The high street has taken a battering in recent weeks. Storm Katie made the wind howl but kept the shops quiet. The cost of Hurricane BHS has yet to be calculated. Meanwhile, Cyclone Sports Direct continues to rage.
Those aren’t the only troublesome fronts right now. Just like BHS, department store group Beales has survived the financial gales – for now at least. It has been given a lifeline after creditors backed a rescue package.
But with BHS a little quieter, it is Sports Direct that finds itself battening down the hatches. Only local damage is evident so far, as founder Mike Ashley acknowledged this week, but could conditions worsen?
Our columnist Deirdre Hipwell is one of the few journalists to have quizzed Ashley recently. In an interview with her for The Times, he admitted the company was “in trouble”, “not trading very well” and would not “make the same profit we made last year”.
In corporate governance terms, he was unconventionally candid. And recent travails may trigger a change in the company’s seemingly relaxed approach to reputation management. An about-turn worked for Ryanair.
Whatever happens there, given the retailer’s strong track record, don’t bet against its ability to weather this latest storm.
The new owner of CP Bigwood is setting its sights on expansion. SDL Group, the national property service business, has bought the Birmingham-based auctioneer as it seeks to increase its auctions business. Ultimately it hopes to persuade the UK that, to borrow its own words, auctions are not just about distressed sales.
Meanwhile, Capita and GL Hearn tell EG this week how they are hoping to be greater than the sum of their parts through the “power of niche”. These deals may be a little less headline-grabbing than some we have seen in this sector – or will follow in the months ahead, no doubt – but for big, small and medium-sized firms alike the motivation for marriage is the same: it’s a race for growth, for differentiation and often born of a fear of being left behind.
Cities trump countries when it comes to global influence. That much has been written here – and elsewhere – before. But a wealth of data this week confirms that the influence gap is widening. Consider the evidence.
Figures from Real Capital Analytics show that the world’s top 10 cities attracted $337bn (£234bn) in real estate investment in 2015 – about the same as Malaysia’s GDP. This total is also $322bn more than the cities ranked from 91 to 100.
Meanwhile, the number of Londoners moving out of the capital has almost doubled since 1992. Increasingly these aren’t downsizing empty-nesters moving to the sticks. They are professional 20-somethings heading for other big regional cities where a mortgage goes significantly further.
But London continues to build momentum. Don’t miss our mischievous illustration on the main comment this week, which shows a child-like Boris (nothing new there, did I hear someone say?) playing with a familiar-looking train set. In the accompanying piece, the mayor’s deputy, Sir Edward Lister, sets out the challenges the capital faces based on its recent growth and the expansion that will continue in the future.
Of course, there are accompanying problems. A National Audit Office report highlights the difficulties facing local enterprise partnerships tasked with delivering regional, city-led growth on limited budgets. At the same time, ask many, are those involved equipped to deliver strategic planning?
In short, they have to be. Cities – from Manchester to Manila to Montreal – hold the key to national growth and all that comes with it.
Tragic news landed as Estates Gazette went to press on Thursday night: Zaha Hadid’s early death at 65. As I write there are 50,000 tweets paying tribute, proving she was an architect whose work touched those her peers were unable to reach. Click here to read a fitting eulogy from my colleague Emily Wright.
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