Whilst the internet is full of new companies offering to match dog-sitters with interested owners, there’s still a gap in the market for a similar service for cat owners: enter Cat in a Flat, the online cat-sitting service and community. The site connects cat owners with insured and local cat-loving sitters, and is currently crowdfunding on CrowdCube to take the business to the next level.
The site aims to take the stress out of holidays for cat-owners – cats stick to their own routine and, as anyone who owns one will know, dislike being rounded up and taken to the cattery whilst you go off and have fun. Cat in a Flat matches owners with local cat lovers who are willing to come and look after your pet in your own home.
The arrangement is mutually beneficial for both the owner and the sitter – owners can relax, knowing that their pets are at home in a safe environment, and sitters get to spend a little time with some furry friends, whilst making some pocket money at the same time. All cat sitters on the site go through a personal on-boarding process that automatically insures them, and Cat in a Flat provides them with their own personal webpage, service agreement contracts and a secure payment & booking system. If you want, you’ll even get a photo of your cat looking healthy and happy for each day that you’re away.
The market for this is huge. Nearly £2 billion a year gets spent on UK cat caring, and cat ownership is rising – there are 8 million cats in the UK, but with owners working longer hours, there is a growing reliance on domestic services. And since a 2013 survey from PetAround reported that a quarter of families with pets avoided taking holidays or cut down the length of their holidays because of the “hassle and cost of kennels, catteries and cat homes”, there is clearly the need for a more safe and easy cat-sitting service, with sitters looking after cats in their own homes.
Cat in a Flat is currently looking for an investment of £50,000 on Crowdcube, in return for 4.76 percent equity. For more information on this opportunity, visit their campaign page here.
Department store John Lewis set a new weekly sales record after “Black Friday”, with £187.7 million spent both online and in stores.
The retailer said on Friday that sales were up 4.8 percent on 2014, as the US Black Friday tradition continued to take hold in the UK. The strong figures continued on Saturday, with a 9.3 percent rise in in-store sales.
Five items per second passed through John Lewis’s distribution centre during its peak hour as the company processed 18 percent more parcels than last year over Black Friday and the following weekend.
Electrical items were the strongest seller, up 5.5 percent compared with last year.Sales of wearable technology such as fitness monitors up 850 percent, with branded Fitbit trackers up 1200 percent.
British house prices have risen nearly 10 percent this year, according to mortgage lender Halifax, but are likely to rise more slowly in 2016.
Halifax estimated prices to increase by around 3.5 percent in 2015, with the actual figure being more than double that. However, prices are estimated to rise at a slower rate of between 4 and 6 percent next year.
Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis said of the figures:
“House prices look expensive compared to incomes but valuations are supported by the low levels of property for sale, low levels of housebuilding, and exceptionally low interest rates,” adding that the Bank of England’s failure to increase interest rates was a key reason why house prices had risen faster than forecast.
Halifax is one of Britain’s biggest mortgage providers, and is part of Lloyds banking group.
Morrisons (LON:MRW), one of the worst performing supermarkets in Britain’s ‘big four’, is set to drop out of the FTSE 100 after months of tumbling share prices.
The company has been in the FTSE 100 for more than 14 years but fell out of the running today, as its share price has fallen 17 percent this year alone. It currently has a market capitalisation of around £3.51bn.
Back in March Morrisons reported a 52% drop in annual profits to £345 million, its worst results in eight years and significantly weakening its competition against rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda.
The chain’s problems reflect wider problems within the sector, with Britain’s major supermarkets seeing an unprecedented fall in sales and profits over the last couple of years, as budget buyers flock over to cut price shops such as Aldi and Lidl.
However, new chief executive Dave Potts’ has been appointed to turn the chain’s fortunes around with a five-year plan which, if it proves successful, could make buying shares in Morrisons at the current share price a lucrative opportunity.
Other companies which have fallen out of the FTSE 100 include the security group G4S and the engineering group, Meggitt, with Worldpay and Provident Financial taking their places.
Morrisons are currently trading down 0.20 percent at 151.00 pence per share. (0600GMT)
Wireless tracking company Starcom (AIM: STAR) is one of the biggest movers on the AIM market this morning, trading up over 75 percent after announcing a new supply agreement with Pinnacle Systems.
Starcom, who specialise in the development of wireless solutions for the remote tracking, monitoring and protection of assets and people, have committed to sell thousands of Helios units to Pinnacle, a market leader in road safety, fleet management and vehicle security systems in Eastern and Central Africa regions. The contract will be worth around $5.5 million over three years.
Avi Hartmann, CEO of Starcom, commented, “This is our largest contract to date and we are delighted to be working with Pinnacle Systems on this major supply and support agreement. We are working hard to win and fulfil similar large high value contracts currently under discussion.”
Starcom are currently trading up 91.11 percent at 4.30 pence per share. (0806GMT)
British RAF jets have made their first strikes on Syrian targets, just hours after MPs voted in favour of intervention by 397 to 223.
According to a BBC source, four Tornado jets left a British RAF base in Cyprus in the early hours of this morning to carry out air strikes on six targets in an oilfield under IS control.
