Wednesday 2 August 2023

LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

LIONESSES ROAR ENGLAND THRASH CHINA 6-1 TO SECURE PLACE IN LAST 16 P18

HSBC HITS RATE RISE JACKPOT

BANK LAUNCHES $2BN SHARE BUYBACK AS PROFIT SOARS

CHRIS DORRELL

HSBC yesterday smashed expectations in its first set of results since seeing off Ping An’s split campaign, with rising rates helping the bank to record bumper profits.

In the three months to June, pretax profit hit $8.8bn (£6.86bn) – over $4bn higher than last year and surpassing the $8bn predicted by analysts.

The strong performance reflected the impact of rising interest rates around the world, which helped revenue rise 17 per cent to $16.7bn.

Chief executive Noel Quinn (pictured) said: “There was good broad-based profit generation around the world, higher revenue in our

POKER WORLD SERIES CITY A.M.’S MAN TAKES ON THE PROS P14

global businesses driven by strong net interest income, and continued tight cost control.”

On the back of this, HSBC launched a $2bn share buyback scheme and announced an interim dividend of 10 cents per share.

Looking forward, the bank raised its guidance for interest income and its return on tangible equity –a key measure of profitability.

“HSBC’s upbeat 2023 outlook… and another $2bn buyback announced [yesterday] confirm its strong outlook,” Tomasz Noetzel, a banking analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said.

The results are the first since HSBC successfully fought off Ping An’s campaign to spin off the bank’s Asia business, which

generates the vast majority of the lender’s profit.

Quinn said yesterday that the vote on the proposal at the company’s AGM in May was a “conclusive and decisive outcome as a vote”.

“We’ve moved on from there. We are now very much focused on performance,” he added.

Although Ping An’s campaign was defeated, the bank is still exiting a series of markets around the world as it attempts to concentrate on its Asian business. Finance chief Georges Elhedery said HSBC is reviewing exits from as many as a dozen countries.

While Quinn said the bank was keeping a close eye on the economic situation in the UK, he said it has only seen “limited signs of stress in the mortgage book”, reinforcing reports from Lloyds, Natwest and Barclays last week.

TOURISM BOOM London to cash in as tourists flock back to the City

LONDON is this year set to welcome over 2m more international tourists than last year, which is expected to inject an additional £674m into the capital’s economy, according to data from the London Mayor’s office.

London is bouncing back from the impact of the pandemic, with the capital already enjoying a very

successful summer.

“Our capital is roaring back with tourists from around the world joining Londoners in enjoying all of the fantastic attractions on offer,” Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said.

“Culture is at the heart of our city, and I’m delighted that our world-renowned theatres, venues, galleries and museums are helping to drive our recovery,” he added.

UK house prices fall at fastest rate in 14 years –but London market ‘stable’

LAURA MCGUIRE

THE AVERAGE price of a home fell at the fastest annual rate in 14 years in July, according to new figures published yesterday.

House prices fell by 3.8 per cent year on year, according to Nationwide’s house price index –the

biggest drop since July 2009.

Nationwide said the average price of a home now costs £260,000, down from £262,000 last month.

It comes amid a challenging period for the housing market, which has been dealing with high mortgage rates as the Bank of England hikes interest rates to tame inflation.

“Sellers may have to adjust to the new status quo in the housing market by being flexible on price, given the growing challenges posed by high mortgage rates and inflation,” Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst at Interactive Investor, said.

Tom Bill, head of UK residential

research at Knight Frank, said that higher borrowing costs “have knocked sentiment and forced buyers to recalculate their budgets”, but added that the property market “hasn’t slammed on the brakes”.

In London, however, the picture is slightly different.

John Ennis, CEO of London-based

estate agent Chestertons, said the capital’s property market “remained stable” throughout July.

“Whilst there were fewer first-time buyers with support from the bank of mum and dad, we witnessed an increase in cash buyers and highervalued property sales in excess of £1m,” he said.

LAURA MCGUIRE

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY

Housing crisis not just an issue for avo loving millennials, but for UK at large

HOUSE prices crash –first time buyers, rejoice?

Hardly. The near four per cent fall over the past year takes house prices back to where they were only a couple of years ago; and with interest rates and therefore the price of mortgages rocketing, the end result is housing remaining out of reach for all too many prospective buyers. That’s not just a problem for those avocado-on-toast munching, Instagram-scrolling millennials and Gen Zers, but for the UK’s competitiveness at large. A recent Economist article described the country as ‘Borat Britain’, nodding to the unlikely, fictional Kazakh traveller who perceived the most basic standards of living to be unimaginable luxury. It’s exaggerated to make a point, of

THE CITY VIEW

course, but it is also true that a country in which the trains don’t run, the health and care system is broken and housing is ruinously expensive should be doing a better job to address those issues.

The first third of those is inarguably the easiest to fix; it involves building more houses (or freeing others up to build more houses) that people want to live in, in places they want to live in.

Despite this relatively simple solution, achieving it has proved more challenging; a succession of housing ministers, who have entered and then departed their

DUUNNN DUNNN... Commuters stopped by unlikely sight in London yesterday

posts with more regularity even than Chelsea managers, have made the square root of sod all’s impact on our underbuilding. There is precious little sign from the Conservative party that prior to an election we will see a mass housebuilding programme, because the people that will one day live in heretofore unbuilt homes don’t yet vote in those constituencies, and those who do, do. Labour, too, are failing to grasp the severity of the problem. At its heart, housing is a cost of living issue. A radical reduction in the price of the roof above one’s head –through house prices and rents stabilising whilst wages rise alongside –would be transformative for the UK economy. As Borat might say, no high five.

Designing hydrogen plants

bp’s wider transformation is underway. Whilst today we’re mostly in oil & gas, we’ve increased global investment into our lower carbon & other transition businesses from around 3% in 2019 to around 30% last year.

LONDONERS walking along the river may have done a double take yesterday as they caught sight of three giant shark fins swimming down the Thames as part of a promotion for the upcoming film release Meg 2: The Trench.

Uber celebrates first operating profit in company’s history

GUY TAYLOR

UBER yesterday reported an operating profit for the first time in its history in its second quarter results.

Income from its operations hit $326m (£254.9m) in the three months up to July, swinging from a prior year loss of $713m. The New York-listed ridehailing app also raised its forecast for the coming quarter.

Trips during the period grew 22 per cent year on year to 2.3bn, with approximately 25m Uber journeys made per day worldwide.

“Robust demand, new growth initiatives, and continued cost discipline resulted in an excellent quarter,” Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said.

“These results also translated into strong driver and courier engagement, with 6m drivers and couriers earning a record

$15.1bn during the quarter,” he added.

Nelson Chai, Uber’s chief financial officer, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made, and Uber is well positioned to drive tremendous value for shareholders in the coming years.”

Despite the positive update, shares slipped back from two-year highs in the US,

Uber reported a 22 per cent surge in trips on its app year on year

falling around six per cent last night.

It comes amid a challenging economic backdrop, which has dented other ride-hailers’ margins. Rival Lyft has wildly underperformed this year after the firmslashed fares in a bid to claw back market share.

Cineworld emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy

JESS JONES

CINEWORLD has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and added Ann Sarnoff, the former boss of Warner Media Studios, to its board.

After filing for bankruptcy in the US last September, the embattled cinema chain has come

out the other side having slashed its debt pile and recruited a clean slate of management.

The firm yesterday said that the ‘New Cineworld’ had cut its debt by $4.35bn (£3.4bn), secured $1.71bn of new debt financing and raised $800m in new capital.

New boss Sarnoff, who left Warner Media in 2022 during its

tie up with Discovery, joins a whole new cast of board members led by chair Eric Foss and chief executive Eduardo Acuna. Foss praised the transformation of the company, which was badly damaged by the Covid-19 pandemic and hailed “the bright future ahead” of the cinema group.

Increasing investment in the transition to lower carbon energy and keeping oil and gas flowing where it’s needed. That’s our strategy. Right now, we’re designing two of the UK’s first large-scale low-carbon hydrogen plants, both planned to be built in Teesside. Each project is designed to reduce emissions, and will also help to create and protect jobs in the north of England.

And in the North Sea, we’re currently surveying beneath the seabed to hone in on the remaining oil & gas at one of our existing fields – supporting production at a time of critical demand.

The cinema chain, which suffered heavy losses during the pandemic, has slashed its debt and appointed new management

Robert Walters posts 60 per cent profit slump as recruitment battered

JACK BARNETT

A RECRUITER often viewed by analysts as a bellwether for the UK jobs market has posted a 60 per cent drop in profits as a result of firms trimming hiring amid the economic slowdown.

Robert Walters, which specialises in sourcing talent for the City’s biggest banks, brokers and insurers, said yesterday operating profits slumped to £11.2m in the six months to June. That is down from £27.7m of profits

clocked in the same period last year.

Profits before tax slumped by a greater degree, to £8.1m from £26.4m, or just under a 70 per cent fall.

“Candidate and client confidence has been muted throughout the first half of 2023... recruitment market fundamentals such as vacancy levels, candidate shortages and wage inflation have remained relatively solid, job churn has reduced,” Robert Walters’s management team said. Britain’s jobs market has held up

BP profit comes down - but still tops £2bn mark

NICHOLAS EARL

WEAKER refining margins and falling oil and gas prices has weighed down BP’s profits, with the energy giant posting a downturn in underlying earnings for its second quarter of trading this year.

The energy giant’s profits fell from £3.87bn ($4.96bn) in the first three months of trading to £2.02bn between April and June – while cash flow also dipped from £5.94bn to £4.9bn.

It blamed the decline on a higher level of turnaround and maintenance activity, weaker oil trading, and lower realisations for fossil fuels.

