shake-up. By its own admission, it failed to deliver a

sufficiently robust licensing regime for domestic gas and electricity suppliers, paving the way for the collapse of dozens of them.

True, the watchdog cannot be faulted for failing to anticipate the soaring wholesale prices exacerbate by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but its lack of robust contingency plans was inexcusable.

It has also performed lamentably in its handling of the pre-payment meter scandal, preferring to hound journalists to disclose their sources instead of fulfilling its mandate to protect consumers and ensure the smooth functioning of the market.

Belatedly, Brearley and his team have

started to act: many of Ofgem’s new licensing rules and restrictions on meter installers make sense.

That brings us back to Tyrie. His recent criticisms of economic regulation in Britain - in an article written jointly with the Conservative backbencher Bim Afolami, chair of the Regulatory Reform Group – underlined his reformist credentials.

“The regulators that shape the British public’s daily lives are far too often black boxes — inscrutable institutions

offering little explanation of their decisions,” they wrote.

“It can sometimes be difficult to tell if a decision has been made in pursuit of a clear goal or if regulation is simply the unforeseen side-effect of a decision made elsewhere.

“Nor is it always clear if multiple regulators are communicating effectively in pursuit of

Assuming that this call to arms represents in part a pitch for the Ofgem chairmanship –or a role at any other regulator –Tyrie would be committing to an overdue transparency.

chief’s 12 month notice period a headache for Hargreaves

CITY DASHBOARD YOUR

ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

London ends in the red as Bailey warns on inflation

LONDON’s FTSE 100 index fell yesterday as Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned that the UK would face high inflation for months to come.

The capital’s premier index closed down 0.36 per cent at 7,723.23 points, while the domestically-focused midcap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, fell 0.30 per cent to 19,215.45 points.

Markets were spooked following comments from Bailey saying the chances of persistently higher inflation are mounting due to a wage-price spiral.

He suggested “the unwinding of second-round effects may take longer than it did for them to emerge”, raising the sceptre of further rate hikes.

Markets were also concerned by the debacle over the US debt ceiling. US lawmakers are locked in talks over the debt ceiling with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning that the government might run out of cash as soon as June. In the event of a default the global financial system could be plunged into turmoil, Yellen warned.

Following meetings yesterday, both Biden and McCarthy expressed opti-

mism that a deal was within reach. “I think at the end of the day, we do not have a debt default,” the Republican congressman said in an interview with CNBC.

JD Sports was amongst the worst performers on the FTSE 100, falling nearly four per cent despite delivering profits ahead of expectations. Markets were concerned as the sports retailer took a £554m hit on its investments.

Experian finished the day 0.2 per cent lower, having fallen nearly five per cent as markets were unimpressed by the firm’s forward guidance.

Excluding the writedown, the Manchester-based company saw pre-tax profits £991.4m in the year ending January 2023, up from £947.2m on the previous year.

Bosses said they were expecting revenue to grow between four per cent to six per cent in the year ahead, while analysts had priced in growth expecting a 5.8 per cent growth.

Investors may have been worried by the forecast of a “modest sales decline” in the first quarter of the new financial year.

The pound was flat at $1.2480, having traded lower earlier in the day.

Analysts at Peel Hunt said the sportswear retailer “excelled in FY23 despite some tricky headwinds”. It added that current trading was “impressive” with sales up by more than 15 per cent. They said JD Sports shares were “a clear buy” and that firm’s “growth potential is not reflected in the shares”.

WISHY WASHY MARKETS

The UK’s largest pub chain yesterday reported a drop in profits despite a boost in sales. But it said its costs were expected to come down. Analysts at Peel Hunt acknowledged the “resilient” sales and agreed its costs were moving from being a “headwind to a tailwind”. It raised its target price to 240p and held its ‘buy’ rating.

while the DAX edged higher. The focus yesterday, as it has been for most of this week, was on individual company trading updates which have prompted some of the main decliners on the London market.”

MICHAEL HEWSON, CMC MARKETS

London-based property agent savills performance has been hit by a market slowdown. Analysts at Peel Hunt agreed that the current market conditions are “challenging” and there was “a fair bit of uncertainty” ahead. It cut its target price from 1,025p to 1,000p but maintained its ‘add’ recommendation.

“Yesterday’s market session was more akin to watching paint dry with little in the way of strong direction in the underlying indexes, with the FTSE 100 slipping back,

ARAMCO TEAM SERIES FLORIDA

AMERICAN DREAM

Ladies European Tour stars head Stateside to battle LPGA’s finest for $1m in their own back yard

Helicopter pilot Dani Holmqvist has high hopes for this week, she tells Frank Dalleres

FOR SOME, a long recuperation following a crash would be the perfect excuse to put feet up, reach for the biscuit tin and plough through every box set on Netflix.

Not Dani Holmqvist. When the Swedish LPGA Tour golfer injured her back in a cart collision in 2018, she dedicated her new-found free time to quaffing wine and attempting to fly a helicopter – although crucially not at the same time.

It’s no less than you would expect from a woman who reacted to a black widow spider bite during a tournament in Australia by squeezing out the venom and finishing her round.

“When I got injured there in China I needed to do something. I just can’t just lay at home and watch Love Island. I wish I could. That’d be nice,” she tells City A.M.

“So I started studying. I had two choices: flying or studying wine. So I studied wine for two and a half years and I became a Level 3 sommelier.

“And now it’s the helicopters. Planes might be more useful, but helicopters are just [about] mental toughness. You’ve got to be so focused. Also, I never see any females doing it and I think that pushed me a little bit.

“I wanted to prove women can do the same thing. There’s nothing physical about just being tough and focusing on the task at hand.”

VENOMOUS ARACHNIDS

Holmqvist, 35, had already proven her teak-toughness in 2013, during her rookie season on the Ladies European Tour, when she was bitten by an Australian black widow in Canberra. As her leg rapidly began to swell, she instinctively reached for a golf tee, pierced her skin and squeezed out the venom – before resuming play in the tournament.

“I got so much backlash because people were like, ‘Well, you could have gotten severe blood poisoning by doing that’,” she says.

“And it’s like, okay, I get that but when you feel so much adrenaline and shock it happens. I think it was just all instincts.”

It’s not just venomous arachnids that bring out Holmqvist’s survival skills; she has also proven to be an exceptional clutch player when her LPGA Tour card is on the line.

Since joining the US circuit in 2015 she has reconfirmed her membership at the last opportunity via qualifying school, a gruelling fortnight-long end-of-season shootout six times.

“I can’t lie, you feel like crap and

FOR THE SK AIMING

Holmqvist, whose father Hans was a Swedish international footballer whose career took the family to Italy and Switzerland.

“But I think that I kind of push that aside and perform my best under those circumstances, when my back is against the wall.

“I wish I could bring that mentality out a little bit more.”

Holmqvist is hoping to be inspired by home comforts rather than hardship this week when the Aramco Team Series visits Florida for the first time. The Sunshine State resident calls Trump West Palm Beach her home course, meaning she can count on plenty of support and won’t have to live out of a suitcase.

“It’s really nice to be playing here and sleeping my own bed. I only live 25 minutes away and I’m also a mem-

ily come out and just a really fun week. I’ve been looking forward to this event pretty much ever since it was announced.”

THRILLED

Holmqvist enjoyed her second best result of the season – a tie for 11th –when the Aramco Team Series, a string of $1m tournaments on the LET, visited the US last year.

The venue might have switched from New York to Florida for 2023, but she is hoping the combination of team and individual scoring brings out her best again.

“It’s just a different vibe,” she says. “Of all the tournaments I played last year, the most fun were the two [Aramco Team Series] events I played.

“There are two components [team and individual] but I’m looking for-

FIVE EVENTS, THREE CONTINEN

THE ARAMCO Team Series is back on the Ladies European Tour for 2023 and once again calling at five venues across three continents.

The difference this year, however, is that four of the five venues are new to the series, with the London leg – played at Centurion Club in St Albans – the only one to be retained.

Last year’s first stop, Bangkok, was replaced by Singapore’s Laguna National Golf Resort Club,

where Pauline Roussin won the individual prize and Christine Wolf’s quartet the team honours at the curtain-raising tournament in March.

With London moving to the middle slot, the Aramco Team Series heads to Florida for its second leg at Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, this week. Play begins tomorrow.

Centurion Club will become the first venue to host three Aramco

Team Series events when the action returns to England from 14 to 16 July.

The stars of women’s golf then head east to Hong Kong Golf Club, which replaces Sotogrande in Spain as the penultimate leg of this year’s series, on 6 to 8 October. And in a final change, the 2023 Aramco Team Series will culminate in Riyadh, which replaces Jeddah as the stage for the finale on 3 to 5 November.

Planes might be more useful but helicopters are about mental toughness. Also I never see any females doing it and that pushed me a little bit

Holmqvist is a keen amateur pilot

ing her compatriot Linn Grant, the LET’s 2022 order of merit winner, tee it up in the US for the first time in two years.

