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A man is due in court as police continue to crack down on drug and knife crime.

Eight men say they were abused by football coach Barry Bennell while he was a scout at the club.

Over half of London office workers would be prepared to work from home less in order to help struggling businesses recover from the impact of the pandemic, according to new research, shared with City A.M. today.

In fact, over three quarters (76 per cent) of the capital’s office workers felt that it was important to protect Central London from further decline but over half (55 per cent) felt that hybrid working means businesses in city centres will suffer, according to the research commissioned by the South Westminster Business Alliance.

However, the easing of lockdown restrictions has failed to prompt a mass return to the city.

Nearly four in ten London office workers are currently using a hybrid model, splitting time between home and the office. When asked when they see themselves returning full-time, one in five said never.

When quizzed on why they had not returned full time, the most common answer was not wanting to commute every day (40 per cent) and 6 in 10 (63 per cent) of people said taking public transport still concerns them while the pandemic is ongoing, according to the survey.

Public transport

The fear of crowded spaces and the pandemic means that commuters are opting for alternative modes of transport.

Transport for London’s Santander cycle hire scheme saw more than one million hires in September, making it its busiest month on record.

Restoring confidence in public transport is vital for getting people back to the city and supporting businesses, argued Ruth Duston, CEO of the South Westminster Business Alliance. 

“While a flexible approach to the workplace seems set to stay, it’s clear from this research that Londoners care very deeply about the prosperity of this great city. What we need to do now is connect this sentiment to real life action,” she said.

We must re-double our efforts to tackles issues that may hinder the return, whether that be some of the negative aspects associated with the commute, poor public realm and safety concerns.

Ruth Duston, CEO of the South Westminster Business Alliance

Duston said the reinstatement of the night tube is “something we have been lobbying hard on, and it’s great news that TfL has heard the calls for this vital service to return to boost confidence across London.”

The post Half of all Londoners say working from home is damaging the capital's businesses appeared first on CityAM.

Cazoo announces third-quarter success, as their offering resonates with second-hand buyers and a growing delivery culture.

The used-car retailer report a growth in revenue up 267 per cent YoY, to £174.4m in Q3.

Within this, retails revenues were up 207 per cent YoY, with a gross profit of £11.8m, up by £12.5m compared to Q3 2020.

Within their offering, Cazoo promises to deliver any car to your doorstep within 72 hours, and have been described as the Amazon of the second hand car market.

Whilst this may sound like a logistical nightmare, the number of vehicles sold up were 209% during this period. They also materially increased wholesale volumes as more cars sourced directly from consumers.

Second-hand car prices are rising at “unprecedented rates”, the AA said last week, as more people consider buying used cars amid a low supply of new vehicles.

Alex Chesterman OBE, Founder & CEO of Cazoo, was happy with the results, saying: “It is very clear that our proposition is resonating strongly with consumers and that the shift to online car buying is accelerating. The biggest constraint to growth remains our ability to recondition cars fast enough to meet demand.”

“Bringing that process in-house has led to a recent dip in vehicles available for sale during the transition and we firmly believe that greater stock levels would have resulted in even higher retail sales over Q3.”

The company forecast 2021 revenues of over £650 million (which excludes £15-20 million of sales where Cazoo sold vehicles as an agent for third parties), implying Q4 growth of over 25% quarter on quarter and over 200% year on year.

As a serial entrepreneur, Chesterman has also recently backed a new prescription app, Pharmacierge, which has raised £1.25m so far.

The post Cazoo announces revenue boom as second-hand car demand soars appeared first on CityAM.

Trailing the Manchester Arena attacker on his UK return would have led MI5 to the bomb, an inquiry hears.

Bolton Wanderers ban nine fans following trouble at the League One home game with Wigan Athletic on 16 October.

A juror is connected to the grandparents of Joshua Hall, 17, who died from stab wounds, it emerges.

Fortnite has been revealed as the most profitable mobile gaming app as its owners continue a bitter legal dispute with Apple.

The world’s most popular online game raked in $5.1bn this year from some 300m users who spent an average of $17 each according to new research by KLOC digital solutions. Pokémon trailed in second place taking in $1.2bn from some 166m players while Candy Crush took home $1.19m, an average of $4 each from its 273m users.

A spokesperson for KLOC said: “Gaming apps have always been wildly popular among users of all ages, and we’ve always taken them for granted as cheap – if not free – features of our phones.

“The unbiased list of gaming apps being studied, highlights the profitability apps have in the marketplace as long as the platform remains relevant to its users,” the commentator added. 

Fortnite’s runaway success comes as its owner Epic Games remains embroiled with a legal dispute with Apple over app store payment rules. Fortnite was kicked off the app store for directed users to its own website to make purchases, effectively cutting out Apple which takes 15 to 30 per cent from all in-app purchases.

Epic Games has accused Apple of using its market dominance to create a monopoly, a claim which the tech giant denies, and has launched lawsuits in courts across the world in order to get Fortnite reinstated on the app store.

In a September ruling, US district Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers called for the iPhone maker’s App Store rules to change and struck down the prohibition on developers directing their users to other payment options beside Apple’s in-app payment system, in a partial win for Epic.

Apple is calling for changes to its app store rules to be delayed and has raised concerns about the safety of payments infrastructure not issued by its developers. A hearing on the request will take place on November 09.

