Miranda Wadham on 27/11/2015
London Hotel Investment
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Readbug crowdfunds to become the ‘Spotify for magazines’
For better or worse, internet based content is increasingly taking over from traditional forms of media. As Netflix has done for TV and Spotify has done for music, so start-up company Readbug intends to do for magazines – and to get up and running, they are currently looking for equity investors on Seedrs.
The publishing sector has had an increasingly tough time finding their place in the digital world, with both authors and publishers losing out to e-books as well as Amazon’s ruthless price model. However, the team behind Readbug thinks the solution lies in a subscription based model that will revolutionise the sector -according to founder Matthew Hammett, a former designer with Future plc, “Readbug is the Spotify for magazines”.
“We convert all our content so it’s mobile friendly… We’re adding a buy-it-now function so the reader can — at the end of an article or a magazine — decide to purchase the magazine there and then,” Hammett told TechCrunch.
By downloading the app, users can browse magazines, flick from cover-to-cover, select their favourite titles, scroll through their personalised article stream – all for one monthly subscription set at £9.99, the same as Spotify. Overall, it will encourage magazine readership, especially of more indie titles such as Dazed and Oh Comely – by removing the per issue pay wall barrier our members have the freedom to read as much or as little as they like.
The target market is huge, with the potential for serious growth. Netflix have consistently delivered strong results and now has over 70 million subscribers across the world, with Spotify delivering to an even bigger audience of 75 million. The consumer magazine market is worth £2.8 billion per annum in the UK and £50.2 billion worldwide – and so far, it hasn’t been tapped into with a subscription app.
So far, Readbug is well on its way; it has global content agreements with 60 publishers and hit number 66 in the US App Store News rankings. It also has strong relationships with commercial partners, such as The Hospital Club and select universities.
The success of Spotify and Netflix show that for apps such as these, pulling in the revenue is easy using a combination of advertising, partnerships and Sponsorship and commercial licenses. Readbug currently have a crowdfunding page open on Seedrs, where they are looking for £500,016 in return for 12.5 percent equity. For further information on how to get involved, visit their crowdfunding page here.
Billions could be spent today in ‘Black Friday’ sales, boosting retail figures
Online purchases are expected to pass £1 billion in 24 hours today, as the pre-Christmas discount day ‘Black Friday’ begins.
The American tradition, brought to the UK in 2010 by Amazon, sees US retailers slash prices the day after Thanksgiving in order to kickstart the Christmas spending season. In the last couple of years, retailers in the UK have followed suit, with groups such as Tesco, Currys and Asda offering discounts of up to 70 percent.
Retailers will be hoping that their Black Friday sales will spice up the month’s trading, as November figures released on Tuesday saw sales grow at the slowest rate in nine months. However, this may not be the case; last year, low-margin Black Friday sales was followed by weaker-than-expected demand leading to a disappointing outcome for major retailers.
According to a survey by Barclays, 77 percent of UK retailers are holding Black Friday promotions, with Visa Europe saying that £1.9bn could be spent online and in-store on its cards alone. Some analysts feel the event has distorted the traditional Christmas spending, pulling it forward at a time when retailers traditionally charged full prices.
Tesco opened select stores at 5am this morning, with a spokesman telling BBC that they had been “very busy so far with early shoppers behaving well.” Last year saw trouble in stores, with fights breaking out over discounted products.
John Lewis sees 9.7 percent growth in sales
British department store John Lewis has released figures today showing that sales rose 2.6 percent, compared to the same week last year.
The company are also up 9.7 percent on the year to day, although have said that ‘Black Friday’ discounts will need to be factored in:
“Demand for televisions and computers was lower during the week with customers anticipating Black Friday offers,” said David Barford, director of selling for London & South.
John Lewis is the only major British retailer to publish weekly sales data, which showed that its Waitrose arm was also up 2.5 percent on the week – boding well for the Christmas period.
November saw disappointing results for British retail sales, which grew at their slowest rate in nine months, according to a Confederation of British Industry survey released this week. Waitrose arm also up 2.5 percent on the week.
New 2018 deadline for mis-sold PPI claims
Anyone mis-sold PPI insurance loan insurance will have to file compensation claims by 2018, set out in new plans attempting ‘draw a line’ under one of British banks’ most expensive scandals.