Grant, 23, has racked up eight wins since turning pro in August 2021 with fellow Swedish sensation Maja Stark, who has claimed seven titles including one on the LPGA Tour.

“I think Swedish golf is in a really good state. I think they’ve just been pushing each other – I don’t know if they know it. Subconsciously, they definitely have,” she says.

“It’s exciting that Linn is back playing in the US. I’m sure she’s thrilled about being able to play over here again, too, and I’m guessing we’ll see her a lot more on the LPGA.”

KYLIE HAPPY TO BE BACK ON TOUR AND HOPING FOR U.S. HIT

Scot eyes another strong showing at an Aramco Team Series event in the States, she tells

Frank Dalleres

ATCHINGthe Lion King musical on Broadway inspired Kylie Henry to one of her best results of the season the last time the Scottish golfer teed it up in the US.

The Ladies European Tour stalwart conjured a final round of 67 to claim a share of fifth place in the individual element of the Aramco Team Series event in New York in October last year.

Henry credits the performance to the array of tourist attractions she was able to enjoy in the Big Apple, which also included watching NBA basketball

“It was a really good week – a great course in Brooklyn and I just thoroughly enjoyed being in New York,”

“I’d never played a tournament and stayed in New York City before so that was really good fun. I managed to play well and had a really good final round which put me up to fifth so it was it was just a really good enjoyable week.

“It’s always nice when you’re playing a tournament somewhere that there are fun things to do off the course as well. So that particular week, I went to a Knicks game. I went and saw the Lion King on Broadway as well.”

UNEMPLOYED

Henry is back in the US this week as the Aramco Team Series calls at Trump West Palm Beach in Florida for the first time. Her practice schedule has not allowed for a visit to nearby Walt Disney World, but the Glaswegian has already ticked off a shopping expedition.

“I do enjoy coming to the States and I really enjoy Florida. I got here a couple of days early so it’s going to be nice to get a decent amount of time in this particular place,” she says.

“I don’t quite have time for Disney parks but I managed to squeeze in a trip to the shopping outlet. That was my highlight.”

Henry, who is married to men’s Chal-

lenge Tour pro Scott Henry, is especially relishing life on tour having recently endured a lengthy spell on the sidelines with an injury.

The 36-year-old broke and dislocated her elbow when she slipped in the bath in late 2021, keeping her off tour and out of competition for several months.

“When it gets taken away from you it gives you a whole new perspective of, actually, you’re doing it because you love it,” she says.

“And when you’re not physically able to play and be out here on tour, it hurts. I’m definitely very grateful to be doing what I’m doing.”

Henry is also grateful that the Ladies European Tour has emerged from a difficult period with a fuller and more lucrative calendar than ever.

“The tour went through some hard years and in those seasons we only had 11 or 12 events,” says the two-time LET winner.

“You had huge gaps in between tournaments and there were times you felt

that you were almost unemployed. So to now be experiencing 30-odd events on the schedule is phenomenal.

“Your costs are higher but you have got a much greater chance of making a good living, which is all anybody wants.”

TEAM VIBE

The only event in which Henry surpassed her New York result last year was at another Aramco Team Series

tournament, the first of the five-leg mini-circuit, in Bangkok.

A share of third place in Thailand was further evidence that the unique format, which involves amateurs playing alongside pros and parallel team and solo scoring, suits her.

“It’s always a really fun event and it’s nice to have that team vibe,” she says.

“Ultimately, it is still normal stroke play, but because you’re a team and you’ve got an amateur playing with you, you make more of an effort to chat to them and the feeling’s mutual in the full group – everybody’s wanting to have a chat and a bit of a laugh. It makes for a relaxing atmosphere.

“It’s a tough one to set a target on weeks like this where there’s the team event so, to be honest, I don’t have a set target in mind.

“In Bangkok last year I was third so obviously I would love to improve on that – you’re always trying to better yourself. But my actual main goals are just to get out and really enjoy the week and play as good as I can.”

NTS: 2023 ARAMCO TEAM SERIES

It’s always nice when you play somewhere there are fun things to do off the course as well

KO WITH THE FLO: MAIN CONTENDERS

Top-ranked Lydia and defending champion Lexi Thompson are the biggest names but far from shore things at West Palm Beach

LYDIA Ko and Lexi Thompson look to be the women to beat when the Aramco Team Series rolls into Florida for the first time this week. World No3 Ko is the highest ranked player in the field at Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, while Thompson is defending champion of sorts, having won the US leg of the $5m series last year in New York.

But as a Ladies European Tour event there will also be a strong contingent from this side of the Atlantic, including Swedish sensation Linn Grant and this year’s pacesetter on the circuit, Aditi Ashok.

Ko swept the board in 2022 and picked up an early win this season at the Saudi Ladies International, but the two-time major winner’s recent form has been patchy, missing the cut at the Chevron Championship last month. Having finished tied for third in the Aramco Team Series – Singapore in March, the New Zealander, 26, will hope that a return to its unique format can trigger a bounce.

“After playing my way into contention in Singapore, I’m looking to build on my success this time in Florida,” Ko said. “I really enjoyed this format when I played in my

debut, and the team element of the event adds a new dimension and a bit of additional pressure.”

Fellow major winner Thompson was third behind Ko in Saudi but is also searching for her best form, having missed the cut in two of her last three outings. “My victory in New York last year was one of the highlights of my season,” the 28-year-old American said.

There should also be local support for two previous Aramco Team Series champions, Jessica Korda, who captained the winning team in New York two years ago, and Alison Lee, who claimed the 2021 individual title in Sotogrande, Spain.

They will be up against some of the LET’s finest in 2022 order of merit winner Grant, current leader Ashok, French former world amateur No1 Pauline Roussin and Spanish Solheim Cup regular Carlota Ciganda.

Grant arrives in Florida on the crest of wave, having won the Jabra Ladies Open last week. The prolific Swede, 23, has twice won back-to-back events in her short professional career. Ashok, 25, is the first Indian woman to rank in the world’s top 50 and has one win and four more top-five finishes already this season.

Jessica Korda has twice been a winning captain at the Aramco Team Series

Aditi Ashok leads the Ladies European Tour’s order of merit

Lexi Thompson won last year’s Aramco Team Series US event

THE SQUARE MILE AND ME

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?

It was running a stock room at a wallpaper warehouse.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB IN FINANCIAL SERVICES?

This was when I started out as a trainee at Linklaters and the rest, as they say, is history.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST KNOW YOU WERE IN THE RIGHT JOB?

At the point when (a) I stopped having to go the printers to review the prospectus (although the golf machine was always a bonus) or (b) I could really start to think strategically about my role and realised the breadth of opportunities I would have during the course of my career.

WHO IS THE BUSINESS FIGURE YOU MOST ADMIRE?

No single person but great admiration for those people who, in a deal setting, remain unfailingly even-handed and polite no matter how tired and stressed they are or important the issue being discussed.

WHAT’S ONE THING YOU LOVE ABOUT THE CITY OF LONDON...

That is an easy one for me. It would have to be the West End and everything it has to offer.

... AND ONE THING YOU WOULD CHANGE?

Never having had an office there would be the one thing that I would change.

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENT?

Finishing the Saharan Challenge last autumn – first time in the desert and brilliant experience. In work terms, completing the Ninety One demerger on the eve of lockdown. Two great clients, complex deal, crazy market conditions, huge team effort and the end of a 20 personal year journey that stated with the Investec float.

WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT?

The opening line of my first job interview in the City was “From your CV, I thought you’d be taller” – where do you go with that!

WE’RE GOING FOR LUNCH AND YOU’RE PICKING –WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Sparrow on Berkeley Street – great food, relaxed downstairs bar and really good atmosphere in the restaurant.

AND DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE POST-WORK WATERING HOLE?

67 Pall Mall is the perfect place to head

QUICKFIRE ROUND

FAVOURITE...

FILM: PULP FICTION

BAND: ARCTIC MONKEYS

BOOK: POSTWAR – A HISTORY OF EUROPE SINCE 1945 BY TONY JUDT

TEA OR COFFEE?: COFFEE

We dig into the memory bank of the City’s great and good: this week, it’s KPMG’s head of law Stuart Bedford on dealmaking, a strange interview question and his Premier League passions

after a long day of hard work. ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC FOR THE REST OF 2023?

I am – absent of another major economic or geopolitical shock I think we have started to see a better understanding of pricing and the deal pipeline will start to open again.

GIVE US ONE BOLD PREDICTION FOR THE CITY THIS YEAR?

We’ll start to see the main board IPO market return to life in the second half

of the year (although I am more optimistic about H1 2024).

WHERE’S HOME DURING THE WEEK? Richmond

AND WHERE WOULD WE FIND YOU ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON?

Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa Football Club.

YOU’VE A WELL-DESERVED TWO WEEKS OFF –WHERE ARE YOU GOING, AND WHO WITH?

Late summer in Tuscany – family bound to come as boys will never pass up a free holiday.

OPINION

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

The London Stock Exchange has now passed the zenith of its global influence

Roger Clarke

RULE changes announced by the Financial Conduct Authority, to encourage companies to list in the UK, suggest the watchdog is starting to understand that a culture that seeks to eliminate risk completely will succeed in eliminating returns completely, hampering UK investment appetite.

An unintended consequence of years of creeping regulation to remove risk for investors has also expunged the entrepreneurial spirit from the financial markets which once established London’s dominant position. Investors can and should be trusted to take responsibility for their investment decisions. Regulated markets are essential; riskfree markets are an illusion.

The FCA’s move follows the decision by the owner of the poster child for United Kingdom tech innovation, ARM Holdings, now owned by Japan’s SoftBank, to return to the stock market in New York rather than London.

The doom and gloom represented by the London Stock Exchange has only intensified. Last month top fund manager and co-founder of Lindsell Train, Nick Train fanned the flames by updating investors in his £1.9bn Finsbury Growth & Income Trust by saying the UK has an “unwelcome reputation as a backwater in 21st century equity markets.”

Train also pointed to our dearth of “significant technology champions” and the UK’s “dismal capital performance”, adding up to a few grim weeks, as bank and property stocks were hit in the wake of crises at Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank.

But are we obsessing too much about an exchange which boasts of its“trust and innovation since 1698”, a timewhen John Castaing’s Coffee House in the City of London started to publish a list of currency, stock and commodity prices including gold, ducats and pieces of eight? Twenty years ago it played a far more central role in national life and the investment world.

In the early 2000s UK institutional investors typically saw 50 to 60 per cent

of their holdings in equities, with two thirds of this money invested in British companies.

In 2002, former Chancellor Gordon Brown changed pension solvency rules to remove tax relief, which allowed pension funds to claim back the tax paid on dividends from companies in which they owned shares. This immediately raked in a £5bn annual windfall for the Treasury. Now it can be seen as the beginning of the end of UK equities investing which hit its zenith in the 1980s with the mass market flotations of the likes of British “Tell Sid” Gas and British Telecom.

This sum was partially offset by other tax reductions, but it did place a burden on pensions. We have since

seen a slow decline in the value of the UK stock market since it reached an alltime combined market capitalisation high of $4.2tn in October 2007, according to CEIC data.

In March this year, the market cap of UK listed companies was $2.8tn, compared with $40.7tn in the US. First, we need to see more support for start-ups and growing companies rather than bemoaning the likes of ARM Holdings opting to re-list in New York .

The Quoted Companies Alliance has some strong ideas, calling for less of the onerous regulation of small companies which now sees the average annual report totalling 95,000 words and 173 pages.

An average listed company’s annual

Let’s be honest, China won’t beat the West as it ignores the problems on its home turf

CHINA appeared totally unstoppable in the early days of Covid19. Lockdowns stamped out the pandemic. European leaders were begging President Xi Jinping for personal protective equipment shipments. After decades of strong economic growth and increasing global muscle, the Chinese system appeared like an alternative to dysfunctional Western democracies. Has the sleeping dragon awoken to shake the world?

The China success narrative is now much less certain. Just last month, the United Nations announced that India’s population had surpassed China for the first time. It means China might grow old before it grows rich.

China’s per capita income is just US$13,500 – 3.5 times lower than the United Kingdom and 6 times lower than the United States. Economic growth has slowed in recent years and may never catch up as an ageing population reduces productive capacity.

A recent study from Rockefeller International projects China will not overtake the US economy until 2060, if ever.

Matthew Lesh

They may be stuck in the ‘middle-income trap’ – producing manufactured goods but unable to reach the highvalue-added market.

Under Xi’s stewardship, China’s hope is large public investments in next-generation technologies. Suggesting that China simply copies the West is no longer accurate. There are homegrown tech giants. Additionally, if you throw enough public cash around, there will be some successes, like Huawei.

But the era of new tech giants like Tencent, ByteDance and Alibaba could be over. As Chinese entrepreneur Desmond Shum chronicles in Red Roulette, the relatively permissive environment for entrepreneurs in the 2000s

has reverted to a system of extensive state control and cronyism. Xi’s self-appointed lifetime tenure, his grip over the economy and society, and crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang could ultimately slow growth.

The extended disappearance of billionaire Alibaba founder Jack Ma, after he criticised China’s financial regulators, sent a clear signal. Any entrepreneur that could undermine the Chinese Communist Party’s control is treated with deep suspicion and risks jail time. Foreign companies are investing elsewhere; homegrown business tycoons are relocating to keep their money and families safe.

It’s no coincidence that the latest advancements in artificial intelligence are coming from the United States – from OpenAI and Google – rather than from the People’s Republic. It takes experimentation to achieve innovation. By contrast, in China, a party committee has oversight of every strategic decision in every firm. Capital is allocated to projects favoured by officials, often with significant kickbacks, rather than

selecting those that will deliver economic growth. The lack of free speech and political accountability removes self-correction mechanisms.

There are many other red flags. The housing bubble - which by some estimates makes up 29 per cent of GDP - is bursting, China’s debt is astronomical (275 per cent of GDP) and trade conflict will only make matters more difficult.

China also has relatively weak soft power and a lack of close alliances, other than perhaps Russia. Even the much-celebrated Belt and Road Initiative have largely funded white elephant infrastructure projects and entrapped poor nations in debt.

China will undoubtedly continue to remain important. In recent decades, humanity’s biggest achievement has been hundreds of millions of Chinese people lifting themselves out of poverty. But a China moving in an authoritarian and isolationist direction is seriously unlikely to surpass the West.

report is now longer than a Jane Austen book. Who is reading these tomes and how much are they, and red tape, hindering the creation of the ARMs of the future?

In their defence, the London Stock Exchange launched its UK Capital Markets Industry Taskforce in July 2022 and before this the government had announced reviews of the Financial Services Future Regulatory Framework, UK Fintech and UK Listing, feeding into the Primary Markets Effectiveness Review.

We also need to focus more on a sector where London continues to be the biggest in Europe: real estate. Over long periods real estate has proven to perform better than equities and gilts yet buying a stake in your local landmark building is only an option for the super-rich.

Here in London, we have created the world’s only dedicated stock exchange for real estate assets and portfolios where three companies are now admitted and one more is due to float. After this next IPO, there will be £600m of real estate assets across the United Kingdom traded on IPSX.

The UK is investable and can attract global capital: we just need to support and promote the innovators with new ideas, and government and regulators need to remember that the large cap main market of the London Stock Exchange is not all that matters in our capital markets.

We hope that the FCA’s moves are the first step in a long road back to throwing off the shackles that have enveloped the City over the last 10 years.

£ Roger Clarke is chief executive officer of IPSX, the real estate stock exchange

WATCH OUT Sadiq

Matthew Lesh is is the Director of Public Policy and Communications at the IEA

£

There has been growing concern over companies deciding to list overseas rather than on the London Stock Exchange

Khan, who has previously had to fight off few decent Tory candidates for the job as Mayor of London, now has a whole string of Conservatives on his back. So far Daniel Korski, a die-hard Cameroon, ex-City minister Paul Scully, and exJohnson advisor Sam Kasumu have put their hands up.

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Around the twist with Liz Truss

[Re: Hello from Taiwan, Comment pages, May 15]

Reading City A.M. has become quite an addiction now and I’ve been picking up your paper a long time now. Yesterday, after reading the serious piece on Greedflation in the economy, and a series of other excellent articles, I had to smile when I reached page 16,

with a short snippet of ‘Hello From Taiwan’. Reading that Liz Truss is in Taiwan, it is not clear who, ever, asked her to go.

I was thinking did she know why she is there, either? Maybe she wanted a holiday in China to see the Great Wall but by mistake reached Taiwan. If she want to be always in the limelight she should be doing something positive for the country, what she is doing now is only laughable and doesn’t make any sense.

Samuel Farooq Tooting

Ministers don’t seem to want a competitive tech sector, just a feel-good hill to die on

Nick Hurley

IF YOU were hoping for legislative proposals, which, at the very least, are honest in what they think of themselves, last week’s paper released by the government entitled “smarter regulation”, was as lacking in humility as it was in political nous. If you think about smart motorways and smart meters and all the other things billed as intelligent, the use of the adjective left me rather troubled.

One of the most eye-catching proposals, certainly to City types, is the plans to legislate away non-compete clauses longer than three months, in a bid to boost competition. On the face of it, this is a radical change, unpicking at the fabric of common law on restraint of trade that dates back centuries to the days of master and servant. It is unprecedented in the context of employment contracts to see laws passed by parliament curb restrictions of this kind. But is it really smarter?