However, it regarded its gas marketing and trading as ‘exceptional’ which had helped the company still realise hefty profits, albeit much lower than Q1.

Despite the drop in earnings, the company has sated shareholders with the surprise announcement of a fresh £1.2bn buyback scheme – with its overall dividends rising 10 per cent to 7.27 cents per overall share.

During the second quarter, BP completed £1.64bn of share buybacks.

The decline in profits follows its rivals reporting similar drops over the past week for their respective second quar-

ters, with Shell’s earnings sliding from £7.48bn to £3.98bn over the last two trading windows.

Chevron, Equinor, Exxon, and Total also suffered a downturn.

Nevertheless, BP’s results were below industry forecasts, and expose a sharp year on year drop on the monster £6.63bn earnings unveiled in the second quarter of 2022, which were powered by a commodities boom following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

BP’s net debts rose further from £16.55bn to £18.45bn over the same time period.

Murray Auchincloss, chief financial officer for BP, said: “In the second quarter BP has continued to execute against its unchanged financial frame.”

In the latest announcement in the government’s unofficial energy security week, energy security secretary Grant Shapps will meet with some of the country’s major players at an energy summit in 10 Downing Street today, including EDF, SSE, Shell and BP. Shapps will encourage energy chiefs to outline their plans to bolster the country’s supply security, with the government pushing companies to meet their investment pledges to reduce the UK’s reliance on overseas oil and gas.

pretty well despite economic growth slowing amid high inflation and the Bank of England’s efforts to tame it with aggressive interest rate rises. However, vacancies have been steadily declining for around a year and now down to 1,034m. Financial services jobs – Robert Walters’s speciality – have slipped sharply.

Morgan McKinley reports open roles in the City dropped to 6,105 in the

BP’s boss Bernard Looney (pictured) said he was “delivering for shareholders” as he announced a fresh £1.2bn buyback scheme

ENERGY giant BP ensured its first priority was its shareholders, sustaining buybacks for investors even as profits started to slide in line with falling oil and gas prices.

CEO Bernard Looney confirmed the FTSE 100 company was “delivering for shareholders” as he hiked dividends by 10 per cent to 71 cents per share and committed to a fresh $1.5bn (£1.2bn) in buybacks for the current quarter.

The generous handouts helped the firm’s share price hold steady as it reported a big drop in profit to $2bn.

But $2bn is still a big number, and it has naturally led to scrutiny of BP’s investment and climate pledges, which it has already watered down.

The Institute of Public Policy Research

THE BOTTOM LINE

calculated in a report with Common Wealth that for every £1 spent on low carbon investments globally, they gave shareholders £9 in buybacks.

BP said the IPPR’s calculations only covers two of its areas of its low carbon investments, renewables and hydrogen, and does not include bioenergy, EV charging and its network of convenience stores. Last year it said it spent £3.84bn on these five low carbon areas – around half its overall level of share buybacks.

In the UK, BP pledged last year to invest £18bn over the current decade, with 75 per cent focused on low carbon

sources, which it said includes biogas and carbon capture technology. So far, it has backed three carbon capture projects and a green hydrogen project.

But a BP spokesperson told City A.M. there is no running figure for the amount it has invested in the UK so far, with all of these projects still in early stages.

The government has made it clear that it is happy for firms like BP to be a part of the green transition and crucial to the UK’s energy security.

But BP should move quicker on its UK investments, otherwise it risks losing the goodwill of this government. The next one might not be as friendly.

Number of ‘Isa millionaires’ triples from pre-Covid to more than 4,000

VICKY SHAW

THE NUMBER of ‘Isa millionaires’ has surged to over 4,000, according to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) figures. Some 4,070 savers were sitting on Isa pots worth more than £1m as of April 2021, according to the data obtained following a freedom of information request on behalf of financial services

network the Openwork Partnership.

The number of Isa millionaires has nearly tripled year on year from 1,480 in 2019/2020, according to HMRC.

The latest total is also around nine times the 450 Isa millionaires recorded in 2015/16.

According to the latest data from April 2021, the 50 top Isa investors were sitting on average pots of £8.5m. .

The average Isa millionaire pot was £1,397,000, with these savers being likely to have their money in stocks and shares.

Isas are ringfenced from the taxman with a £20,000 annual input rate. Savers do have a personal allowance, meaning many people do not pay tax on savings held in various types of non-Isa accounts.

NICHOLAS EARL

SARAH Breeden, a long time servant at the central bank, will replace Sir Jon Cunliffe, who served for 10 years, as deputy governer on 1 November under a five-year term. Breeden has spearheaded the Bank’s work on climate change since 2016.

INCOMING Sarah Breeden to replace Sir John Cunliffe as BoE deputy governer

Falling revenues drive down Man Group shares

CHRIS DORRELL

SHARES in Man Group slid yesterday after the hedge fund reported that its revenue had slumped in the first half of the year.

Although in line with expectations, performance fees were slashed to $32m (£25m), down from $404m in the same period last year. The London-listed hedge fund said this was primarily the result of the “sharp reversal” in markets around the March banking crisis.

Management fee revenue stayed more stable but this was not enough to stop overall revenue falling 40 per cent.

Meanwhile, pretax profit fell to $83m, down from $308m last year, although this was higher than analysts predicted.

Shares in Man Group closed to trade down 5.48 per cent after the update.

Despite the fall in fee revenue and profit, Man Group saw its assets under management hit a record level

of $151.7bn.

It also saw $2.6bn in net inflows, which the firm said was 2.5 per cent ahead of the broader industry. The inflows came despite a tumultuous first half, including the debt ceiling standoff, geopolitical uncertainty and March’s banking instability.

Chief executive Luke Ellis, who is stepping down in September, said the inflows highlighted “the broad-based demand we are seeing for the range of differentiated investment strategies and solutions that we offer”.

Incoming boss Robyn Grew drew attention to the recent acquisition of US private credit manager Varagon Capital Partners as the hedge fund looks to expand into the US.

“This transaction adds a US-focused direct lending strategy designed to provide consistent risk-adjusted outperformance at scale and in a highly customisable format,” Grew said.

Metro Bank swings back into profit despite drop in deposits

CHRIS DORRELL

METRO Bank achieved profitability in the first half of 2023 as its recovery from an accounting scandal continues.

In first half results posted yesterday, the retail bank reported a pretax profit of £15.4m, swinging from a loss of £10.5m the year before when the

Central bank gold buying at record high

NICHOLAS EARL

GOLD demand has been bolstered by record buying from central banks over the first six months of trading this year amid challenging economic conditions, according to the latest trends report from the World Gold Council.

The market development group revealed that while central bank net buying slowed to 103 tonnes in the second quarter – down 35 per cent year on year – it was still the highest first half of buying in the council’s records since 2000, totalling 387 tonnes over the six months.

bank faced significant restructuring and write-off costs.

However, Metro Bank’s deposits fell three per cent in the half as customers dipped into savings accounts.

Analysts at Jefferies said “investors would be right to question the trajectory of net interest margin” given the contraction in deposits and loans.

Shares closed 2.37 per cent in the red.

Louise Street, senior markets analyst at the World Gold Council, said the record central bank demand underscored “gold’s importance as a safe haven asset amid ongoing geopolitical tensions”. She added that “an economic contraction could bring additional upside for gold” in 2023, offsetting any weakness in jewellery demand amid a squeeze on consumer spending.

Gold prices are elevated at $1,947 per ounce, having climbed to nearly $2,000 per ounce last month.

Metro Bank became the first new UK high street bank to launch in over 150 years in 2010

Sausage roll sales fail to impress as shares in Greggs take a tumble

LAURA MCGUIRE

RISING sales at Greggs proved insufficient to whet investors’ appetites yesterday as shares in the sausage roll king took a tumble despite a positive half year update. The bakery yesterday reported total sales of £844m in its interim results, up from £694m compared to the same period last year.

Greggs also said that pretax profit rose to £80m, up from £55.5m last year, as its value goods continued to

impress.

During the term, it opened 94 new shops in the first half of the year, and shut 44, taking its total portfolio of sites to 2,378. The group also recently won a battle to open a flagship site in Leicester Square until 2am from Thursday to Saturday.

“Whilst uncertainties in the economic outlook remain, we continue to trade in line with our plan and are making good progress against our strategic objective to grow the frequency of customer visits

Brits’ taste for Guinness drives Diageo forward

GUINNESS maker Diageo yesterday toasted continued appetite for the black stuff despite price hikes, as the group reported a lift in sales over the last year.

The world’s largest spirit maker revealed net sales of £17.1bn, a 10.7 per cent increase, in its full year results published yesterday.

An uptick in Guinness sales was cited for the group’s UK growth, while organic sales in North America remained flat as demand for spirits in the US declined.

Diageo said a demand for premium-plus liquors contributed to 57 per cent of overall organic net sales during the term, which helped offset falling volumes amid the cost of living crisis.

Net sales in its Johnnie Walker scotch fell by 13 per cent and Crown Royal whisky net sales declined 10 per cent.

“We drove double-digit organic net sales growth in scotch, tequila, and Guinness, with our premium-plus brands contributing 57 per cent of overall organic net sales growth,” chief of Diageo

Debra Crew said in a statement. Crew replaced longstanding boss Sir Ivan Menezes after his death from surgery at the age of 63 earlier this summer.

She acknowledged challenges ahead, but said the brand was looking at ways to innovate in the near term.

It comes after the maker of Guinness last month said it will almost triple production of its zero-alcohol brand.

Chris Beckett, head of equity research at Quilter Cheviot, said Diageo’s annual results told a “mixed and complicated story”.

