Murvah Iqbal, 28, started Hived, a London-based courier company that uses electric vehicles to make its deliveries, with co-founder Mathias Krieger in 2021. It has 70 staff, clients including Nespresso, Asos and John Lewis, and has raised £15 million from venture capital firms including Planet A Ventures, Eka Ventures and Pale Blue Dot. Before becoming…
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has taken a 14.65 per cent stake in Accent, a retail and distribution business based in Australia and New Zealand. The FTSE 100 retail group said it was a “strategic investment” that would allow Frasers to expand its presence in Australia and New Zealand, which is “a key market in the…
Hyundai has become the latest automotive manufacturer to step up investment in hybrid cars, as the industry grapples with a slowdown in demand for all-electric vehicles. The South Korean company has revealed plans to double its hybrid range to up to 14 models in anticipation of a rise in demand, especially in North America. It…
The pound hit a fresh 29-month high against the dollar on the back of hopes of an outsized interest rate cut in the US economy next month. Sterling gained 0.25 per cent on Tuesday to $1.323, the strongest since March 2022 after Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve chairman, last week confirmed that the “time has come”…
For such an important moment for the London stock market, the listing of CK Infrastructure was accompanied by relatively little fanfare in the wider City. On August 19 the £14 billion Hong Kong-based owner of energy, utility and transportation assets, which is part of the sprawling empire of Li Ka-shing, one of Asia’s richest men,…
Pernod Ricard has bolstered its position in the non-alcoholic drinks market by acquiring a minority stake in Almave, an alcohol-free agave spirit co-founded by Lewis Hamilton. Almave was launched last year by the Formula One motor racing driver in partnership with Casa Lumbre, a Mexican spirits group, and is being marketed as the first non-alcoholic…
When I mentioned last week that the trade figures had become something of a Cinderella statistic, barely mentioned these days, I was not quite prepared for the response. Many people got in touch to tell me they were puzzled by how data that once dominated the debate — and often led the evening news —…
The water industry is at a crossroads. On Wednesday, water companies responded to Ofwat’s initial determinations on its five-year investment plans. Our regulator now has a choice: maintain a status quo that condemns the industry to struggle to meet public expectations; or draw a line under the past and enable the investment to kickstart a…
Well, the main Olympics is over and I’ve enjoyed it, despite myself. I’m not a big sports fan but my youngest daughter is a keen hurdler and so I’ve drummed up enthusiasm for track and field events. Diving and cycling too — and I even got into the horse dancing. Really into the horse dancing….