More than 80 per cent of people in the UK are not worried at all about the robots taking over and stealing their jobs, according to fresh research by ID Crypt Global. Very few would normally accuse Brits of being overly optimistic.

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: STARMER WAGES A HOUSING WAR ON THE GREEN BELT

Yesterday Keir Starmer was on a mission to steal the spotlight from Michael Gove’s new laws on renters’ rights. “We’re gonna back the builders, not the blockers”, said Starmer, keen to make sure the electorate recognised they can trust Labour as the party of homeownership. His main line was that Rishi Sunak has let down a generation of potential homeowners by scrapping the housing targets. Starmer pledged to bring the targets back if Labour makes it into government. He also wasn’t scared of touching on

the controversial topic of the green belt, saying he will allow local authorities and councils to build on it if appropriate. He was keen to stress there is not one simple answer to the green belt conundrum: it’s not a yes or no, but it depends on where and how. On this topic, he might struggle to succeed more than he thinks. After all, it was Lisa Nandy, the shadow Secretary for Levelling Up, who recently opposed building on the green belt in her constituency.

ELENA SINISCALCO

As is usual, there was little detail. But we know the intention is not to stop the use of non-solicitation restraints, paid notice periods or gardening leave, and to keep protections around confidentiality. So the focus on non-competes is an odd hill to die on.

The disparate treatment of non-competes compared to its less intrusive cousins is not entirely out of the blue. In 2020, the government put out consultation proposals to ban such restraints or make them enforceable only by paying out the employee as compensation. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission is also pondering a ban on non-competes, which can often run to two years stateside.

The pro-competition rationale for this time embargo is interesting. On the one hand, the government hopes that

up to 5 million workers will benefit by being given greater choice and freedom to switch jobs. On the other, for employers, it is asserted that the change will allow them to grow and increase their productivity by widening the available candidate talent pool.

I am sceptical of the practicality of either objective. In the genus of post-termination covenants, the non-compete has always been at the very top of the hierarchy. Judges have always been most hostile towards these clauses as they seek to prevent a former employee earning their daily crust.

As a matter of public policy any noncompete that is unreasonably wide in length or scope is already bound to fail. Therefore, many employers have taken an unambitious approach when imposing these covenants on their staff. In the financial and professional service sectors, it is not uncommon for noncompetes to be either short or non-existent.

However, in some sectors such as technology, non-competes are seen as vital in the fight to protect innovative data and IP. Sir James Dyson has already expressed his dismay at the proposed lim-

itation and how this impacts UK tech, a sector which the government enthusiastically chest-beats, most recently calling the nation “Unicorn Kingdom”. The proposal certainly seems tokenistic and misguided. Does this purported pro-competition reform really make the UK more attractive to invest in? I won’t be the first or last voice to say the obvious: more cogent measures such as reducing corporation tax or improving infrastructure would be far more effective.

Why tinker with an established canon of common law that has built up over many centuries for such limited gain and at the expense of alienating the very industries that are competitive and at the upper end of the batting order for the UK business community? It is a zero-sum game.

This reform may of course not make it onto the statute book in the time remaining for this government. But any future prime minister needs to think long and hard about sticking-plaster promises on competition.

£ Nick Hurley is Partner and Head of Employment at Charles Russell Speechlys

In sectors such as tech, non-competes are vital to protect new innovations and IP

Sir James Dyson has defended the use of non-compete clauses

DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY UK workers not worried about AI stealing their jobs

Treasury Committee ‘gambling’ tag slammed as a backward step

CRYPTO leaders in the UK have branded a government body’s calls for unbacked digital assets to be regulated in the same way as the gambling industry as ‘an appalling backwards step’.

The Treasury Committee report, released yesterday, said cryptocurrencies “have no intrinsic value and serve no useful social purpose, while consuming large amounts of energy and being used by criminals in scams, fraud and money laundering”.

The damning dossier, compiled by a cross-party committee of MPs also raised concerns that regulating consumer crypto trading as a financial service – as proposed by the Government – will create a ‘halo’ effect, “leading consumers to believe this activity is safe and protected, when it is not”.

“Given the future benefits of crypto remain unclear, the Government should take a balanced approach to supporting the development of crypto asset technologies and avoid spending public resources on projects without a clear, beneficial use, as appears to have been the case with its now-abandoned Royal Mint non-fungible token (NFT),” the report claimed.

Harriett Baldwin MP, chair of the committee, drew a scathing conclusion over cryptocurrency as she submitted her group’s report.

“The events of 2022 have highlighted the risks posed to consumers by the crypto asset industry, large parts of which remain a wild west,” she said.

“Effective regulation is clearly needed to protect consumers from harm, as well as to support productive innovation in the UK’s financial services industry.

“However, with no intrinsic value, huge price volatility and no discernible social good, consumer trading of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin more closely resembles gambling than a financial service, and should be regulated as such. By betting on these unbacked ‘tokens’, consumers

should be aware that all their money could be lost.”

The Treasury Committee findings triggered some angry responses from UK crypto industry leaders.

Nick Jones, co-founder and CEO, Zumo, labelled the report as “an appalling backwards step”.

“Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, just as it looked as though the UK was finally getting its act together on crypto,” he said.

“Given the recent turmoil in the

traditional financial system, the UK should be looking to encourage alternative financial solutions, not discouraging them by likening them to gambling.

“A truly resilient future financial system shouldn’t be resistant to new ideas and structures, rather it should be supportive of them. And it should dare to integrate new ideas where they provide genuine value – not panic and revert to the perceived safety of failing methods.”

Crypto markets flat as traders wait on debt decision

IT’S been another slow week in the crypto markets, with the price of Bitcoin continuing to drift downwards.

The market leader has dropped almost five per cent over the past seven days to $26,700 yesterday evening.

Ethereum has dipped by a similar amount, falling below $1,800. It’s the lowest both major cryptocurrencies have seen since mid-March.

The slowdown comes amid ongoing concerns around the US economy. The US government is currently in a race against time to pass legislation that would enable

it to issue more debt and thereby meet its debt repayments in the coming months.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US will be unlikely to meet all US government payment obligations by early June without a debt ceiling increase, potentially triggering the first-ever US default.

In UK news, it appears that we may be drawing closer to controversial plans for a digital pound. Speaking at a think tank on Wednesday, Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said they “would not commit the time to the

consultation if we didn’t think we are getting closer, we are not there today, but we are getting closer to the point that if becomes a when and not and if”.

Although the market may have slowed somewhat, long-term investors apparently continue to accumulate and hang onto their BTC, according to recent findings by Glassnode.

“The current strong uptrend demonstrates that conviction remains high within the ecosystem,” the firm said in an update last week.

Data shows that long-term holder

supply has been growing over the last year and is at a record high of 13.4 million BTC.

“Long-term, high-conviction investors are holding tightly to their coins despite market volatility,” the firm explained. Glassnode classifies long-term holders as those who have kept their coins in their wallets for at least five months.

CRYPTO NEWS IN BRIEF

EU APPROVES MICA RULES

A SLEW of new rules to govern the use of cryptocurrency and digital assets throughout the European Union have been approved.

Member states of the 27-nation bloc adopted the legislative package known as Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) on Monday.

MiCA was endorsed by the European Parliament last month, paving the way for robust legislation to come into effect from July 2024.

Policymakers say the set of rules – largely designed around stablecoins – were designed to improve transparency and prevent money laundering.

BINANCE PULLS OUT OF CANADA

CRYPTOCURRENCY exchange Binance has pulled the plug on its presence in Canada, citing the country’s new legislation over investment limits and stablecoins. Securities regulators in Ottawa issued a 30-day deadline in February for unregistered crypto trading platforms to sign up to a ‘pre-registration undertaking’ requiring them to follow tough regulations on customer assets.

The sudden toughening up of rules –similar to the recent actions of the US – has seen several crypto operations withdraw from the Canadian marketplace. But few will carry the gravity of Binance’s decision to leave.

DO KWON RELEASED ON BAIL TERRAFORM Labs mastermind Do Kwon has been released on €400,000 bail as he awaits trial in Montenegro.

The 31-year-old faces charges in the Balkans after he was arrested together with Han Chang-joon – the former finance officer at Terraform Labs – as the pair attempted to board a flight to Dubai. Police officers discovered both men were travelling with fake Costa Rican passports, a set of Belgian passports, as well as laptops and devices that authorities in the US and Do Kwon’s native South Korea say they are keen to obtain. They are charged in Montenegro with forging official documents.

EVENT TICKETS AVAILABLE TICKETS for the Crypto AM ‘SOLSTICE: Unlocking Summer and Fifth Birthday Party’ are now available.

The event, to be held at The Boisdale Canary Wharf on Wednesday June 21 will be a day of panel discussions and a networking lunch from 9am until 6pm, followed by a party late into the night. For tickets, visit www.cityam.com/cryptoam-solstice/.