“Sales are still growing, but this is all due to price increases, rather than volumes. This is okay, premium brands are doing well but some subsidiary brands are struggling and Diageo is being a little vague in when they expect improvement to happen,” he said.

“For a quality business like Diageo, we would expect it to turn the ship around in good time but with timeframes attached,” he added.

Diageo’s shares rose marginally after the update, closing up 0.46 per cent.

through new channels.

“As such, the board’s expectations for the full year outcome are unchanged,” Greggs boss Roisin Currie said.

However, despite the robust set of results, shares fell to close down 7.68 per cent yesterday.

“Sales, profits and dividends were all up in Greggs’ half year results but the lack of any upgrades to forward earnings guidance left investors unhappy,” Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell, said.

Greggs’s popular value bakes helped propel half year sales to £844m

Travis Perkins profits slip amid housing slump

LAURA MCGUIRE

TRAVIS Perkins has blamed a weak market for its falling revenues as the home improvement retailer struggles to cope with dwindling sales and a tough economic climate. In its half year results published yesterday, the tools supplier said revenue slipped 2.5 per cent to £2.5bn and adjusted operating profits fell 31 per cent to £112m.

A slowdown in the number of new homes being built and customers halting investment in home improvement was also cited by the retailer for its infirm performance.

Domino’s Pizza shares soar after delivery of hot half year results

DOMINO’s Pizza Group saw shares soar yesterday thanks to a bleak winter which saw more stuffed-crust lovers staying in and ordering cheesy slices in the first half of the year.

The pizza delivery company yesterday reported a 19.6 per cent rise in revenue to £332.9m, up from £278.3m, in its first half results published yesterday.

Total orders from the doughy favourite were up nearly three per cent at 35.4m while sales also got a

Alcohol duty rise hailed as ‘biggest shake up’ of UK rules for decades

LAURA MCGUIRE

THE ALCOHOL duty that came into force yesterday has been hailed as the “biggest shake up the rules have seen for decades”, according to a hospitality chief.

The price of beer and wine increased yesterday as part of plans previously set out in the Spring Budget by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

The measure represents an end to the blanket alcohol duty freeze introduced in the Autumn Budget in 2020 during the pandemic and will instead see alcohol taxed by strength.

The duty hikes will bring in price rises affecting 90 per cent of wines sold in the UK, according to the wine and spirit trade association WSTA.

“The alcohol duty changes that come into force today are the biggest

shake up the rules have seen for decades,” Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKhospitality, said.

“The differential rate of beer and cider duty is an extremely welcome measure that highlights the economic and social benefits of enjoying hospitality businesses. The support for lower-strength is also a positive step and will accelerate the innovation the sector is invested in.”

boost of around eight per cent to £766.4m, up from £710.5m in the same period last year.

The uplift came as the chain opened 29 new stores with 11 franchise partners in the first half of 2023.

Shares closed up 13.07 per cent after the positive update.

The results come a couple weeks after Domino’s appointed a new top dog, Andrew Rennie. Rennie, who joined Domino’s yesterday and will become chief executive on 7 August, has previously been its chief in France and Belgium, Australia and Europe.

“Market conditions have been challenging, which is reflected in both our first half performance and our outlook for the balance of the year,” Nick Roberts, chief executive officer at Travis Perkins, said.

“The group remains focused on striking the appropriate balance between seeking to protect shorter term profitability, delivering our strategic objectives and being well placed to benefit when market conditions improve.”

Shares in the firm bounced two per cent after the update despite the downbeat tone.

It comes after the group issued a profit warning earlier this summer after a weak spring rebound in property sales amid sky high interest rates led to a poor sales performance.

BYE THE NOU Irn Bru chief executive to step down after two decades at the helm

AG BARR boss Roger White yesterday said he would be stepping down after nearly 20 years at the helm. The news came alongside a positive update from the Irn Bru maker, which said it expects £210m in half year revenues.

LAURA MCGUIRE

The pizza behemoth opened 29 new stores in the first half of the year

JESS JONES

Toyota doubles profits as electric push ramps up

GUY TAYLOR

TOYOTA Motor Corp yesterday said it had nearly doubled its profits in its first quarter, on the back of strong sales and an improved supply of semi-conductors.

The Japanese automaker saw operating profits for the period between April and June rise 94 per cent to 1.2 trillion yen (£6.12bn), up from 578.66bn yen year-on-year. Sales revenues jumped 24.2 per cent to 10.5 trillion yen.

The world’s largest carmaker put the increase in sales across all regions down to productivity improvement efforts promoted with suppliers.

This was in addition to an improvement in the supply and demand situation for semiconductors.

However, it noted some delivery delays for its newer models.

The results give the first indication of Toyota’s performance following the unveiling of a series of new strategies to bolster its performance in the electric

vehicle (EV) market, namely in China where it has struggled to keep up with competitors BYD, Tesla and Xpeng.

Sales of its EV vehicles increased 30 per cent for the quarter.

In June, Toyota unveiled what it described as groundbreaking new EV battery technology to improve the range and shorten charging times for its electric makes.

Toyota claims the technology will “change the future of EVs” by massively reducing the cost and efficiency of its electric cars.

The Tokyo-based automaker had already pledged a cash injection of $35bn (£27.76bn) by 2030 to move to a cleaner fleet, but has faced a number of challenges including an aggressive price war in China with Elon Musk’s Tesla.

In January, Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda announced that he would step down as head of the firm to become chair, and was replaced by Koji Sato, amid the overhaul of its EV strategy.

Chemring launches £50m share buyback scheme

GUY TAYLOR

CHEMRING yesterday launched a £50m share buyback programme, prompting shares in the British aerospace technology supplier to jump over four per cent.

The FTSE-250 firm said it would purchase up to 28.4m ordinary shares, with its dividend policy “unaffected”.

Chemring chief Michael Ord said the programme would “provide us with additional flexibility to deliver value for our shareholders and...

BMW outlook lifted but supply issues to roll on

VICTORIA WALDERSEE

BMW YESTERDAY lifted its annual outlook for its margin on earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the automotive segment but said it foresaw ongoing challenges from supply chain issues and inflation.

Last week, the firm reported a £142m pretax loss for the half year and £1bn in debts

Aston Martin raises £216m to clear debts and bolster EV shift

GUY TAYLOR

ASTON MARTIN yesterday said it had successfully raised £216.1m through a share placing scheme so as to pay down debts that have held back the firm over the last few years and bolster its electrification strategy.

The luxury marque said that just over 58m shares had been distributed, raising proceeds of £216.1m at a price of 371p per share – a discount of 6.2 per cent on Monday’s closing price of 395p. Shares closed down 2.12 per cent

after the update yesterday.

Aston Martin said the capital would “further deleverage its balance sheet” and accelerate its goal of evening out its debt to earnings ratio, while supporting future investments in the company’s push to electrify its fleet.

A significant part of the marque’s strategy has involved heavy investment in an electrification push to up its production of ultra-luxury EVs. It currently plans to inject £2bn over the next five years with the goal of producing its first EV by 2025.

The carmaker’s forecast mirrored that of competitors such as Mercedes-Benz, which also raised its earnings outlook but warned the macroeconomic environment would continue to weigh on output.

BMW now expects an EBIT margin on its cars division of 9-10.5 per cent from 8-10 per cent previously, and expects solid growth in its deliveries, up from a previous forecast of only slight growth, on the basis of a strong order bank and improved availability of its premium vehicles.

But it reduced its forecast for free cash flow to above €6bn ($6.58bn) from €7bn previously, citing the need to stock up its inventories and higher investment in electrification. The preliminary results and outlook adjustment failed to impress markets in Germany and Europe.

Full quarterly results will be published on 3 August.

FROM DRAB TO FAB Piccadilly Line trains to be replaced with new models – with air con –for the first time since the 1970s

balance near-term performance with longer-term growth and value creation”.

Chemring supplies explosives used in missiles and weapon detection technology and has benefitted from a surge in orders this year due to a global rise in defence spending.

Ord said in June the firm had seen a “fundamental change in the security landscape” as the company’s order book hit a record £750m.

Chemring’s buyback scheme is expected to be completed by 31 July 2024.

ANNOUNCEMENTS LEGAL AND PUBLIC NOTICES

Re: Lau Kwok Leung Tso (“the Tso”)

We, the undersigned have instructions to represent the Tso in dealing with the Tso’s property and would like to invite Mr Lau Kwai Fong, the issue / son of the late Mr. Lau Shu Sang (deceased) to contact our Mr. Peter Yeung / Ms Peggie Ho at (852) 25861881 or peteryeung@hlly.com.hk so to arrange for a meeting of the Tso to resolve the matter regarding the disposal of the Tso’s property.

Hau, Lau, Li & Yeung

Solicitors

Unit 1720, 17th Floor Tower 1, Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2586 1881

Fax: (852) 2596 0909

Reuters

LONDON is close to welcoming 94 new shiny new Piccadilly Line trains, after the first of a new Siemens-built batch went for testing in Germany. Transport for London said the state-of-the-art tube trains had gone for trials at a test and validation centre in Wegberg-Wildenrath, Germany. The new tube trains are set to grace London rails from 2025 onwards, and will be put through their paces to ensure safety standards. The old trains have been in operation since the early 1970s.

Cazoo shares spiral despite rise in profits

GUY TAYLOR

SHARES in struggling used-car retailer Cazoo tumbled yesterday as investors showed a lack of confidence in the firm’s restructuring and drive to rebound after last year’s crises.

Losses improved by nearly 37 per cent year on year in the six months to June, narrowing from £241m to £151m – but this was not enough to stop shares tumbling over 12 per cent.

The London-headquartered but New York-listed firm also reported a rise in gross profits of 283 per cent from £6m to £23m.