A consultation paper published on Thursday by the banking watchdog set out new rules on so-called payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints, and said a new campaign to inform consumers about the time limit would be funded by banks who mis-sold the insurance.
The scandal, whereby banks tricked customers into buying PPI insurance with an average commission of 67 percent, has led to British banks setting aside £28 billion in compensation. Lloyds bank was deemed the biggest perpetrator.
The banking watchdog published a consultation paper on the subject on Thursday, with a new campaign warning customers about the time limit being funded by the banks and is likely to cost around £42.2 million.
Barclays fined £72 million for failing to conduct adequate client checks
It seems that today has been a bad day for banks all round, as Barclays bank prepares to pay a fine of £72 million for failing to conduct proper checks on its richest clients.
The City regulator said Barclays made a £1.88 billion deal with their wealthiest clients in 2011 and 2012, because they were worried about inconveniencing them. The regulator concluded that Barclays did not conduct the proper checks on clients who should have been considered politically high risk.26/11/2015
Rough bubble bust: who’s to blame for falling diamond prices?
Diamond prices having a rough time. According to figures from Rapaport released in September, prices have fallen 29 percent over the past 12 months. The crisis in China over the summer further exacerbated the problem and it affected the entire industry – more than 5,000 polishers in India’s diamond capital of Surat have lost their jobs since June. So who is to blame for this problem?
According to Martin Rapaport, its the fault of the banks and the major mining companies for creating a rough diamond bubble and bust. According to him, “the hard-working cutters, polished dealers, jewellery manufacturers, designers and retailers who have honestly added value to diamonds have not received their fair share of diamond profits”, which has hit the industry as a whole.
“The banks were complicit in the creation of the rough price bubble because they consistently lent money to buy unprofitable rough diamonds. De Beers and the other mining companies kept raising prices whenever polished prices increased so cutters remained unprofitable and instead of a polished boom, we now have a rough bust.”
Of course, global issues have also had an impact; a decreasing Chinese demand, weak euro and ruble, as well as plummeting oil and commodity prices are all important and will change where, how and to whom diamonds sell. But Rapaport says we should not lose sight of the real issue: “the impact of the rough bubble bust and the collapse of the sightholder system, which is changing diamond pricing and distribution.”
So how do we get out of this mess? Rapaport says there is one vital emergency measure that must be taken.
“The mining companies must urgently inject profitability into the diamond trade, by immediately reducing rough prices by 30 percent to 50 percent. The greatest threat to the diamond industry is that the mining companies will continue to ignore the needs of the trade.
“We also have to communicate to the CEOs of De Beers and Anglo American that just because you can take advantage of the trade does not that mean that you should. Destroying long-term client trust relationships the essence of the De Beers brand while bankrupting the diamond trade for the sake of short- term balance sheet profits is poor leadership at its worst. Frankly, De Beers CEO, Philippe Mellier’s brand of trade expoitation and cannibalization is no longer tolerable. It is time for Mellier to go.”
Diamond retailers are taking the brunt of the bust; Tiffany & Co.’s second-quarter earnings and sales are coming in below expectations, and the company cited the strength in the U.S. dollar had knocked 7 percent off worldwide sales. Similarly, De Beers, the world-leading diamond producer, posted revenue of $3.0 billion for the first six months of 2015, down 21 percent from the $3.8 billion posted in the same period a year before. So, whether the banks, large mining companies and CEOs can work together to solve the issues in the diamond sector remains to be seen.
Miranda Wadham on 26/11/2015
Tesco agrees $12 million payout after lawsuit
Tesco (NASDAQ:TESO) has announced that it will pay out $12 million to settle a lawsuit by US shareholders, who claimed that the company had overstated its profit expectations for 2014.
Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket, admitted it had overstated its profit guidance due to incorrectly booking payments from suppliers, sending US shares tumbling by 15 percent. The overstatement was estimated to be around £263 million.