For sponsorship and partnership opportunities, contact James Bowater via james.bowater@cityam.com

FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS HEAD OVER TO

The race is heating up for the smartest City of London living - Adam Bloodworth looks at the competition

HOTPROPERTY IT’S TIME TO WORK AND PLAY

Crypts, former gladiatorial jousting grounds, dozens of gorgeous old pubs and even more shiny glass buildings: the City of London is an under-visited district rich with cultural things to do.

We should frankly all spend more time here on our weekends, but some folks already do.

Since 2021 and the middle of the pandemic there has been a raft of new residential properties being built as part of a plan to breathe life into the City and to reuse some of the muchreported disused office space.

It may sound hellish for those that like to get as far away from the office as possible on weekends, but for others, commuting has started to feel out of date.

The mood is changing, with more property companies building ‘mixeduse’ developments that incorporate homes alongside offices. They are making the idea of living where you work a more attractive concept by welcoming cultural attractions into the same spaces, creating multi-functional living and working spaces.

The push for more housing in the Square Mile benefits the Square Mile. Residents will go to pubs and bars, stimulating the economy, and more people will visit the gorgeous stetches of river and these storied streets.

Research by JLL found offices cost 24.7 per cent more within a mixed-use development than for a traditional stand-alone office, suggesting demand from companies is high.

“Our city and town centres need to become places for people to live, work, shop, eat and relax, adding diversity and bringing people in. A mixed-use approach is the direction of travel, signifying the end of an era where urban areas were zoned according to use,” says Simon Peacock, director at JLL.

The City of London Corporation agree. When they announced more residential properties were to be built, some 1,500 homes, a spokesperson said: “The Square Mile must evolve in order to provide an ecosystem that remains attractive to workers, visitors, learners and residents.”

Germany, France, the States and London are in on the secret. So if you want to join the future-forward commuters and move into the City as part of the cohort making it a ‘mixed-use’ destination of life and work, where can you buy?

At the Principal Tower residential building, around 75% of home owners work in the City. All of what property company Concord London call “affordable” properties from the 298 available in the building have sold out. Residents get a private gym, spa, screening room, pool and good views over London. The final 15 properties remain for sale.

The Haydon, another City property, hasn’t got specific buyer data but confirmed a “large number” of buyers also

work in the City. Studios and one, two and three-bedroom apartments are on the market, with studios starting from £795,000. (Slightly more reasonable than the £9.9 million two-story penthouse at the Principal Tower but hey, if you’ve got it, why not?)

At One Bishopsgate Plaza, Asian buyers outnumber Brits at 45 per cent to 40 per cent, although property company Stanhope PLC note that the percentage of Brits buying has increased since the building was completed two years ago.

Just over half the properties are still on the market, all with excellent views from at least the 20th floor, with onebedroom apartments starting at £1.3 million and going up to £4.4 million for the most lavish three beds.

But the City of London faces a stock issue in the longterm if it wishes to see through its dream of making the City a utopian space of work and play.

Like the rest of our capital, and our country, the Square Mile suffers from a lack of housing, certainly affordable housing. The district also suffers from the challenge of not having enough outdoor parks and green places to relax in, which is perhaps its biggest pitfall.

A handful of luxury developments will not be enough to reimagine the entire City culture, but it’s an exciting start to what is a much bigger dream.

The City of London Corporation’s plans also involve potentially allowing all-night cultural celebrations to take place in the City, and the offering of

cheaper rent to businesses that don’t typically like the appeal of the city, such as tech companies.

The NDT Broadgate initiative which ended last year was an example of how the City attracted in non-traditional Square Mile workers to enrichen the area. By offering creative writers and theatre practitioners free space to rehearse, write and collaborate in, the project ultimately contributed £40 million to the UK economy by returns from the cultural initiaties that were born during the project.

8.982 million people currently live in the Square Mile but some 513,00 people commute into it daily. It’s common sense to assu me a good number of those people would choose to live more locally if they could.

These new properties will be influential in our decision making as more of us rethink what the true meaning of ‘home’ really is.

To find out more about The Haydon, visit regal-london.co.uk; for Principal Tower go to concord-london.com/principal-towerlondon-ec2 or call 020 3883 3333 and for One Bishopsgate Plaza go to onebgp.com or call 0020 3515 0900.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LONDON PROPERTY MARKET

At the Principal Tower building, 75% of residents work in the City. All “affordable properties” are sold. Residents get a private pool

From main image goingclockwise, the Principal Tower; One Bishopsgate Plaza and The Haydon

THREE PROPERTIES TO BUY NOW IN THE CITY OF LONDON FOR OPTIMAL SQUARE MILE LIVING

One bedroom pied a terre

The Sky Residences at One Bishopsgate Plaza offer wonderful views out across the City. Each has warm design touches, such a stone work surfaces to draw the eye in communal living and kitchen areas, and floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows for oogling the view. onebgp.com or call 0020 3515 0900

Two bedroom apartment

Still available at The Haydon development is a 12th floor twobedroom apartment that is currently on the market for £1.7 million. It has a generous open plan kitchen, living and dining space and a terrace from which to enjoy views over the City. Designers have chosen to maximise light, space and privacy in their design, which overlooks a secluded courtyard. For more go to regallondon.co.uk

Two-floor penthouse

The penthouse at Principal Tower spans a massive 2,850 square foot across two floors. There are incredible views, given it’s on the 48th and 49th floor, as well as three ensuite bedrooms, generous living areas and a private terrace for raising a glass on after a long day. Interiors are designed by lauded firm Foster + Partners in collaboration with LIV Interiors to lend the space an elegant feel at odds with the chaos at ground level. concord-london.com/principal-towerlondon-ec2 or call 020 3883 3333.

ELEVATED LIVING IN THE HEART OF WESTMINSTER

The Broadway, SW1 offers a collection of contemporary apartments that seamlessly blend distinctive architecture with design-led visionary interiors. Discover the epitome of luxury living, complete with exclusive residential amenities and skyline vistas showcasing the city’s historic landmarks.

• Panoramic views of the iconic London skyline

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• A short walk from the renowned shopping and restaurant districts of St James’s and Mayfair

• Walking distance to St James’s and Victoria stations

• A selection of two-bedroom apartments available to rent furnished or unfurnished

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GOING OUT

EDITED BY STEVE DINNEEN @steve_dinneen

MIDSOMMAR DIRECTOR’S SELF-INDULGENT RETURN

FILM

BEAU IS AFRAID

DIR. ARI ASTER

BY VICTORIA LUXFORD

Ari Aster, the man behind the nightmarish horror films Hereditary and Midsommar, is back for his difficult third film. Some of his genre contemporaries have already experienced divisive third outings. Opinions were mixed about Jordan Peele’s Nope, while Robert Eggers had trouble with a bigger budget in The Northman. Can Aster succeed with a more comedic tale?

Joaquin Phoenix stars in the title role of Beau, a neurotic and paranoid man who is over reliant on medication and the approval of his mother (Patti Lupone).

When he misses his flight to see her on the anniversary of his father’s

passing, he embarks on a surreal and anxiety-ridden journey through his worst fears. There’s an element of The Emporer’s New Clothes about Aster’s dense psychological puzzle. Some may see a dozen different meanings, gleaning messages about pharmaceutical dependancy, parental relationships, and mental health. Others may just see a lot of

confusing scenes that tell you nothing.

In a sense, both perspectives are valid. The film happily sidesteps any formal convention to make a visually stunning, but narratively stressful experience.

Oedipal themes are hammered home, but Beau’s experiences are so wild that there’s little indication as to what audiences are meant to take from this.

Phoenix delivers a very big performance, which would seem hammy in any other context. Aster does an excellent job of showing you the world through his nightmarish perspective, so that all fellow cast members like Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan have to do is chuckle in order to deliver the worst kind of chills.

At just under three hours, Beau Is Afraid can be tough to stick with due to its tendancy for self indulgence. That said, Aster remains a filmmaker with a singular vision, and a talent for poking at our inner most anxieties.

LATEST FAST AND FURIOUS FLICK IS MORE WEAK AND WOBBLY THAN FURIOUS

FAST X DIR. LOUIS LETERRIER

BY VICTORIA LUXFORD

Nothing can stop the Fast and Furious franchise, even the alleged death of Cinema. One of the rare hits of the pandemic era, the ninth film in the cars and crime saga was popular enough to ensure three more films, with Fast X being advertised as the beginning of the final act.

The film finds Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) living happily with his son Brian, and his extended family of racers and criminals. Their domestic bliss is interrupted by Cipher (Charlie Theron), who warns him that Dante (Jason Momoa), the son of a crime lord he killed, is coming to destroy everything he loves.