Cazoo has been hit particularly hard

by the challenging backdrop of inflation, high interest rates and supply chain problems since it first floated in the US in 2021.

Shares fell a staggering 95 per cent in 2022, with the company forced to lay off hundreds of staff and pull out of its EU operations under the weight of mounting costs and a dry-up in consumer spending.

This ultimately prompted the resignation of founder and former CEO Alex Chesterman in January, with new boss Paul Whitehead brought in to restructure the business and cut costs.

Since then, Cazoo has seen signs of progress, with a rise in gross profits in

its April results indicating the beginnings of a turnaround under the new chief, who proclaimed that its new strategy had begun to bear fruit.

Whitehead yesterday said he was “pleased with the decisive and meaningful progress we have made to improve unit economics, optimise our fixed cost base and maximise our cash runway in the first six months of 2023. The results show tangible progress across all areas of the business”. Revenues, however, were still down 28 per cent to £419m, with vehicle sales also down 29 per cent, indicating that demand problems for the online car retailer remain a hurdle.

UK manufacturing sector shrinks at fastest rate since 2020 as exports fall

AUGUST GRAHAM

THE UK’s manufacturing sector shrank at its fastest rate for three years in July after 12 months of decline, a new influential survey has suggested.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI survey read 45.3 in July, compared with 46.5 in June.

It is the joint-worst performance for the sector since May 2020, indicating that it is shrinking fairly rapidly.

It marks 12 months of decline for the

sector, although it is slightly better than the expected 45.0 score.

The survey found companies were hit by weakening exports, as the fall in exports was among the fastest in three years.

Manufacturers blamed a weakening global market, which hit demand from most parts of the world.

The number of people employed in the sector also dropped as firms tried to protect their margins.

While the prices companies paid for

Pfizer’s revenue drops by half as vaccine sales dip

He added: “The Covid environment continues to evolve rapidly and remains highly unpredictable.”

supplies dropped again, almost as rapidly as June’s more than seven-year high, businesses did not reduce the amount they charged customers.

Firms said they kept their own prices steady to recover lost margins.

Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The only upside is that prices are falling in this environment of sharply deteriorating demand, with cost pressures also helped lower by further repair to supply chains.”

Social media top sales driver for SME firms

JESS JONES

SOCIAL MEDIA is the number one force helping businesses in the UK turn a profit according to new research from BT.

US DRUGMAKER Pfizer yesterday reported that revenue more than halved during the second quarter of the year as global demand for its Covid-19 vaccines plummeted.

It reported disappointing revenues of $12.7bn (£9.9bn) in the three months to June – down 54 per cent, or $15bn, from the second quarter last year.

Pfizer blamed the results, which didn’t quite meet analyst expectations of $13.3bn, on waning demand for its Covid-19 vaccines.

Revenues for Comirnaty and Paxlovid respectively fell 98 per cent and 82 per cent, compared with the second quarter in 2022.

David Denton, CFO and executive VP, said the company believes it is “well positioned for accelerated growth of our Covid products in the second half of 2023”.

It’s a tough pill to swallow for the once-dominant coronavirus vaccine maker, who also said it will wait one more quarter before launching a costcutting programme if its Covid treatments keep underperforming.

Astrazeneca has also suffered from falling sales of Covid medicines, although it reported that an uptick in

oncology treatments offset this decline last week.

The poor sales performance comes as it plans to strike a $43bn deal to buy global biotech company Seagen, which develops cancer medicines, and is currently in discussions with international regulators. The acquisition is expected to close in late 2023 to early 2024.

A survey by the telecoms firm has discovered 28 per cent of small businesses say they generate more sales through social platforms than from e-commerce or physical stores. Facebook was crowned as the leading social media channel for driving sales by 500 business or sidehustle owners in the UK, followed by Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok.

Meta

set

to

launch AI-powered chatbots in bid to lure back users

the plans.

META, the parent company of Facebook, is reportedly gearing up to deploy a squadron of AI-powered chatbots, each with their own distinctive personalities, in an effort to cling on to a dwindling user base. Meta has been crafting prototypes for these chatbots, aptly named “personas”, the Financial Times has reported, citing sources familiar with

The launch of these chatbots is expected as early as next month, as the tech giant tries to keep pace with the AI frenzy that has engulfed Silicon Valley since OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT last year.

It’s newest social media experiment, ‘Threads’, gained 100m sign ups in a week, but active users quickly fell,. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

“Some of today’s most successful businesses were built on social media,” said Chris Sims, MD of small and medium enterprise at BT. “At a time when business owners face rising costs, social channels can offer small businesses a competitive advantage: helping them reach, and engage with, new audiences – and ultimately drive sales,” he said.

Yet despite over three quarters of business owners relying on social media platforms or their online presence to drive sales, one in five feels “behind the times” as they grapple with the ever-changing social media landscape, including advertising rules, algorithm complexities and evolving consumer behaviours.

How has a lack of X-citement for Musk affected Twitter’s brand perceptions?

IS ELON MUSK bad for Twitter’s brand? Recent YouGov data suggests that the British public’s attitude towards the Tesla/SpaceX/X exec is worsening (61 per cent of Britons and 67 per cent of Twitter users have an unfavourable opinion of him), and Twitter users have a worse opinion of the platform than before he took over.

What’s more, the changes made over the past weeks – which have included introducing viewing limits for registered users, blocking unregistered users from using the site, and an in-progress, poorly-received rebrand to “X” – don’t appear to have righted the ship. Over the last month (30 June – 31 July), Twitter’s Impression scores, which measure general sentiment towards a brand, went from bad (-9.6) to worse (-18.1), deteriorating by -8.5 points.

Since the restrictions on viewing were imposed, Twitter’s Quality scores also fell seven points from -2.1 to -9.1 – suggesting that the changes had an impact on user experience. Musk, for his part, has said that these restrictions are temporary. For the moment, however, they have had an adverse impact on consumer advocacy: over the past month, Recommend scores went from -5.2 to9.9 (-4.7), while Customer Satisfaction scores declined from 5.2 to 0.0 (-5.2).

Index scores, a measure of overall brand health, deteriorated from -3.8 to -9.0 (5.2) during the same period. So, safe to say that, so far, the changes to the Twitter experience haven’t been well-received, and that the “X” rebrand has not done much, if anything, to improve the situation. If we cast our minds back to the day Twitter was taken over (October 27, 2022), the picture appears worse: Impression scores were at -1.7 and have since fallen to a more recent score of -18.1 (-16.4), while Index scores went from 2.7 to -9.0. Musk’s plans to turn Twitter into an everything app are certainly ambitious; whether they can be realised – and turn things around for the company – remains an open question.

Stephan Shakespeare is the co-founder and CEO of YouGov

SENTIMENT TOWARDS TWITTER GOT WORSE OVER THE PAST MONTH

JESS JONES

One of the chatbots is said to have the personality of Abraham Lincoln (not pictured)

JESS JONES

The closely-watched study showed the manufacturing sector is flailing

Stephan Shakespeare

The vaccine maker has seen demand fall since the end of the pandemic

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SP-OILED RESULTS

HSBC leaps while BP gives up gains in mixed day for FTSE

LONDON’s FTSE 100 kicked lower yesterday after a clutch of mixed results puzzled investors. The capital’s premier index fell 0.43 per cent lower to 7,666.26 points, while the domestically-focused midcap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, slipped 0.41 per cent to 19,065.66 points.

A set of results that initially led the FTSE 100 higher were received in subdued fashion by City traders.

Oil giant BP followed in the footsteps of its peer Shell in announcing a big profit slide as a result of oil prices dropping from their steep levels after Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.

The firm headed by Bernard Looney said earnings came in at £2bn in the latest quarter, down from £6.5bn in the same period last year.

Despite the profit slump, the commodities titan said it will buy back over a £1bn of investors’ shares, although that wasn’t enough to impress investors. Its FTSE 100-listed shares closed 0.26 per cent lower after climbing to near the summit of the premier index during morning trading.

Shell was down marginally.

Britain’s largest bank HSBC announced a huge profit upsurge, compelling it to launch a fresh share buyback programme of £1.5bn.

That investor gift sent the Asia-focused conglomerate’s FTSE 100-listed shares up 1.33 per cent and to fourth on the biggest risers table. Like other lenders, HSBC has benefitted from central banks around the world lifting interest rates in a bid to tame scorching inflation. It has allowed them to charge more for loans.

Soft drink company AG Barr said in a trading statement that it expects revenue in the first half to be up to a third higher than last year at £210m. This represents the takeover of Boost and the full contribution of Moma. Analysts at Peel Hunt noted that “volumes have also improved”. They maintained a ‘buy' rating with a target price of 600p.

Pizza giant Domino’s said like-for-like sales had remained strong in the first half and debt had fallen. “With Andrew Rennie joining, franchisees expanding and contributing to national promotions, DOM is great shape,” analysts at Peel Hunt wrote. They suggested that there was scope for increasing the amount of cash returned to shareholders. The analysts rated it a ‘buy’ with a target price of 375p.

“BP’s results echo those of its rivals like Shell, suffering from lower profits amid tough year-onyear comparables following last year’s blockbuster period for oil when energy prices soared on the back of the war in Ukraine.”

VICTORIA SCHOLAR INTERACTIVE INVESTOR

OPINION

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

Climate investors will flock to the EU if we keep dulling our green ambitions

Ted Christie-Miller

LAST year, financial services giant

BNP Paribas made a major pivot towards financing low-carbon energies, with €28.2bn of investment. This year in its climate strategy, Natwest quoted Chris Skidmore, the Conservative MP who led the government’s net zero review, when they said the green agenda represents “the growth opportunity of the 21st century.” The desire from major financial institutions to finance and enable net zero is there, and it exists across the private sector, as shown by 100 of the biggest businesses who penned a letter to the government calling for greater climate clarity and action.