After more than 10 hours of tense debate in Parliament on Wednesday, members of parliament voted in favour of the air strikes, with Prime Minister David Cameron urging MPs that the use of British high-precision, laser-guided Brimstone missiles could make a real difference in cutting off IS’s financial sources and depriving them of funding.
However, the move has been met with opposition by many, with Professor Malcolm Chalmers of military think-tank the Royal United Services Institute saying to the AFP news agency that, “it will not make a big operational difference. It is important symbolically, useful operationally, but not transformative.”
The British vote was immediately commended by US President Barack Obama, who said that America would “look forward to having British forces flying with the coalition over Syria”.
Crowdfunding platform Crowd2Fund is once again leading the way in the crowdfunding sector, this time by developing a ‘smart money’ loyalty scheme to make investing even easier.
‘Smart Money’ is a crowdfunding coin exclusively for members of the Crowd2Fund Investor Club, the size of a £2 piece with a radio frequency identifier chip built into it. It will enable investors to link their Crowd2Fund account to the coin, allowing funds to be spent directly from the platform, just like a contactless credit card. Crowd2Fund hope to increase the ease of investing in crowdfunding, as well as encouraging participation and loyalty from frequent investors with this new rewards-based scheme.
An image of the new coin; www.crowd2fund.com
Chris Hancock, Crowd2Fund’s CEO says of the new project:
“The launch of the Investor Club will allow us to offer a highly personal experience to our best customers. The crowdfunding industry is growing up, and it is important that the industry accommodates sophisticated investors who understand the risks of lending and investing online and have expectations of receiving a high level of service.
“There has been a lot of talk amongst investors about the ‘Smart Money coin and we are proud to be able to finally reveal it and it’s benefits on Wednesday. We know investors will not be disappointed.”
The first event, to launch the ‘Smart Money’ coin and Investor Club, will take place on 2nd of December at the exclusive Erata Galleries in Mayfair. Benefits of Club membership will include rewards and special offers from luxury brands and businesses that have been funded via the platform, as well as exclusive networking events.
Crowd2Fund was launched in 2014, and has since raised more than £4 million for new businesses. They have recently launched an eBay style trading site for investments bought from the site, the first of its kind, and has a 0% default and late payment rate.
For more information on Crowd2Fund’s opportunities, visit their online platform here.
Shares in brewing company Greene King (LON:GNK) have risen 8 percent this morning, after interim results showed strong growth in all areas.
Revenue and profit grew across all divisions, with group revenue up 49.2 percent to 917.7 million and group operating profit rising 46.1 percent to 180.2 million.
Greene King like for like sales also rose 2 percent, with the performance being good news for its shareholders – adjusted earnings per share were up 15.4 percent.
Rooney Anand, Greene King’s chief executive, said in a statement:
“It has been a strong first half, with the Greene King business strengthening and significant progress made in the Spirit integration. Like-for-like sales growth in Greene King Retail improved during the half and both Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands delivered profit growth and margin expansion.”
Expect to outperform initial cost synergy guidance; target raised to GBP35m
In July, the company completed a £773.6 million takeover of Spirit Pub Company, bringing Greene King’s total estate to 3,116 pubs, the largest managed pub group in the UK. The acquisition seems to have paid off – the company now expects to outperform initial cost synergy guidance, with the target being raised to £35 million.
“We believe we have the best portfolio of retail pub brands, the best pub assets and the most talented team which, when combined with the strong contribution from synergies and the benefits of our enlarged scale, will ensure we continue delivering value to our customers and our shareholders,” Anand commented.
Greene King currently have a 52 week range of between 712 – 922.50, and are currently trading up 8.28 percent at 922 pence per share (0849GMT)
British shop prices fell in November to the joint weakest level on record, according to the British Retail Consortium’s latest figures.
Prices in British shops fell by 2.1 percent over the 12 months to November, an even steeper fall than the 1.8 percent published in October. Food prices were leading the figures down, seeing a 3.3 percent drop.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson commented on the results, saying, “Although the survey period does not cover Black Friday, it is likely that some retailers were discounting early in November in order to spread consumer spending over a longer period.”
Black Friday, traditionally a big sales day in America, continued to grow bigger in the UK this year, which is likely to impact on shop prices for December too.
The BRC price index has shown deflation for 31 consecutive months, pushed down by a price war among supermarkets and they struggle to compete in an increasingly challenging market.
The Bank of England has once again subjected Britain’s major banks to ‘stress tests’, in order to ensure that financial institutions can withstand future economic crises, with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered showing the weakest results.
This is the second time the test has been conducted, this year involving oil falling to $38 a barrel and a slump in the global economy. No bank was ordered to come up with a new capital plan, but out of the seven banks tested, RBS and Standard Chartered were both found not to have enough capital strength.
RBS chief financial officer Ewen Stevenson commented on the results: “We are pleased with the progress we have made relative to the 2014 stress test, but recognise we still have much to do to restore RBS to be a strong and resilient bank for our customers.”
After the test, all banks were told they would have to set aside more capital as part of a new measure that the Bank of England is introducing, called a “countercyclical capital buffer”, with the extra cash allowing more room to absorb losses in the case of a future financial crash.
Shares in the major banks have risen today on the results, with Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY), Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) and Barclays (LON:BARC) in the top five risers on the FTSE 100, each rising more than 2 percent.