In a spate of bad results for the major supermarkets, Tesco reported third quarter earnings last month with a 55 percent fall in half-year operating profits. Tesco’s US-listed shares are currently trading down 2.42 percent at 8.08 a share. (0934GMT)Fix for Volkswagen cars simpler than expected, but still costly
Volkswagen (ETR:VOW) has announced that they will not lower the planned 6.7 billion euros for the costs of its diesel emissions scandal, despite the fact that the fix needed to make the cars compatible with EU regulations is simpler than expected.
Audi, who is owned by Volkswagen, said in a statement that to fix the problem a mesh needs to be fitted near the air cleaner, which will take approximately one hour of labour.
“Audi has agreed with the environmental authorities on further steps of cooperation in which the concrete measures to be taken will be specified,” Audi said in a statement. “The company has committed to continue cooperating transparently and fully. The focus will be on finding quick, uncomplicated and customer-friendly solutions.”
Volkswagen have been in negotiations with banks in order to find the 20 billion euros needed to cover the costs of the scandal, in which it was found that VW had installed software to dupe gas emissions tests. Analysts expect that the total bill could top 40 billion euros.
According to Chief Executive Matthias Mueller, the steps needed to fix the vehicles are “technically and financially manageable.”
Volkswagen are currently trading up 2.12 percent on the news, at 129.85 pence per share.
25/11/2015
Thomas Cook results show positivity in the travel sector
Shares in travel company Thomas Cook (LON:TCG) soared nearly 10 percent this morning after the release of impressive full year results.
Group revenue was up 1.1 percent to £7,834 million, with underlying earnings before tax up 11 percent to £310 million. The stronger balance sheet was helped by a profit increase of £9 million.
Peter Fankhauser, Chief Executive of Thomas Cook commented on the results:
“2015 has been a year of real progress as good trading combined with rigorous cost control to deliver our first positive profit after tax in five years. Despite turbulence in some of our destinations, the underlying business performed in line with our plans at the start of the year, demonstrating its greater resilience.
“Looking across the Group, the UK continued to strengthen as a better quality holiday offering and other business improvements delivered a 42% increase in underlying operating profit.
Travel companies have had a strong quarter, with airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair also producing good results. Thomas Cook is another example of strength within the tourism sector, despite the increased security alerts throughout Europe which may well have an impact on results in the future.
Thomas Cook is currently trading up 9 percent at 107.20 pence per share.
25/11/2015
Key points: Osborne’s Spending Review
Chancellor George Osborne delivered a half-yearly budget update to parliament this afternoon, in which he was expected to make another serious round of tax cuts and to give an update on debt reduction as a percentage of GDP. Key points from Osborne’s speech include a u-turn on welfare cuts and a much heralded change to the ‘tampon tax’.
Debt reduction
On the area of debt reduction, Osborne stated:
“Our Charter for Budget Responsibility commits us to reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio in each and every year of this parliament, reaching a surplus in the year 2019-20, and keeping that surplus in normal times. I can confirm that the OBR has today certified that the economic plan we present delivers on our commitment.”
Debt forecasts were also lower:
“Debt was forecast in July to be 83.6 percent of national income this year. Now, today, in this Autumn Statement, they forecast debt this year to be lower at 82.5 percent. It then falls every year, down to 81.7 percent next year, down to 79.9 percent in 2017-18, then down again to 77.3 percent and then 74.3 percent, reaching 71.3 percent in 2020-21.”
Tampon tax
After protests by women across the country, George Osborne has announced plans to scrap VAT on sanitary products. During the time it takes to scrap the tax, he says the £15m a year the tampon tax raises will go towards women’s health charities.
Scrapping planned changes to tax credits – Tax credits are being phased out anyway as we introduce universal credit. What that means is that the tax credit taper rate and thresholds remain unchanged.
Tax credits
The biggest announcement in the review was the scrapping of plans to reduce state support and tax credits. Osborne said:
“I can tell the House (of Commons) that the 12 billion pounds of welfare savings we committed to at the election, will be delivered in full, and delivered in a way that helps families as we make the transition to our new National Living Wage.”
He added that the improvement in public finances meant he could deliver his overall £12 billion welfare savings without the cuts.
Police budget
Andy Burnham had warned that the police budget “could be cut by 10%” but Osborne announced that there will be “no cuts” in the police budget”. He added, “there will be real-terms protection for police funding.”
Miranda Wadham on 25/11/2015
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