Yep, it’s essentially the same movie all over again - a face from Dom’s past threatens his future, and there’s a worldwide chase to stop them. No one ever expected the Fast and Furious films to be clever, but twenty years and ten films in, they have lost touch with reality.

It’s hard to know where things get so weird. Maybe it’s the insane action sequences where Dom uses a car to neutralise a bomb. Perhaps it’s the odd subplot involving Jakob Toretto (John Cena), Dom’s brother who

has gone from ruthless killer to a cuddly comedy character who loves Marky Mark. Maybe it’s the relentless bickering of Tej and Roman (Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson) as they go on their own separate adventure.

All I know is that none of these expensively assembled elements fit together as a coherent story. This far in, that will be just fine for the franchise’s many fans. However, it’s difficult to argue that a film that cost a reported $340million can justify being “so bad it’s good.”

The poster for this new comingof-age drama boasts that it is “based on the book loved by millions.” For once, film publicity isn’t exaggerating. Judy Blume’s 1970 novel Are You There, God?

It’s Me, Margaret became a popular choice for American adolescents in the era, and its adaptation comes with the seal of approval from the author.

Blume actually went one further than simply approving of this adaptation, claiming it is better than the book it’s based on. That can’t have been said many times by authors before.

Set in the 70s, the film looks at a year in the life of Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson), an 11 year old whose life is upended by the announcement that her family will be moving from New York to

ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME MARGARET DIR. KELLY FREMON CRAIG BY VICTORIA LUXFORD

Aster remains a filmmaker with a singular vision, and a talent for poking at our inner most anxieties......

the suburbs of New Jersey.

She struggles with settling into the new school and friends, just as she begins to wrestle with the early stages of puberty. With the support of her mother (Rachel McAdams), new peers, and an unusual relationship with God, she attempts to make sense of these new challenges.

Director Kelly Fremon Craig captured the latter teenage years perfectly in 2016’s overlooked comedy The Edge of Seventeen.

As such, she is very well suited to document the warm but frank approach Blume had in her novel, especially with subjects like first periods and sexuality.

The movie captures how these everyday changes and struggles can feel like huge dramas at certain times in our lives.

It’s one of the few films you’ll see this year that doesn’t need melodrama to feel constantly intriguing. These are ordinary problems, faced by ordinary

people, in a story that makes them relatable for anyone at home watching regardless of whether they’ve been through the experience themselves or not.

Abby Ryder Fortson is best known to audiences as Cassie Lang in the first two Ant-Man films. Away from a blockbuster stage, she’s allowed to showcase talents that make her more than a match for established stars like McAdams, who has a lot more to do here as Margaret’s mother than was originally written in the book.

Kathy Bates is a brilliant as ever as the overbearing but well-intentioned grandmother, but it’s the likeable exploits of Fortson and her young co-star Elle Graham, playing Margaret’s friend Nancy, who steal the show. Warm and comforting, Are You There God… is a rare film that lives up to the enormous reputation of its source material. For the millions who held the novel dear to their heart, it will be a prayer answered.

7 QUESTIONS WITH BLEAK EXPECTATIONS CREATOR

Bleak Expectations is being pegged as London’s silliest show. It riffs on some of the best bits of Charles Dickens’ novels. Some of the parts we can imagine well in our minds, such as the grimy Victorian school in Oliver. Best of all is that you needn’t know anything about Dickens to enjoy the show, other than that the Victorian era was “a bit weird,” says the show’s creator Mark Evans.

Bleak Expectations plays at the Criterion Theatre until Sunday 3 September after many off-West-End runs that have made this play something of a cult must-see show eversince it was first performed on Radio 4 in 2007.

Read on to find out why show writer Evans thinks that 19th century Dickensian London wasn’t actually so different to the weird times we’re living through right now....

HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT YOUR BIG WEST END TRANSFER?

It’s a bit like I’ve eaten a giant bowl of emotion soup, filled with nerves, excitement and sheer incredulity that it’s actually happening. Luckily, the main flavour is excitement: it’s a joy and a privilege to have the show on in the West End.

WHAT’S THE LOWDOWN ON BLEAK EXPECTATIONS?

It actually originated as a Radio 4 series. I’ve always thought the 19th Century was a rather silly time — recognisably like our century, but stranger — and thus it made the ideal setting for a sitcom, especially if you add the bits of Charles Dickens every-

Q&A

one knows such as poverty, ridiculous names, cruel schools and so on. But I always thought it might make a good stage show — as did my friend David Wolstencroft (a fellow writer who created ‘Spooks’). So together we decided to try and make that happen. It took several years, many drafts of the script, some helpful co-producers and a whole bunch of other lovely, creative people, but now here we are…

AND THERE ARE SURPRISE GUESTS STARS EVERY WEEK...

The play is framed as a character narrating the story of his life, and it occurred to us that that it might be a really fun part for a guest star: they can pop up on stage every now and then, do some fun jokes and bits of plot and they can just read their lines from a large, leather book if they want. (Although most of them are so good they learn them anyway). And who wouldn’t want to work with all those great people, even if it’s just for a week at a time?

YOU CALL THIS THE SILLIEST WEST END SHOW BY FARWHAT CAN AUDIENCES EXPECT?

It is quite silly… but hopefully in a clever way. Plus there’s a proper story, some genuine emotions and lots of jokes and ridiculousness. And no-one needs to know anything Dickensian beyond the fact that the 19th century

was a bit weird. It’s the kind of funny, joy-filled, family-friendly show that I hope can give people an entertaining break from the ever more complicated and mildly frightening real world outside.

WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION THE SHOW IS ASKING, IF ANY?

Will you be able to get a ticket before it sells out? How much laughter can a human body take? Can evil be defeated by goodness and decency? In our show the answer’s yes… if only real life agreed!

WHAT IS IT ABOUT DICKENS THAT STILL ENDURES TODAY?

Primarily because he’s a great storyteller: his books are still crackingly readable — and much funnier than they’re often given credit for. But also because he’s such a brilliant observer of human character. So many of the people he creates are recognisable to us at types we still see today, from dodgy politicians to hypocritical dogooders.

WHAT WILL LONDONERS LEARN THAT’S NEW ABOUT THEIR CITY??

That you can walk through modern London, look around and realise you’re still surrounded by the Victorian city — with the Criterion Theatre itself being a brilliant example of that. But from the play they’ll also learn about 19th century waste disposal; how certain hugely rich areas of London weren’t always so; and about the little known but sordid art of street metallurgy….

CROSS THE TRACKS

Cross The Tracks is London’s premier jazz, funk and soul festival, taking place in Brockwell Park near Brixton. This one’s about “community,

FIELD DAY

Field Day was the original alternative music festival. Celebrating largely underground dance music and guitar music, it has met stiff competition recently from the likes of All Points East.

Nevertheless, Field Day still retains its cache as one of the most focussed places to catch new and celebrated musicians all year. This time around, the Victoria Park shindig welcomes Aphex Twin, Bonobo, Jon Hopkins and much more. Fielddayfestivals.com

HAMPTON COURT PALACE FESTIVAL

What about the magnificent Hampton Court Palace for a festival location?

Utterly gorgeous and fabulously regal, a series of outdoor concerts take place here between 6 - 17 June. Performers include Gladys Knight, Grace Jones, Kool & the Gang, Kaiser Chiefs, Tom Jones and Rick Astley. Expect a slightly older crowd, but with that, the perks of slightly comfier seating, but you’d be mistaken for thinking this lot can’t dance like their lives depended on it. Expect the night to turn into a riot by the time the hits are played.

Hamptoncourtpalacefestival.com

The best London festivals to book now for summer

recommendation for you.

MIGHTY HOOPLA

The biggest and best pop music festival in the country, Mighty Hoopla also has a strong LGBTQ following. There is a winter edition at Butlin’s in Bognor Regis, which is a whole load of fun, but the summer edition is much bigger, both in terms of acts and crowds. This year there’s Years & Years, Rachel Stevens, Jake Shears, Kelly Rowland, Kelis, 911, Aqua and many more throwback names.

Mightyhoopla.com

WIDE AWAKE

In Brixton’s Brockwell Park, Wide Awake sells itself on offering something properly different from the rest. Ideal if you’re looking to discover your next favourite band you’d never heard of, music spans indie, post punk, electronica, techno and jazz and this year’s line-up includes names like Daniel Avery, Alex G, Caroline Polachek, Molchat Doma, Osees, and much more. But the idea here isn’t to go lineup chasing. There’s a great street food scene too.

Wideawakelondon.co.uk

KALEIDOSCOPE FESTIVAL

This is a great festival if you like to do more than just listen to music. There’s a brilliant comedy line-up, as well as great immersive theatre, set in the grounds of Alexandra Palace, making this technically London’s highest festival. If you’re up for some dancing though, there’s some good names. Hot Chip, George Fitzgerald, Erol Alkan, Heidi and Fabio & Grooverider are all on the line-up.