But over the last week, the UK government has quietly started shelving green policies, and has now made it cheaper to pollute through the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. This is an unnerving indicator that there is no clear strategy on emissions reductions or a desire to encourage them. This is, of course, a blow to the UK’s ambitions to reach net zero, but what is equally concerning is the damage this could do to the UK’s prospects as a global innovator for rapidly growing green technologies. The government is sending mixed signals which will damage investor confidence in a potential multi-billion-pound green technology market.

To address first the impact on our pathway to net zero, cutting the price of carbon shows that government ambition on climate is simply too low. Carbon pricing is a hugely effective mechanism to channel capital into impactful climate solutions - and the widening gap in carbon pricing between the UK and the EU risks us losing our lead in decarbonisation.

Businesses cannot allow the lack of government strategy to draw focus away from their own net zero ambitions. Instead, they must turn their heads towards further investment in voluntary reductions. The voluntary carbon market – where investors can buy, sell and trade carbon credits – is

the mechanism to do this, and it’s rapidly scaling into an effective force for global change. It means businesses can still invest in projects which will help

reduce carbon on a global scale, and ratings agencies help scale the market by providing analysis on carbon credit quality.

Although the voluntary carbon market can go a significant way to supporting climate action from the private sector, there remain broader consequences from the cuts to carbon pricing which will impact green technologies. Take, for example, the technological carbon removal sector. Put simply, carbon removal technology sucks carbon out of the air to store it in the ground. Imagine, if you will, a big mechanical tree.

At present, the market for technological carbon removal is small - totalling

As mortgages go up, Britons’ inability to do maths is putting them in financial peril

BRITAIN is facing its worst costof-living crisis in recent memory and with inflation spiralling, interest rates have reached their highest level since 2008. Tomorrow Brits will learn whether the Bank of England will raise rates for the 14th time in a row and with people across the country struggling with the rising cost of mortgages, credit and bank loans, the decision will have ramifications for households in all corners of the UK. But while the Bank of England struggles to bring prices down, a lack of financial literacy is costing the average UK household around £2,850 every year, according to Allianz research. More than a quarter of Brits exhibit only “low financial literacy” and lack the skills to make sound financial decisions. Over a 10 year period, this lack of financial knowledge and skills can amount to £40,647 compared to those with the financial basics down pat.

Striking gender disparities also exist within the UK, with more women

Ludovic Subran

found to exhibit low financial literacy than men (35 per cent of women versus 17 per cent of men). In addition, women were more likely to answer “don’t know” to one or more of the financial literacy quiz questions, which suggests low faith in their financial knowledge and decision-making. Finally, there is a clear generational divide: A higher concentration of high financial literacy can be found amongst the older generations (Baby Boomers: 26 per cent) compared to the rest (average 16 per cent), and in particular compared to the younger generations of Gen-Z (7 per cent) and Millennials (9 per cent).

The high number of people lacking

basic financial knowledge and skills is alarming. Especially since the investment environment is likely to become even more difficult in the future; increased inflation and volatile markets speak clearly here. In this respect, the costs of financial illiteracy – which were already substantial in the past, as our calculations show – are likely to rise further.

From a young age, children need to be taught how to apply maths to the everyday financial problems they will navigate later in life. But this is about more than just mathematics. Multidisciplinary research on financial literacy from the Linköping University in Sweden suggests that a driving force behind becoming financially literate is not only numeracy, but the emotional response to mathematics. It is therefore important that effective financial literacy interventions decouple mathematics anxiety from the individual’s daily engagement in financial decisions. Boosting confidence in individuals is as important as – if not more than – numeracy skills. Any successful

financial literacy intervention, particularly those catering to women and young people, should therefore start with confidence -building.

To draw a path for levelling the playing field for women in finance, we cannot ignore the structural inequalities that add another level of complexity to financial decisions: the pay gap and labour participation of women. Women are more likely to be paid less, less likely to end up in the industries with the most growth potential, and also tend to have child-raising responsibilities and shorter working lives. All of this impacts their finances. The economy remains volatile and the cost-of-living is likely to remain high for a considerable amount of time, regardless of Thursday’s decision. In such an environment, informed financial decisions have naturally become incomparably more important as the spectre of losing money has become all too real.

£ Ludovic Subran is chief economist at Allianz

just $2.5bn to date. But the government has committed to integrating carbon removal technology into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme - and it’s a matter of if, not when, the EU follows suit. Together, the markets have a combined size of $800bn. According to the UN, carbon removal methods need to be worth trillions of dollars by 2050 to meet our climate targets.

By making it cheaper to emit carbon emissions under the UK trading scheme, the government risks handing the EU the first-mover advantage to grow and develop this lucrative sector on a silver platter. With the equivalent EU prices rising past $100/tonne while the price of carbon removal technology is starting to come down, technologybased carbon removal credits could soon reach price parity and be ready to trade. Immediate investment in this technology could allow investors in the EU to reap huge rewards. With UK carbon prices now 40 per cent lower than in the EU, it will take us much longer to reach price parity, with less capital generated from the UK scheme to finance these ground-breaking carbon removal technology projects.

By slashing carbon pricing, the government is wielding a double-edged sword. It risks giving emitters more of a licence to pollute, hurting its own ambitions to become a global hub of green growth, and increasing instability in a sector with huge potential for investment. It also tells business that Britain won’t prioritise green technology, and encourage them to move to markets which do.

£ Ted Christie-Miller is Director of Carbon Removal at BeZero Carbon

EARS OPEN

Rishi Sunak promised at least a hundred new North Sea oil and gas licences

Everyone knows Beyonce tickets don’t come cheap. But the singer’s tour has been hit with criticism after fans were told they could buy ‘listening only’ tickets for £122. They were for seats behind the stage, with no chance to actually see the star in the flesh - just breathe the same air as her

By making it cheaper to pollute, the UK is handing the EU the firstmover advantage

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Prolonging the oil and gas pain

[Re: Green investor Andrew Forrest threatens to quit UK after Sunak pledges new oil and gas, yesterday]

The announcement of new oil and gas licenses will do little for energy security and even less for consumer bills. It risks locking-in unabated oil and gas at a time when there should be an orderly move away from fossil fuels to renewables and net zero.

The longer we prolong the move the net zero the more expensive it becomes – and developing new gas fields will hardly speed the transition. Kicking the can down the road only means we will spend more on adapting our

infrastructure and on dealing with the impacts of increasingly frequent droughts, wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat. All of which hits the pockets of consumers.

There is near limitless capital available for green investment globally.

However, the more the Government delays or destabilises net zero policy, the more expensive that capital becomes and the more likely it will flow to countries with more stable and progressive regimes. We are in a global race and the UK is falling behind, with consumers losing out on the economic opportunity of the 21st Century.

Now is the time for strong political leadership on net zero. It’s no time for turning.

Trevor Hutchings Partner, BIP

THIS BARBIE IS VERY SORRY Warner Bros apologise for atomic bomb joke

Even Farage agrees antimoney laundering laws are weapons of mass distraction

John Binns

LAST week, Nigel Farage likened Anti-money laundering laws to “a sledgehammer that misses the nut.” What we have actually created is a weapon of mass distraction: a hugely expensive, sophisticated and likely unstoppable behemoth, designed to serve aims that were not quite what we really wanted. These laws are meant to stop financial crime by the back door, preventing people from dealing with its proceeds. They are also costly to industry, disruptive to customers, and yet they only rarely result in prosecutions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) experts might recognise anti-money laundering laws as an example of the ‘alignment problem’ – where a system or a machine designed to achieve a goal, because of its rules and incentives, achieves perverse results. The rules and incentives of anti-money laundering laws are all about “red flags” for “suspicious activity”: they require each regulated firm, in each country, to spot such flags, turn away customers, and make reports to law enforcement.

Warner

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: THE BRITISH WEATHER AND SO-CALLED SUMMER

We don’t have the authority to formally apologise on behalf of the various low pressure systems causing the UK to have an utterly miserable summer, but if we could, we would.

The Met Office has confirmed last month was one of the wettest Julys on record, according to provisional data. And the wet and windy weather is set to drag on, with a yellow alert for storms stretching from London to Mancherster. Now you might reasonably be

thinking, what’s a business newspaper doing covering the weather? We’re not the BBC. But the conditions indeed have an impact on the economy, with retailers offering more sales and discounts on their summer stock as a result of the dreary conditions. Clothing and footwear were among the items most likely to bre reduced, according to analysis compiled by the British Retail Consortium. So really, it’s in the national interest for the sun to come out.

The first problem with the system is that it’s deliberately over-sensitive. Facing prosecution if they fail to report, and with legal protections for “good faith” mistakes, the incentives are all in favour of reporting, creating a huge number of false positives in the system. This is wasteful for industry (chiefly, though not only, the financial sector), but often disastrous for their customers, who can be left without access to banking services or to their money for months or even years on end.

The second problem is that law enforcement, who receive all these reports, are in no way skilled or resourced enough to make efficient use of them. A successful prosecution for financial crime remains a rare beast indeed – in part, ironically, because the best financial investigators are poached to help firms with their anti-money laundering controls. So the machine that’s been created is only half of what we needed, generating reports that largely fall into a hole.

The third problem with the system is perhaps the most fundamental. While conceived as a way to prevent money laundering, the anti-money laundering machine instead requires each firm to detect (suspected) examples of

it – and then, invariably, to displace them into other firms and countries. Occasionally, it also disrupts such crimes, by helping law enforcement to capture the proceeds and gather valuable intelligence on them. But more often, it disrupts legitimate business and transactions instead, while the real criminals go on laundering their money somewhere else.