Read more: Fortnite calls on Apple to allow its developers back on app store

The post Big spenders: Fortnite rakes in $5.1bn from gamer purchases appeared first on CityAM.

Atik in Oxford says it made the decision to back the protest "after listening to staff and guests".

Northamptonshire batter Saif Zaib signs a contract extension tying him to Wantage Road until 2023.

Draftkings has said it will not be making a final bid to purchase Entain causing the ladbrokes owner’s share price to shed 7 per cent.

Draftkings had offered 2,800 pence a share in cash and stock for Entain back in September, a $22.4bn offer which represented a 43 per cent premium over the company’s stock price and improved on an earlier 2,500 pence bid.

However, to move forward with the purchase Draftkings needed to give a firm offer by October 19, but missed the deadline after the companies reportedly struggled to agree over the governance structure for BetMGM, the joint venture between Entain and MGM.

Jason Robins DraftKings CEO, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board today said “after several discussions with Entain leadership, DraftKings has decided that it will not make a firm offer for Entain at this time. 

“Based on our vertically-integrated technology stack, best-in-class product and technology capabilities and leading brand, we are highly confident in our ability to maintain a leadership position and achieve our long-term growth plans in the rapidly growing North America market,” the statement added.

Entain, which owns British high street betting shop staples Coral and Ladbrokes, has seen its share price plummet to daily lows of 1,886 pence, down by as much as 12 per cent compared to this morning’s open.

Given that Draftkings has missed the October deadline the company will be unable to make another offer to purchase Entain for at least six months.

Read more: Entain caught between US rivals DraftKings and MGM as £18bn takeover looms

The post Ladbrokes owner Entain's shares tumble as Draftkings drops $22bn offer appeared first on CityAM.

Brexit, ‘greenwashing’, COP26, the EU/UK taxonomy, China in the wake of the Evergrande affair, the EU’s push for ‘strategic autonomy’ as well as privacy and the use of data are being discussed by CSFI director Andrew Hilton and this panel.

They also zoom in on the latest IA report on asset management, and have a more general discussion of the regulatory system post-crisis and post-Covid.

Panel

Barney Reynolds is global head of the Financial Services Industry Group at Shearman & Sterling in London, and a member of the firm’s Executive Group. Much of his work has focused on the UK’s future relationship with the EU, based on ‘enhanced equivalence’.

Chris Cummings has been CEO of the Investment Association since 2016. He was formerly CEO of TheCityUK, and before that was D-G of the AIFA.

Finally, Sherry Madera is global head of industry and government /affairs at Refinitiv, and chair of the future of Sustainable Data Alliance. She is a former Economic Ambassador to Asia on behalf of the City of London, and a former minister-counsellor at the British Embassy in Beijing. She is also an agenda adviser to the World Economic Forum.

Watch the discussion below.

The post The City after Brexit: With Refinitiv, Shearman & Sterling and the Investment Association appeared first on CityAM.

The Hull events offer people the chance to speak to others and concentrate on a new hobby.

Staff numbers and costs for the Department for Education (DfE) group for the financial year 2021 to 2022.

Christopher Curtis gave the game to Boris Johnson when he got Covid-19 in the first half of 2020.

Christopher Curtis gave the game to Boris Johnson when he got Covid-19 in the first half of 2020.

A Manchester Arena bomb victim's partner says a stranger's call to have a park renamed is touching.

A Manchester Arena bomb victim's partner says a stranger's call to have a park renamed is touching.

Northampton Saints sign tight-head prop Conor Carey from French club Perpignan on a contract to the end of the season.

Online trading and investment platform Saxo Bank has announced booming intake from its crypto products amid surging demand.

The bank’s turnover from crypto products exceeded $2.5bn (£1.8bn) for the year, leading the Danish online broker to increase position limits and add new crypto products in response to “exceptional” interest.

Demand for the platform’s digital assets division, Crypto FX, has exceeded expectations as investors look to diversify their portfolio’s and hedge against inflation by investing in alternative assets the bank said.

Stanislav Kostyukhin, Commercial Owner for the Trader segment at Saxo Bank, commented “the exceptional response and activity seen in the six months after the launch of our Crypto FX offering clearly shows that crypto is an increasingly important asset class for our clients.”

On Crypto FX clients can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin against EUR, USD and JPY from a single margin account without the need to maintain a crypto wallet. The company has announced it will now offer more than 50 exchange traded products (ETPs) tracking tokens such as Cardano, Solana, Polkadot, Stellar, Ripple and other popular digital assets.

One of the latest additions also includes the first ever US Crypto ETF issued by Proshares last week under ticker BITO.

It comes as banks worldwide increase their offerings of products offering clients crypto exposure amid surging demand.

Morgan Stanley has launched a crypto research team, following in the footsteps of Bank of America corp which created its own crypto research team earlier this year and banking giant Citigroup which offers investors access to Bitcoin futures trading products.

More than six in ten institutional investors and wealth managers from the US, UK, France, Germany, and the UAE that currently don’t have any exposure to cryptocurrencies and digital assets, expect to invest within the next year.

Read more: Banks increasingly keen to enter crypto space say industry experts

The post Saxo Bank's crypto products rake in $2.5bn appeared first on CityAM.