Investing

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon has today revealed a new £200million investment in new bars and hotels. The chain, run by Brexiteer Tim Martin, will spend the giant sum over the next four years, creating around 10,000 new jobs across the UK.  New pubs and hotels will be opened, and existing pubs across the UK and Republic of Ireland will be enlarged, Mr Martin, who founded the pub company in 1979, announced on Tuesday.  JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin, pictured with Boris Johnson in July, has announced a four year plan to create new pubs and hotels creating 10,000 jobs   Most of the investment will be channelled into developments in small and medium-sized towns, but will also include larger towns and cities. These are set to include new pubs in Bourne in Lincolnshire; Waterford in Ireland; Hamilton in Scotland; Ely in Cambridgeshire; Diss in Norfolk; Felixstowe in Suffolk; Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire; and Prestatyn in North Wales. RELATED ARTICLES … [Read more...] about Wetherspoons announces £200million investment in pubs and hotels creating 10,000 jobs over the next four years

The developers of Hudson Yards, a multi-towered mega-project sprouting upward from the far west side of Manhattan, would like us to believe that its phase-one opening on Friday will be a milestone in New York City history. Many supportive city planners would agree. Perhaps they are right, but not for reasons worth celebrating. Developers call Hudson Yards“the largest private development in the history of the United States”, and boast that it includes the city’s most expensive office building as well as 14 other high-rises. Calling Hudson Yards a private development, however, is a half-truth. Hudson Yards is being built by two firms, Related and Oxford Property Group; while Related is a standard developer, Oxford is the real estate arm of the Ontario municipal workers’ pension fund. The developers say the project costs $15bn, but that doesn’t seem to take into account the $5.6bn in public expenditures already spent or committed to the project. It is … [Read more...] about Forget ‘machine for living in’ – Hudson Yards is a machine for investing in

The World Bank should reconsider its investment in one of Brazil’s biggest beef producers because of the industry’s links to deforestation and the climate crisis, according to two UN-appointed experts. Minerva is Brazil’s second largest beef exporter, and some of its product is supplied, both directly and indirectly, by cattle farmers based in the Amazon rainforest. However, although it has been able to certify 100% of its direct suppliers as zero-deforestation, it is currently – like the other large Brazilian beef companies - unable to monitor indirect suppliers. The World Bank’s investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) holds a significant stake in Minerva. “In light of the global climate crisis, the World Bank should ensure that all of its investments are climate-friendly and respect human rights and divest from businesses that fail to meet these criteria,” David Boyd, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the … [Read more...] about World Bank urged to rethink investment in one of Brazil’s big beef companies

Jeremy Corbyn will brush aside warnings that he risks a return to the divisions of the 1980s when he outlines plans to end “the years of political and economic austerity” to help create a high-skilled workforce in Britain. As Neil Kinnock and Peter Mandelson found rare common ground over the weekend to warn of the dangers posed by a Corbyn victory, the leftwinger made it clear that he would focus on the future as he pledged a return to the “sound economics of public investment”. Corbyn will unveil what his team is describing as his “Vision for Britain 2020” after Kinnock issued a strong warning that the “Trotskyite left and the Telegraph right” were seeking to infiltrate the leadership contest in Corbyn’s favour with “malign purposes”. In an Observer article, the former Labour leader wrote: “In the leadership election, we are not choosing the chair of a discussion group who can preside over two years or more of … [Read more...] about Jeremy Corbyn to unveil public investment plan to end austerity

Ocado is investing £17m in high-tech farming with the aim of growing herbs and other produce alongside its robot-run distribution centres around the world. The online grocery specialist has bought a 58% stake in Jones Food, a “vertical farm” that grows 420 tonnes of basil, parsley and coriander a year in stacked trays under 12km (7.5 miles) of LED lights in a warehouse in Scunthorpe. The grower currently supplies businesses such as sandwich maker Greencore. Duncan Tatton-Brown, finance director of Ocado, said the group could open at least 10 more similar farms within five years. He said it could take less than a year to build a Jones Food facility and the two companies were now considering how Ocado’s expertise in robotics and AI could be used to make Jones Food more efficient. James Lloyd-Jones, chief executive of Jones Food, said the group’s Scunthorpe farm recycled all its water, did not use pesticides and was powered by renewable energy, such as wind … [Read more...] about Ocado invests in ‘vertical farms’ to grow produce near distributors