As with AI, we can’t blame the machine here for doing what we asked it to do: rather, the fault is our own for not thinking more clearly about what we wanted. But it’s hard to see how the machine we’ve created can be retooled, or even turned off and on again. Would any government now consider making anti-money laundering laws more permissive, or less sensitive to suspicion? Even the current plans to give customers more information when their accounts are closed will have to bend around anti-money laundering requirements.

The most perverse aspect of the system though is that it’s wasting effort

and attention that could more sensibly be focused on the problem its creators originally had in mind: financial crime. An army of compliance officers, financial investigators, regulators and policy-makers are each day engaged in service to this machine, developing ever more sophisticated and cost-efficient ways of spotting those “red flags”, making those reports, and displacing that money-laundering activity onto other firms and into other countries.

If there’s a glimpse of hope in the current debate, perhaps it’s that, by giving consumers more information about why their accounts are closed, we might see fewer over-sensitive reports. If that can be paired with some vigorous resourcing of law enforcement, and international cooperation, we might just see a way through to making the machine work for us, rather than the other way around.

£ John Binns is a partner and specialist in proceeds of crime laws at BCL solicitors

Nigel Farage’s row with Coutts lead to the Natwest CEO quitting last week

Bros has apologised after the official Twitter (or X, if you must) account for Barbie responded to Barbenheimer memes about atomic bombs. The #NoBarbenheimer hashtag was trending online.

HOW DOES IT FEEL... TO PLAY AT THE POKER WORLD SERIES?

dozen hands, occasionally making a poor call just to feel involved (a classic rookie mistake). The other table was clearly going harder than we were, with Wayne Bridge lasting approximately three minutes before crashing out with pocket aces, and two of the journalists joining him soon after.

There was a moment when I knew – on a mathematical and instinctual level – that I had the better of Charlie Carrel, one of the best poker players of all time with career winnings of almost $10m. But then we turned over the cards…

I was playing at the World Series of Poker Super Circuit Series this week, one of the top events in the poker calendar and the first to be held in London since 2010. Here thousands of players buy in from £500 to £10,000, with millions in potential winnings.

I’ve casually played poker since its noughties heyday, when the likes of Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott became a latenight TV sensation. I have a semi-regular, low-stakes game with a group of friends and occasionally try my luck at the casino. So when GG Poker invited me to their media table – first prize a ticket for the tournament itself – I was, ahem, all in.

The event (which is ongoing) is being held at the Marriott Grosvenor Hotel and it’s a suitably Bond-esque arena for Texas hold’em, with 100 tables set up below vast crystal chandeliers, the only sound the meditative clicking of chips.

The media tables were made up of a combination of journalists – two of whom were poker reporters who swore blind they barely played –celebrities including former Chelsea defender Wayne Bridge and former boxing world champion Carl Froch, and two seasoned pros in Charlie Carrel and ElkY.

You could spot the pros a mile off, Carrel clad head to toe in white linen, perhaps riffing on the Jesus vibes lent by his long flowing hair and full beard, and ElkY wearing a grotesque bright red double-denim affair over a diamante-studded t-shirt, making him look like a cut price Bond villain. We split into two groups, with Bridge and ElkY on one table, and Froch and Carrel among the six with me.

Luck was not with me, and I checked and folded my way through the first

With a dwindling pile of chips, I was being bullied by big pre-flop raises that I couldn’t afford to call. I needed some decent cards, and they arrived in the form of pocket aces. I had the dealer button and prayed for some big pre-flop bets, only to see the first four players check. Carrel, though, made a moderate raise. I called – keeping him on the hook – and everyone else folded. Just me and the $10m man left.

The flop came out, a seven, a two and a jack, all different suits. Garbage, basically. “I’ve got this,” I thought, checking in the hope Carrel would raise, which he did. Perfect. “I’ve been watching you, you’ve made a couple of dicey calls so far but you seem hesitant,” he said, gazing deep into my soul.

The turn and the river were more bad cards, a nine and a five. With no flush or straight draw and the highest card on the table a jack, he’d have to have a set to win, and while I’m not enough of a nerd to know the percentages, I knew the chances were slim. I guessed he had a jack to make the high pair; I raised enough that it was worth a call but, hopefully, not too much to scare him off.

‘sure thing’

“Would you call if I raised this much?”, Carell said, scuttling a 5,000 chip between his fingers? “What about this much..?”. He threw down equivalent to more than half my remaining chips. I went all in, turning over the aces, only to see a pair of deuces glide across the table, making the three of a kind I was dreading. My chance of winning the World Series of Poker was over. That’s what you get for trying to play rope-a-dope with one of the best players in the world. He might look like Jesus but he plays poker like the devil. Froch leaned over: “Pocket aces are only good for two things: winning small hands or losing big ones.” Too true. Carrel didn’t last much longer, going all-in pre-flop (he wasn’t bringing his A, B, C or even D game to this peanuts table) and Froch – a real gent, articulate and funny – went on to win. And that is how I almost won a big pile of chips, but did not in fact win any chips, against one of the world’s best poker players.

£ Steve was a guest of GG Poker

One of the biggest poker tournaments is back in London for the first time in a decade. Steve Dinneen tried his luck against the best

‘Pocket aces are only good for two things: winning small hands and losing big ones,’ consoled Carl Froch

Clockwise from top left: Former footballer Wayne Bridge; Poker pro ElkY; Youtuber True Geordie; Former boxer (and event winner) Carl Froch; Poker player Charlie Carrel; and Steve Dinneen about to lose all of his chips on a

You could spot the pro a mile off, with Charlie Carrel clad head to toe in white linen, giving off strong Jesus vibes

GRIND ONE REVIEW: THE MOST STYLISH ESPRESSO POD MACHINE ON THE MARKET

As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time making espresso – and reading about making espresso and buying espresso-related paraphernalia – I long ago grew out of the Nespresso pod machine that used to sit on my desk.

There’s something meditative about the process of making espresso: weighing out exactly 18 grams of beans, dialling in the correct grind size for the style of roast, lovingly preparing the puck and watching the amber-brown liquid flow from the portafilter over the next 25-30 seconds (or, occasionally, just splutter all over the place). The process, which takes a full five minutes including clean-up, has become part of my morning routine, occupying that liminal space between rolling out of bed and fully waking up.

This is not, however, something I can spare the time to do throughout the day, nor can it reasonably be done in a busy office given the noise and mess it creates. So when I saw the espresso pod machine from Grind, my interest was piqued. It uses Nespresso compatible pods – although these ones are fully compostable – but the machine itself borrows its styling from classic Italian machines, with its boxy, chrome body and nifty little cup

ABOUT TOWN

warmer. Crucially it’s also compact enough to fit on my desk at work and gives off only a gentle rumble as the coffee is dispensed.

But what about the coffee itself?

Grind was a coffee roaster before it got into the pod and machine business, so it knows a thing or two about beans. The machine takes around 30 seconds to pour an espresso, squeezing it out of the pod at 19-bar of pressure, resulting

VISIT BEAVERTOWN’S POP-UP

London brewery Beavertown is opening a pop-up n Shoreditch in time for (hopefully) the return of the better weather. It’s an ideal time and place to drink their less common beers if you haven’t been to the main taproom in Tottenham, but the brewers are also selling their organic cotton tees, hoodies and hats, and there’ll be DJ sets to bring the party. The pop-up is located at Drays Walk, Shoreditch, and is free to attend. You can pop down between noon and 8pm daily, with alcohol free days on 24th and 1st. From 19 August to 1 September.

DRINK ROSE ON A ROOF

The wines from Château Miraval are the focus of Cavo rooftop’s first ever summer pop-up. The rooftop has been decorated in pink blush in line with the colour of the rose wine. Different varietals pair well with the Mediterranean food on the menu, and there are two sparkling roses, too. The rooftop itself is part of a new facelift to the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street and offers fresh views across to the new Soho Place theatre. The pop-up takes place Monday to Saturday from 1-31 August.

in decent-looking liquid with a light, foamy crema. If you’re used to drinking Nespresso-branded pods – or, dare I say it, instant – this will almost certainly be a step up. If you’re more of an espresso aficionado, it’s a totally drinkable shot, a little thin and lacking in nuance, but enough to get you through the afternoon.

Functionality is so simple that the instructions are essentially superfluous:

CELEBRATE SMOKED MEAT

Smokestak kicked off the whole low and slow meat trend ten years ago when they were cooking at food festivals across London. So if you’re into BBQ meat, or vegetables for that matter, you have them to thank. To celebrate ten years of operating their Shoreditch restaurant, they’re going back to basics to remember the “early days of Street Feast” food festival, where they began, by inviting a series of chefs, including the founder of British-Afghan BBQ Cue Point, to cook in the car park opposite the restaurant. 19 August, 35 Sclater Street, E1 6LB.

pods go in the top, lever goes down, flick a switch and wait till the flashing light goes solid. Releasing the lever drops the pod into an internal chamber, with room for 20 used pods, and the 1.2lt water tank means you won’t be refilling it every five minutes. There are a variety of pods available, including light, medium and dark roasts, all of which taste noticeably different. There is no steam wand or

WATERY WEST LONDON VIEWS

The Chelsea Harbour Hotel, which overlooks the Chelsea Harbour and the Thames, has launched a pop-up bar on the roof. There’s a seafood based food menu as well as bottomless brunch on Sundays. Dishes include sea bass crudo, tuna tartare and burratina with tomato and olives. The option for free-flowing rose or champagne with the Mediterranean food is tempting too. A good chance to get out west if you’re too often bolted in the City or West End. There’s jazz every Friday from 7.30pm too. Open every day throughout the summer.

other milk frothing device (Grind sells one separately), although on a machine like this I’d count that as a positive given how finicky frothing can be even on high-end espresso machines. It’s one of the more expensive pod machines on the market but who can put a price on their daily caffeine fix?

