LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER
IT’S WALKOUT WEDNESDAY UNIONS PUT THE ‘CLOSED’ SIGN UP ON BRITISH BUSINESS P5 WEDNESDAY 1 FEBRUARY 2023
ISSUE 3,926
CITYAM.COM
FREE FORWARD LOOKING?
Tech Nation to shut after funding row CHARLIE CONCHIE
PAPERCHASER
TESCO PICKS UP HIGH STREET STAPLE – BUT STORES STILL AT RISK LAURA MCGUIRE TESCO has purchased the brand and intellectual property of Paperchase after the embattled stationery company collapsed into administration yesterday. However, it has not acquired the chain’s 106 physical stores across the UK and Ireland – putting some 820 jobs at risk. The supermarket will now sell its products in its UK stores. “Paperchase is a well-loved brand by so many, and we’re proud to bring it to
Tesco stores across the UK,” Jan Marchant, managing director of home and clothing at Tesco, said yesterday. The firm had fallen into administration earlier in the day, with the insolvency handled by Begbies Traynor. It marks yet another new chapter for Paperchase which has failed to recover from a bruising period during the pandemic – not least when the ‘cancelled Christmas’ at the end of 2020 all but wiped out vital festive sales. Paperchase was bought out last August
by retail investor Steve Curtis, having already been subject to a pre-pack administration in January 2021. At the time, the brand was forced to close 47 stores. Curtis then put it up for sale just a few months later. “The key challenge for Paperchase has been many store locations based around commuter hubs, which have had a low and then declining footfall since the pandemic,” Rebecca Crook, from digital consultancy CI&T, said. The purchase price was not disclosed.
START-UP network Tech Nation is to be wound down after the government withdrew its funding and handed it to Barclays. Tech Nation, founded by the coalition government in 2010, said it would cease operations from the end of March. Bosses at the tech body said they were now exploring a sale of its assets and were inviting offers and discussions with interested parties. Tech chiefs have slammed the move to grant Barclays the contract since it was first reported at the end of last year. The decision will offer one of Britain’s biggest traditional lenders huge sway over the fintech and tech ecosystems. Questions now hang over the future of the visa programme run by Tech Nation on behalf of the Home Office, which connected international tech talent with fast-growth firms in the UK. Tech Nation has processed over 6,000 Global Talent Visa applications since its inception and endorsed more than 3,000. A Home Office spokesperson told City A.M. the future governance of the programme had yet to be decided. “We will also take every available step to ensure that applicants already part of the Global Talent route are not disadvantaged,” they said.
Crypto regulation on the way – but government says it will support new ideas CHRIS DORRELL THE GOVERNMENT has set out plans to “robustly regulate” the crypto asset industry as it seeks to become a cryptocurrrency hub despite the problems faced by the industry last year. The proposals include rules for
crypto trading platforms and a “world-first” regime for crypto lending, as the government seeks to “embrace technological change”. Proposals will make crypto trading venues responsible for defining admission requirements and publishing disclosure documents, while ensuring crypto exchanges
have “fair and robust standards”. Rules around financial intermediaries and custodians – which have responsibility for facilitating transactions and safely storing customer assets – will also be strengthened. “These steps will help to deliver a robust world-first regime
strengthening rules around the lending of cryptoassets, while enhancing consumer protection and the operational resilience of firms,” the government said. Calls for increased crypto regulation have increased in the past few months. First, crypto prices crashed –
leaving many who had only seen upward momentum facing their first serious reverse. Then the high-profile collapse of FTX shone a spotlight on the standards of governance in the industry. £ CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
INSIDE KPMG CHIEF RULES OUT SPLIT P3 COULD THE UK PROVE THE IMF WRONG? P4 PUTTING CHAT GPT TO THE TEST P6 CELEBRATING LGBT HISTORY MONTH P16 SPORT P19-20