Kaleidoscope-festival.com

ALL POINTS EAST

Taking place in Vicoria Park and with three major days of music, the All Points East festival has become a staple in most music fan’s calendars. It has a pedigree for booking the biggest rock and indie bands, with a strong dance music line-up too. This year there’s The Strokes, Stormzy, Haim, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and much more. There’s also a decent artisanal food and drink lineup, with some of the capital’s best gastronomic names rocking up to cook great food from the back of a van.

Allpointseastfestival.com

Man mountain Parisse deserves Euro title as he hangs up boots

IREALLY love European finals weekend. It doesn’t matter how each team got there, what’s important is that they’re in with a shout of winning one of club rugby’s big prizes.

That said, I think both matches this weekend in Dublin will see wins for the traditional European powerhouses, Leinster and Toulon, rather than the recent challengers, Glasgow and La Rochelle.

Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle are the reigning European champions but they’re up against a well rested Leinster playing at their second ground, the Aviva Stadium, in Dublin.

As for the Challenge Cup final on Friday between Glasgow and Toulon in the same stadium, I cannot see past the pedigree side from the south of France.

So, let me justify why. And let’s start with Friday’s clash.

TOULON V GLASGOW

I played with Sergio Parisse – a great of club, Italian and world rugby for decades – for three years at Stade Francais and what a man he is.

He is retiring this season, so Friday’s clash in the Irish capital will be his last European venture.

He changed Italian rugby, and he will

RUGBY COMMENT

Ollie Phillips

tude of other attacking stats.

It would be a cracking coup for Scotland to win a trophy through Glasgow but there’s so much emotion involved in Toulon reclaiming their status as European leaders and it being the last game for such a legend of the game that I think Toulon will edge it.

LEINSTER V LA ROCHELLE

Brian O’Driscoll did a pretty good job this week in City A.M. at looking at how Ronan O’Gara and La Rochelle can topple Leinster on Saturday and I am with the Irish great –I just don’t see how the province loses this year.

Leinster’s loss to close rivals Munster last week could be the spark for the Dubliners to turn around last week’s defeat into a fifth European title. Or it could be the catalyst for the downfall of their season and another demonstration that they cannot win the biggest games when they matter.

The fact is, however, that La Rochelle need to be perfect and Leinster do not. With their full force back in action on Saturday, Leinster can afford to make the odd mistake. I just don’t think La Rochelle can.

The Dubliners in Dublin simply must be the fancied prospect, even without the likes of Johnny Sexton. I’d be loath to go against Leinster so they’re my bet on Saturday.

RUGBY WORLD CUP BAROMETER

In association with

PLAYER OF THE WEEK George Ford, England and Sale

WHO’S HOT WHO’S NOT

always have a legacy, so it’s almost written in the stars that he and Toulon –who have not won a trophy since their third Champions Cup title in 2015 – will triumph against Glasgow.

The Scots look physically superior and as if they’re the ones to beat in this final, but they crumbled at home in a close game to Munster in their domestic league and I fear the same could happen against Toulon.

If Scotland is set to claim a European title, Glasgow could be the first to do so this weekend, but they must nullify the galacticos of Toulon.

These clubs have never met in this competition so there’s some anticipation there, but Glasgow top the tables for average tries per game, points per game and a multi-

Parisse was a great at Stade Francais before joining current club Toulon

This year’s European action has seen awful matches and absolute thrillers too. But it is a reminder of how good these competitions can be when teams take it seriously.

One thing I would like us to consider?

The inclusion of the winners of the Italian domestic Top10 in the Challenge Cup in place of the Cheetahs, who snuck in this season without merit.

It is not a slight on the South African sides from the URC –they’ve been fantastic –but I do think it is about time the European leaders start thinking about European expansion. And if they’re open to it at a club level, it might defer a similar debate at international level, where Georgia are calling for inclusion in the Six Nations Championship.

Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance, experts in leadership development and behavioural change.

Follow Ollie on Twitter and on LinkedIn

He’s no breakthrough player or overseas talent fresh into the selection conversation but George Ford thrust himself back in the mix for an England spot at the weekend by guiding Sale to their first Premiership final since 2006. The former Leicester and Bath fly-half is in a fight with Owen Farrell, Marcus Smith and Fin Smith to be in the World Cup discussion. The prestige of the No10 shirt comes with a lot of pressure but Ford proved he is back close to his best. England head coach Steve Borthwick will be interested to see how he plays in the final, likely against Farrell.

Jamie George has been managed by Saracens all year but the explosive hooker was brilliant in his side’s semi-final win over Northampton.

Jack van Poortvliet replaced Ben Youngs earlier than expected in their semi-final but the No9 missed a crucial kick to touch which cost Tigers.

Jack Crowley slotted a match-winning drop goal for Munster at the weekend which could catapult the utility back into the Ireland picture.

Ben Curry is set to miss the World Cup after suffering a serious injury playing for Sale against Leicester on Sunday.

I played with Sergio at Stade Francais and what a man he is. He changed Italian rugby

Toney hit with eight-month ban over 232 betting offences

ENGLAND and Brentford striker Ivan Toney has been banned from football for eight months for a catalogue of betting rule breaches.

The 27-year-old was found guity of committing 232 violations of the Football Association’s betting rules between 2017 and 2021 and was also fined £50,000.

Toney’s ban, which stretches into 2024, begins immediately but the Northampton-born player will be able to train with his Premier League employers after four months, in September.

It could, however, scupper any prospect of a summer move to Arsenal or Manchester, two clubs credited with interest in the centre-forward.

“His [Toney] sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission following a personal hearing,” the FA statement said.

“The independent Regulatory Commission’s written reasons for these sanctions will be published in due course, and the FA will wait to review them before commenting further.”

Brentford, who sit ninth in the Premier League said they noted the decision and were “awaiting the publication of the written reasons of the independent Regulatory Commission.

“We will review them before consid-

CRICKET

ering our next steps,” they added Toney has scored 20 times in 33 Pretop flight appearances thos season but will be unable to add to that tally as he will miss his side’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday and theirlast home game of the season against likely champions Manchester City.

Toney will, as a result of the ban, also be unavailable for England’s remaining fixtures this year.

They include Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta, North Macedonia –home and away –and Ukraine, as well as the 150th anniversary match against Scotland in September and friendlies against Australia and Italy.

The striker was an outside bet for a place in

Gareth Southgate’s 2022 World Cup squad after making the long-list but was ultimately left out of the travelling party.

Fellow England international Kieran Trippier was banned, in December 2022, for 10 weeks for handing out information for others to bet on a transfer move from Atletico Madrid to Tottenham Hotspur.

Bristol Rovers manager and former Burnley player Joey Barton was banned in 2017 for 18 months, reduced to 12 on appeal, for admitting to over 1,000 bets related to football spanning over a decade.

Bairstow feels for axed Foakes after taking his Ashes place

MATT HARDY

ENGLAND wicketkeeper Jonny

Bairstow said he has some “sympathies” for fellow glovesman Ben Foakes following the Surrey player’s exclusion from England’s Test squad versus Ireland.

Bairstow, who has recently recovered from a freak leg break, has displaced Foakes –seen as one of England’s in-form wicketkeepers –ahead of the Test side’s solo Ashes preparation match against Ireland in a fortnight.

Foakes has been a shining light in the national team since Bairstow’s injury but it has always been

difficult to see both players in the same batting line-up given their roles as keepers.

“It’s something [being dropped] which is never easy and I’ve been on the end of it, so absolutely I’ve got some sympathies for Ben,” Bairstow said. “I’ve no doubts he’ll be back in the fold at some point soon.

“I’ve always said as long as I’m in the frame to be in the side, then I just want to be out there representing my country...whether it’s the position I’ve been batting in or keeping wicket.

“That’s the decision that has been made and I’ll be out there doing my best.”

OLLIE PHILLIPS

My mate Parisse deserves a trophy before his retirement PAGE 29

HISTORY TO REPEAT? Moyes looking to replicate 2007 success

West Ham manager David Moyes has said he can topple AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands tonight having been the first manager to breach the Dutch fortress in Europe in 2007 when his Everton side beat Louis van Gaal’s men to end a 32-match record spanning three decades. West Ham lead 2-1 going into the second leg knowing a draw will be enough to take them to the final in Prague. “Their record is very good,” Moyes said. “But I have been here and won before. I remember it well. I have to try and do that again, that’s the job. I remember it because I have so much respect for Louis van Gaal and he was the coach at the time. It was my dad who reminded me about the victory, he was here then and he’ll be here tomorrow as well.”

Flash flooding washes out F1 Imola grand prix

MATT HARDY

THIS weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola has been called off due to flooding at the track in northern Italy.

Eight people have died and 5,000 have been evacuated from the region, parts of which saw half of their average rainfall in jst 36 hours. Water levels have been rising throughout the week, with the track near Bologna only separated from the River Santerno by a fence.

Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali called the decision “the right one for everyone in the local communities and the F1 family as we need to ensure safety and not

create extra burden for the authorities while they deal with this very awful situation.”

Formula 1 world champion and current series leader Max Verstappen said he also supported the move. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by the severe rainfall and flooding in the greater Emilia Romagna region,” he said. “We wish you all strength to ensure your safety throughout this period.”

McLaren’s British driver Lando Norris said: “I love racing, but the safety of everyone else is more important. Sorry to all the fans, we’ll be back Imola, stay safe.”

Teammate Oscar Piastri added:

“My thoughts are with those affected by the floods in the Emilia Romagna region. Sorry to all the fans that we won’t be able to compete, I look forward to my first race at Imola in the future.”

F1 said: “The decision has been taken because it is not possible to safely hold the event for our fans, the teams and our personnel and it is the right and responsible thing to do given the situation faced by the towns and cities in the region.”

The cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix means that this F1 season will have 22 races this year instead of a record 23. The next F1 Grand Prix is in Monaco on Sunday 28 May.

Qatar could step in and host Rugby League World Cup

MATT HARDY

RECENT Fifa World Cup hosts Qatar have expressed their interest in hosting the 2025 rugby league equivalent, the chairman of the sport’s world governing body has stated.

The Gulf state –home to Manchester nited bidder Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani –could step in after the original hosts France pulled out of staging the competition in two years time.

The move, if successful, would mark a new wave of sporting investment from the Middle East.

“We have received expressions of interest from New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa and Qatar already,” Interna-

tional Rugby League (IRL) chairman Troy Grand said yesterday.

“We are yet to make any assessments in regard to their viability, I’m just being honest about who has reached out.

“It gives me comfort that there is interest in our sport and our World Cup. How real or viable any or all of those options are, we’re yet to make any of those assessments.”

New Zealand would be seen as frontrunners out of the four options but Grant said the Qatari bid comprised two angles which combine both state and public funding.

England hosted the most recent edition of the tournament last year.

RUGBY LEAGUE

MATT HARDY

FORMULA 1

Toney was slapped with the ban for more than 200 breaches of rules

Why I worry IPL will become NBA of cricket

THE venality and self-interest that drive decisions in international cricket have been so well known for so long that we have largely become immune to them.

A new broadcast cycle for one-day competitions is likely to see a rejigging of the division of spoils among its members that will shift wealth even further towards the dominant nations, especially India. But because all will be better off, expect little dissent. Grubby, unfair, and likely only to further strengthen the Indian Premier League’s franchise owners.

The new arrangements, covering 2024-27, are projected to see India receive $231m (£185m) each year from the International Cricket Council, 39 per cent of the overall pot and more than five times England’s share. But English blazers won’t be too miffed: they are the second largest recipient and the overall growth in TV fees

SPORT COMMENT

Ed Warner

means its cash sum will rise even though its percentage take will fall, compared to the existing arrangements.

Essentially, India will have at last won a bloody battle that it waged with the other leading countries and lost eight years ago. But losing then was still a victory at the expense of the smallest nations.

A few years back, Dave Richardson, then ICC chief executive, described cricket to me as essentially a founder members club which had taken a century to welcome just 10 full members

(since expanded to 12). He cited only 1.5m people playing cricket in the 95 associate member countries. “When we get to 10m, maybe we can justify more of an investment.”

At the time Richardson argued: “If we were to give a weighting to what each country contributes, we should probably pay 75 per cent to India.”

This is the mentality that grips the ICC, incorporated in the British Virgin Isles, domiciled in the United Arab Emirates since 2005, and emotionally rooted now in India not St John’s Wood. Not that control from Lord’s would likely be any better.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has just announced a roster of non-executive directors. Recently appointed chair, Richard Thompson, has his new board. It looks curiously under-powered, with at least one appointment sending eyebrows higher within sports governance circles. With so much to deal with domesti-

cally, coupled with the shift in power internationally, let’s hope Thompson has got board colleagues with the necessary calibre to share the burden of governance and allow him to stand up within the ICC for what’s right for the long-term global development of cricket.

And for clarity, that’s not about England but the long string of smaller cricket-playing nations.

Cricket may yet become basketball, a sport played globally but which is dominated by a single country franchise league, the NBA. Other leagues

£185m

Amount India could get each year from the ICC under new arrangements

exist around the world. Some thrive. But ballers worldwide aspire to NBA riches and international competition is largely irrelevant outside of the Olympics (and even this fails to attract all of the biggest US stars).

It is not hard to imagine a future in which the IPL simply is cricket, its owners dictating the scheduling of ICC World Cups, whose profits are then disbursed around the world primarily to ensure a healthy conveyor belt of future talent for the IPL itself. Cross-holdings between the league’s franchises and teams in other lesser T20 competitions worldwide would cement the IPL’s effective control.

And if Test match cricket is your thing, just reflect that this version of the game barely makes a dollar for the ICC. So what price anyone in Dubai staking their career on defending it?

£ Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes at sportinc.substack.com GOLF COMMENT

OPINION

OAK Hill is a venue I know well from playing the 1995 Ryder Cup and I’m back in New York state this week to cover what promises to be a great US PGA Championship.

It’s a wonderful place and a really classy old course which has a rich history of staging majors, most recently when Jason Dufner won this event here 10 years ago.

The set-up has changed a bit since I played it and there is a school of thought that it will suit the longest drivers.

Having had a quick look I’m not sure yet, but the removal of hundreds of trees and lengthening of the par four 18th to 560 yards suggests it certainly won’t hurt those big hitters.

Majors tend to be set up to reward hitting fairways and greens, ensuring the cream rises to the top, so distance might not be the only important factor.

Last month we had a fabulous Masters and this US PGA Championship has all the makings of another great major tournament.

There are some top players in great form, notably Green Jacket winner Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and, despite missing the cut at Augusta, Rory McIlroy.

BEST ON THE PLANET

Rahm is definitely the best player on the planet at the moment. Still only 28, he’s a two-time major winner and improving with every season.

The Spaniard has plenty of power off the tee but is also brilliant at controlling the ball. The world No1 just needs to play his game and he will be very hard to beat.

Scheffler, who is from neighbouring New Jersey, is another all-rounder with no real weaknesses to his game.

Last year’s Masters winner has already got two titles in 2023 including the Players Championship, the unofficial fifth major.

The world No2 is yet to finish worse than 12th in 10 starts this year and looked to be coming into form when finishing in the top five last week at the Byron Nelson.

RAHM’S THE MAN TO BEAT AT US PGA, BUT LOOK OUT FOR BROOKS

McIlroy

Beyond the three favourites, I’ll be keeping an eye on Brooks Koepka, who is showing signs of the form that brought him four majors in less than two years, including back-to-back US PGA Championship victories in 2018 and 2019.

GUTS AND BELIEF

He was tied for second at the Masters last month and has challenged in his last two starts on the LIV Golf tour, where he plays most of his golf now.

Koepka has got great guts and self-belief; when his body is in good shape, as it now seems to be again, he is a contender at any event.

World No4 Patrick Cantlay is yet to win a major but it such a good player, a steady eddie.

He has just started working with Joe LaCava, who previously caddied for Tiger Woods and Fred Couples, and that could be both a boost and an advantage.

You can’t discount Dustin Johnson,

who won last week’s LIV event. DJ is a two-time major winner and was runner-up at both the 2019 and 2020 US PGA Championships.

Defending champion Justin Thomas doesn’t seem to have quite hit form yet this year, but Tony Finau is another shout to become the 10th first-time winner of this title in the last 15 editions.

One who could surprise them all is Jason Day, who won his first title for five years last weekend. The Australian former world No1 was magnificent, recalling a spell when he looked invincible.

Of the British contenders, my one to watch is Tyrrell Hatton. He made it back-to-back top-five finishes last week and I feel like he is going to burst through and win a major soon.

£ Sam Torrance OBE is a former Ryder Cup-winning captain and one of Europe’s most successful golfers. Follow him @torrancesam

US PGA SELECTED 1ST ROUND TEE TIMES

1:00PM - HOLE 10

Scottie Scheffler (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Gary Woodland (USA)

1:11PM - HOLE 10

Rory McIlroy (NIR), Justin Thomas (USA), Collin Morikawa (USA)

1:33PM - HOLE 10

Jon Rahm (SPA), Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG), Cameron Smith (AUS)

6:58PM - HOLE 1

Patrick Cantlay (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA), Phil Mickelson (USA)

All times BST

Sam Torrance

I’ll be keeping an eye on Brooks Koepka, who is showing signs of the form that won him four majors

hasn’t done much since his disappointing Masters but I’m sure that was nothing more than a blip and I don’t expect any lasting problems. If anything, he perhaps struggled with the great desire that he clearly has to complete the career grand slam and join that very top echelon of golfers in history.