£ The Grind One is currently available for £220 (RRP £295) from grind.co.uk

GO TO THE BEACH... IN THE CITY

Searcys, the restaurant at the top of the Gherkin, has announced its summer pop-up in collaboration with Tarquin’s Cornish Gin. The idea is to take City workers to Cornwall: there’s a beach hut-themed bar and a range of amazing gin and tonics to try, as well as gin masterclasses with the gin company’s founder. The restaurant has been decked out to remind drinkers of the feeling of being at the beach, with a white and blue colour scheme. Gin tasting platters are served on a mini surf boards but don’t let that put you off. Tuesdays to Saturdays from 12.30pm.

If you need a quick, simple caffeine solution, this sleek chrome machine is hard to beat, says Steve Dinneen

THE PUNTER

Bill Esdaile previews day two of the Qatar Goodwood Festival Profit from Balding’s Bermuda instead of Sussex Stakes duel

YOU DON’T need a bet in today’s Group One Sussex Stakes (3.35pm) to enjoy what should be a thrilling battle between this season’s top three-year-old, Paddington, and classy four-year-old filly, Inspiral.

Earlier in the week, Inspiral made a bit of appeal as an each-way bet-to-nothing at 9/2, but that quickly disappeared and she’s a best-price 7/2 in what now looks like a tricky race to profit from. All things considered, 7/2 still looks a big price and I think there will be little to separate them at the finish, particularly with Paddington’s high head carriage vulnerable to a late lunge, but he is hard to oppose.

He’s shown the class to put clear day-

light between himself and two Group One fields over a mile, as well as the stamina and attitude to outbattle topclass filly Emily Upjohn over two furlongs extra in the Eclipse.

Interestingly, both Paddington and Inspiral are stepping out on the quirky Sussex Downs track for the first time, so that could throw up a surprise result, but on everything we’ve seen so far this season, the three-year-old is the one to beat.

If Inspiral can find her best form, which would mean taking an expected step forward from her seasonal reappearance when second in the Group One Queen Anne at Royal Ascot, then she can get close.

A World Pool Quinella will probably

spit out a winning dividend slightly worse than even-money, which isn’t to be sniffed at given how far ahead the pair are on ratings.

For those looking for an even more exotic bet consider throwing the Frenchtrained gelding Facteur Cheval into a World Pool Swinger or Trifecta.

He was only beaten a head in the Group One Prix d’Ispahan last time and will relish soft conditions.

The following Fillies' Conditions Stakes (4:10pm) looks a more interesting betting race.

Tropical Island shaped like a nice filly on debut at Ripon, passing horses on testing ground to get her career off to a winning start, and she could be smart. But, with rock-solid Royal Ascot form

under her belt, FLORA OF BERMUDA looks well-placed by trainer Andrew Balding to shed her maiden tag. Having cost £340,000 at the Breeze-Up sales in the spring, she showed glimpses of class in her first two starts without scoring and was then an eye-catching sixth in the Group Two Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The first five home that day all raced on the stand’s side, including Relief Rally who has since gone on to win the Super Sprint at Newbury in fine style, while she led them home on the far side.

Four of the 20 horses finishing behind her have come out and won since, including Cotai Vision, who trailed the whole field home in 26th.

She looks like a talented filly capable

of winning in Group company this season, so this should be a golden opportunity to get off the mark before heading onto bigger things.

Harvanna looks a talented filly too and trainer Karl Burke has had his juveniles firing on all cylinders so far this season, but she’s not expected to enjoy conditions if the rain comes.

Of the rest, Indispensable, like Flora Of Bermuda at Ascot, can take a step forward from her creditable third when racing away from the pace in the Listed Marwell Stakes last time out.

POINTERS

Flora Of Bermuda 4.10pm Goodwood

Well-bred Amleto holds obvious chance in opener

BIG-PRICED handicap winners have been a regular occurrence during this year’s Flat season from start to finish.

Rebel Territory in the Victoria Cup, Saint Lawrence in the Wokingham Stakes, and Baradar in the International Stakes on Saturday prove the point.

However, sometimes a favourite has such an obvious claim that they can’t

be ignored, and that is exactly what AMLETO looks to have in the Coral Handicap (1.50pm).

Currently priced at a general 9/4, the William Haggas-trained three-year-old is a full brother to former Somerville Lodge inmate Sea Of Class who nearly chased down Enable in the 2018 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for the same connections of Sunderland Holding Inc.

By Sea The Stars, he is also a half-

brother to the 2022 Irish Cesarewitch winner Waterville, so it seems like the thrice-raced gelding hails from a prodigious family for a horse rated as low as 89 after three runs.

With a big influx of rain set to hit Goodwood ahead of racing on Wednesday, Amleto will have no problem with any give in the going based on his soft ground victory at Chester in May to beat Paddy The

Squire, a horse who won at Ayr on Monday.

With the World Pool in operation for the first three days of the Glorious meeting, playing him in a Quinella alongside two other horses should be a solid bet.

The first of which is WESTERTON for Alan King who has shown plenty of guts in his four starts this season and should handle the step up in trip well,

while the second is the proven stayer STRUTH who relishes slower surfaces, as shown by his third on good-to-soft last time out and win on soft at Chester in May.

POINTERS

Amleto 1.50pm Goodwood Amleto, Struth, Westerton (World Pool Quinella) 1.50pm Goodwood

Andrew Balding saddles Flora Of Bermuda in the two-year-old conditions race

Bill

GROUND conditions are one of the imponderables facing punters at Goodwood today and the going will be testing should the forecast heavy rain arrive, so it looks a day to tread carefully.

Finding the winner of a competitive 16-runner Group Three Oak Tree Stakes (2.25pm) doesn’t look a task for the faint hearted and the openness of the contest is reflected in the fact it’s around 5/1 the field.

However, on the other side of the coin there could be some value to had if siding with filles and mares that are likely to handle the conditions.

Charlie Appleby’s three-year-old filly DREAM OF LOVE has shown some of her best form on soft ground, with her shorthead defeat behind subsequent 1000 Guineas winner Mawj over seven furlongs at Meydan in January an outstanding piece of form.

She again encountered a soft surface when running too badly to be true on her reappearance in the 1000 Guineas, where better was clearly expected as she was sent off the third favourite for the first fillies’ Classic of the season.

A third-place finish in the German 1000 Guineas proved that she had trained on, and last time out she looked unlucky when meeting trouble in running in the Sandringham at Royal Ascot.

I don’t think we have seen this daughter of Shamardal under her ideal conditions yet this season, and this return to softer ground coupled with a drop back to seven furlongs could be just what she needs.

PIC DREAM TO DELIVER IN OAK TREE PUZZLE

recent years, winning half of the last 10 renewals, and a filly that looks to have been overlooked is MATILDA PICOTTE Kieran Cotter’s filly finished third in

the Lowther last season and has twice run well on testing ground this campaign.

She finished an excellent third behind

Mawj in the 1000 Guineas, when looking like the mile trip stretched her, while in contrast her last start in the Sandy Lane Stakes over six furlongs on fast ground probably proved too sharp.

It’s worth noting she has only had one previous start over this trip of seven furlongs, when finishing second in a Group Three at Leopardstown, and it may prove to be her optimum.

A price of 10/1 looks good value and I’ll be adding her as each-way selection, while I’ll also be keeping an eye on FAST RESPONSE who did remarkably well to finish a close second when coming from an impossible position at Chester last time.

Karl Burke’s four-year-old has plenty of good form on soft ground and should go well at 5/1.

World Pool will be in operation at Goodwood, meaning it could be worth looking to the exotic markets in tough races like this and I’ll be throwing all three fillies in a Quinella (pick the first two finishers) in the hope of a mammoth return.

There are only eight runners in the five-furlong dash for the two-year-olds, the Group Three Molecomb Stakes (3.00pm) but all hold some sort of chance and it looks a fiendishly difficult race to decipher, especially as almost all of them have yet to experience soft ground.

If I was pushed, perhaps dominant Sandown winner Kylian will have too much class for his rivals, but it’s not a race I’m keen to bet in.

POINTERS

Dream Of Love e/w 2.25pm Goodwood

Matilda Picotte e/w 2.25pm Goodwood

Dream Of Love, Matilda Picotte, Fast Response (World Pool Quinella) 2.25pm Goodwood

Johnson’s charge can finally emerge from the Darkness

THE seven-furlong World Pool Handicap (5.20pm) at Goodwood today is a tricky race to solve with its large field and numerous choice runners, but it is the perfect opportunity for a World Pool Quinella.

URBAN SPRAWL, a classic Charlie Johnston horse, likes Goodwood, having won over course and distance in a similar handicap in May.

The ground will suit him well enough and, while he’s drawn quite wide in eight, he races prominently and will be hard to pass.

He’s my main play in the race, but I’ll be including him in a World Pool Quinella with RHOSCOLYN and DARKNESS

David O’Meara’s gelding is down a useful 12 pounds in the handicap from the beginning of the season, and

has always run well at Goodwood, with a win and three places from five starts at the track.

He likes to have some cut in the ground, so connections will be pleased by the poor weather forecast.

He has the benefit of Oisin Murphy in the saddle, and the last time they teamed up he was second in the 2021 Golden Mile.

Also trained by O’Meara, Darkness is

another I like the look of.

He was a good horse in his native France, winning a Listed race over a mile as a two-year-old, but took a long time to adjust to his new surroundings when moving to the UK last year.

His form this season has been much better, and he was last seen winning a competitive mile handicap at Newmarket in July.

Despite having gone up three pounds for this run, he is still wellhandicapped on his old form and won’t have issues with the soft ground.

POINTERS

Urban Sprawl e/w 5.20pm Goodwood

Urban Sprawl, Rhoscolyn, Darkness (World Pool Quinella) 5.20pm Goodwood

She’s my main selection and looks a sound each-way bet at around 6/1. Three-year-old fillies have a decent record against their elders in this race in

William Buick won the Oak Tree Stakes in 2022 and rides Godolphin runner Dream Of Love this year

Esdaile previews the rest of day two’s action

SPORT

Lionesses roar into last 16 with China victory

England to take on Nigeria next week after 6-1 demolition of China to top Group D

MATT HARDY

TWO-TIME goal scorer Lauren James said England’s 6-1 win over China was “what dreams are made of” as the Lionesses progressed through to the last 16 of the Fifa Women’s World Cup.

Only needing a draw against the Steel Roses to progress, England instead put China to the sword and laid down a statement of intent in Adelaide.

Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses will face Nigeria on 7 August after topping Group D.

“Another day, obviously it’s what dreams are made of,” James said.

McCullum: There will be chances to get into squad

MATT HARDY

ENGLAND Test head coach Brendon McCullum has insisted that there will be opportunities for players to break into the national squad after the retirement of Stuart Broad and the second retirement of Moeen Ali. England, captained by Ben Stokes, came from 2-0 down in the Ashes to draw the five-match contest and deny Australia a first series win on these shores since 2001.

Pacer Broad, who got the last wicket on the final day of the fifth Test to draw the series, announced his retirement from the game at the Oval on Saturday.

Ali, on the other hand, only came out of Test retirement when called upon after an injury to fellow spinner Jack Leach but he has confirmed that he has played his last match of Test cricket.

“What you’re trying to do is not only inspire the next generation but the layer underneath the top team, to be able to understand how we’re going to play, work out in their own heads where they fit within that and then try and force a place,” McCullum said.

“That’s what you’re trying to achieve and naturally places do come up when guys come to the end of their careers. So there will be opportunities there and we’re starting to build some nice depth.

“Happy for the team and everyone is buzzing and looking forward to going into the next round.

“I felt free, whether I am on the wing or in the middle, I am just happy to be on the pitch playing and enjoying my football. I am happy I can contribute to goals as well.

“Each day, each game I am looking to improve and get better. I can always get better. I just need to stay focused and hopefully that can happen.”

Alessia Russo put the Lionesses ahead in just the fourth minute with a beautiful opener before Lauren Hemp doubled England’s lead.

PGA will need player approval for major changes in future

CITY A.M. REPORTER

THE PGA Tour will need player approval and support for any future major decisions related to the golf organisation as part of a number of changes being made to the PGA Tour Policy Board.

Tiger Woods will join the board as the sixth player director, alongside Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Rory McIlroy and Webb Simpson, and the expanded group have called on commissioner Jay Monahan to implement changes.

Among those are the promise of consulting the player directors before major decisions are made –such as the

merger of the PGA Tour with the DP World Tour and LIV Golf circuit under one umbrella.

Elsewhere the player’s special advisor Colin Neville will be allowed access to documents as part of a move to allow players fuller transparency, as well as the ability to aprove or decline to approve major changes.

“The players thank Commissioner Monahan for agreeing to address our concerns, and we look forward to being at the table with him to make the right decisions for the future of the game that we all love,” 15-time major winner Tiger Woods said.

“He has my confidence moving forward with these changes.”

James got the first of her two goals in the 41st minute before doubling her tally 20 minutes after half time after a Chinese penalty conceded by Lucy Bronze.

Chloe Kelly got in on the act deep in the second half before Rachel Daly made it six –there were 13,497 in attendance . Denmark beat Haiti 2-0 to finish second in Group D and earn a last 16 tie against tournament co-hosts Australia. Wiegman said: “I am very delighted. I said before the game we were going to do things a little bit different than we did before and we did really well.

“It shows how adaptive this team is and I think they are enjoying themselves.

“I think today it worked really well, players felt comfortable. What we want is the qualities we have now to try and use them a little bit more.”

England face Nigeria in Brisbane on 7 August before a potential run to the World Cup trophy which would see the Lionesses play three consecutive games –their quarter-final, semi-final and final –in Sydney, at the 83,000 capacity Stadium Australia.

Today Argentina will take on Sweden and South Africa play Italy in Group G, each kicking off at 8am, while Group F sees Jamaica take on Brazil and Panama play France at 11am.

“What will be really important by the time India comes [early next year] will be dialling back in to what we’ve achieved in the last 15 months and to try and make sure the team turns up with the same clarity of thoughts when we go about things.”

England now turn their heads to a one-day World Cup, where the side are defending champions.

Matthew Mott is in charge for that format of the game but will still be able to call upon a number of the Test side for the competition.

England get underway on 5 October against New Zealand at the 132,000 capacity Narendra Modi Stadium with the final scheduled for 19 November at the same arena.

Klopp laughs off reports of mega loan deal for Mbappe

CITY A.M. REPORTER

LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp has laughed off any suggestion of the Premier League side securing a loan deal for Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe.

The German insisted that his side think the France captain is a good player but financial conditions that come with any deal aren’t suitable.

Mbappe has been linked with a move away from the Parisian club with his contract running out at the end of the coming season.

Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal –who compete in the Saudi Pro League –expressed an interest in signing the

24-year-old in a deal worth over £250m but it looks to be a move which is not of interest to the Frenchman.

“We laugh about it,” Liverpool boss Klopp said.

“I can say that I think he’s a really good player, but the financial conditions don’t suit us at all.

“I wouldn’t like to ruin the story now, but as far as I know, there’s nothing to it.

“It’s possible that someone else from the club is preparing something and wants to surprise me…that hasn’t happened in the eight years that I’ve been here.

“That would be the first time.”

GOLF

FOOTBALL

FOOTBALL CRICKET

CINK NAMED US VICE-CAPTAIN FOR RYDER CUP

United States Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson has named Stewart Cink as his fifth vice-captain to complete the tourists’ leadership team.

Cink joins Fred Couples, Jim Furyk, Davis Love III and Steve Stricker as part of a five-strong vice-captain team for the famous intercontinental golfing competition.

This year’s Ryder Cup takes place at the end of September in Rome with Team Europe looking to win the trophy from a United States side who dominated across the pond last time out.

Johnson said: “Stewart is someone I can trust and will give me honest and constructive feedback as we head into the final stages of preparing for the Ryder Cup.

“And as everyone saw at The Open Championship this year, he’s still competing at a high level on the golf course. He will play a critical role in our success as we head to Italy.”

Team Europe captain Luke Donald has so far developed a vicecaptaincy team made up of Nicolas Colsaerts, Thomas Bjorn and Edoardo Molinari.

AIMING

GREEN FOR THE

The Cut Company talks to about changing how we wear golf

IF YOU stroll down Lower Thames Street in the City, you’ll come across the most out of place American Golf outlet. It means little to passers-by but it does reinforce the mantra, or stereotype, of the City of London being a hotspot for avid golfers.

But let’s be honest, a lot of the apparel on sale is a bit too snazzy, and a bit too loud. A 2022 study by Sheffield Hallam University puts the social value of golf at over $1bn, and it is a sport that is rising in popularity among younger people –mostly men.

But those in the younger age bracket are keener on looking fashionable on the course, and keener on wearing more sustainable garments in which to showcase their putting skills.

Tom Tracey and Cameron Thorne have taken that brief, who, beside their City jobs in tech and logistics, ploughed capital into The Cut Company, which launched late last month.

The post-Covid market has been a difficult one to navigate and two City employees under the age of 30 breaking the mould to do just that is a fascinating case study for where confidence in business and the City is at the moment.

“We’ve always played golf and there’s a lot of new brands that have come up but for us they’re either really loud – florals and bucket hats – or more lifestyle,” Tracey tells City A.M.

“So we know that the market of golf has changed because it’s growing a lot at the 18-34 range. We fall into that age bracket and the thing that we’ve noticed is that I think golfers are not looking for loud golf gear.

“So we’ve produced our first collection in pretty clean colourways and they’re all made from upcycled materials.

“It’s made from upcycled polyester where we melt it down and re-spin it into a new fabric.”

reasons, and the sport itself will likely catapult beyond its traditional audiences and into the household of many.

And many would argue, including the Cut Company’s founders, that it’s worth going sustainable when it comes to your apparel.

“As you can imagine, producing sustainable clothes are much more costly than producing something that is used from new fabric,” Tracey added.

“We are at the higher end, our target audience is premium. Right now it is focused on male golfers in the UK because we are testing our branding and sales channels to see if it works.

“Our vision is to open this up to women golfers because that category has grown massively.

“We’re looking at an autumn-winter collection to come out in October.”

Tracey and Thorne are 29 years old, and have careers in the City. They’re a duo looking to diversity and make a difference in a congested market, and that should be admitted.

Sporting apparel is a tough market to breach, and was worth a touch under £155bn globally last year.

Castore have made a brand for themselves out of pitching their line as premium, the Cut Company have done similar seemingly.

But that’s testament to the confidence they have. “It’s been really challenging,” Tracey adds. “We’ve learned so much doing it and we’re very good friends. We’re focusing on what we think golfers care about. The reason we do this and play this sport is because of its ups and downs and the time we get to spend on the golf course.”

£ www.thecutcom pany.co.uk

Co-founders

Tom Tracey and Cameron Thorne