Asian Companies Listing on AIM

In the past few decades, the Chinese economy has experienced phenomenal growth. And while growth had since slowed, it can’t be ignored that in 2014, China became only the second country in history (after America) to achieve economic output in excess of $10 trillion. In fact, even at the current rate of growth, China expected to surpass the US as the world’s largest economy within the next two decades.

It is no wonder then that foreign investors have been looking for ways to benefit from the Chinese success story. And there are plenty of Chinese investment opportunities right here in the UK. SMEs in China have long struggled to secure capital from Chinese banks and that has sent them elsewhere, including London’s AIM market.

But more recently, the reputation of Chinese AIM listed companies has taken a serious hit. It seems that after a few scandals involving Chinese companies, the market has lost faith in all of them. The problem for most Chinese companies therefore seems to be the result of suspicion and rumour. Of course, this is unfair – the Quindell and Tesco scandals have not resulted in investors blacklisting every UK Company.

So the question is, what can Chinese companies do to increase their appeal to UK investors and continue to tap a valuable source of funding through the AIM market? The simple answer: Transparency. After all, the best way to quash suspicions and rumour is by getting the truth out. So for any Chinese companies listing in London, effectively communicating to potential investors from the beginning is critical – and there are plenty of ways to do this.

The suspicions surrounding Chinese companies listing in London are largely fuelled by a literal lack of visibility. So first and foremost, Chinese companies seeking admission to the London Stock Exchange need to bear in mind that potential investors are based abroad and therefore not able to directly observe the day to day operations of the business. Transparency, achieved in part through increased publicity, is therefore key to bolstering investor confidence.

But an effective communications program requires much more than reaching out to the UK national and investor press only briefly ahead of the IPO. Companies need to communicate through wider media outlets and for a longer period of time in the build up to Admission in order to achieve a successful and hopefully oversubscribed fundraising.

One way to do this is by launching Corporate profiling exercises on the home front. Even when targeting a predominantly overseas audience, the relevance of local and trade press coverage should not be underestimated before an IPO.

This is particularly salient for smaller companies. UK journalists are unlikely to have heard of an Asian based SME considering an AIM IPO. If British journalists can discover an existing profile through good trade and local press coverage (and where appropriate a social media profile) as they go online for further information, it will increase the likelihood of positive UK press coverage at IPO.

Local media coverage is also important for investors, as it plays a key role in reassuring their confidence. If a company attempts to promote itself amongst UK investors without an already established press profile, it could make a company’s story, no matter how compelling, harder to believe. And given the current climate of suspicion, that is risk Chinese companies simply can’t take.

Simply put, a proactive communications program is strong evidence of a company’s willingness to honour its commitment to new and existing shareholders. And, perhaps more importantly, increased transparency will help reassure investors and help regain trust of the market. This strategy will not only help Chinese companies: With London seeking to cement its status as the world’s leading financial centre there is simply no way investors here can dismiss companies operating in a country set to become the world’s economic powerhouse.

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Corporate Communications: The double-edged sword of Social Media

There’s a big reason why corporations should be monitoring social media. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the increasing number of retail investors using social media to discuss and research their trades. The fact that the average investor can now easily access and share information about a stock means companies need to be aware of what is happening. Unlike the chatrooms often used by retail investors, social media reaches a much wider and mainstream audience.

Social media has undoubtedly changed the way the world communicates. So why are many corporations ignoring or misusing what is arguably the most influential means of communication in the twenty-first century?

The corporate communications industry has arguably been slow to embrace social media. Perhaps that’s because this channel of communication is not taken seriously enough – it’s often still associated with embarrassing Facebook profiles. But social media has evolved in the last decade to the point where a lack of social media strategy is not only a missed opportunity – it’s risky and perhaps even irresponsible.

Consider the many benefits of having a corporate social media presence. Social media can be used to respond swiftly, and very publicly, to an unforeseen crisis. The recent example of the GermanWings crash demonstrates this: The Company was able to immediately respond to media reports that one of its planes had lost contact, and they continued to use Twitter to update the public as soon as the information became available.

This points to perhaps one of the greatest benefits of social media for corporate communications: Control. Social media can and should be used to get the message you want out to a wider audience without an intermediary such as a journalist. Newsfeeds and blogs offer the opportunity to create, and control content on what a corporation is doing, how it does it and who is doing it. It increases transparency and is helpful for everyone – clients, investors, potential investors and the media.

Social media’s widespread reach is also why this channel of communication is a double-edged sword. Just ask the investment bank JP Morgan Chase, who once invited the public to “Tweet a Q using #AskJPM.” It was meant to give career advice but ended up going viral, with twitter users asking questions such as, “Did you have a specific number of people’s lives you needed to ruin before you considered your business model a success?” and “What section of the poor & disenfranchised have you yet to exploit for profit, & how are you working to address that?”

In the post-credit crunch era, it should have been obvious that this Twitter campaign was a bad idea. But that doesn’t mean JP Morgan should have avoided social media entirely. Social media is also a useful way to measure sentiment. This process of identifying and assessing what is being said about a corporation or brand is known as social media listening. Had JP Morgan done this first, it would have been able to predict the results of #AskJPM.

Simply put, a corporate communications strategy can’t ignore social media but also has to be very careful when it comes to execution. It gets down to the heart of the purpose of PR: Enhancing and protecting reputations. And in the digital era, it’s pretty obvious this can’t be done without a well thought out social media strategy.

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Weekly Wrap Up: Please don’t increase my wage

The honeymoon appears to be over for the newly elected Conservative government. After basking in the glow of an unexpected majority win in the recent elections, the UK’s Tories have become caught up in a media firestorm - although it may not be one they could have avoided.

Before the election, David Cameron had described a 10% pay increase for MP’s – from £67 060 to £74 000 – as unacceptable. And on the surface, it does look bad for a government that is rumoured to be planning an additional £12 billion in welfare cuts to bump up their own pay. But the government has little choice when it comes to the pay rise – it’s decided by an independent body.

Nevertheless, in the UK media, taxpayer money is a hot button issue. Just ask the banks that received bailout money: banker’s salaries and bonuses have come under intense scrutiny and the media likes to suggest that taxpayer money is being used to pay for them. And there’s no class discrimination when it comes to receiving a taxpayer funded salary: welfare recipients who are deemed to be receiving too many benefits are also popular subjects in some major UK publications.

The lesson here is that when people are giving you their hard earned money they will want to know exactly what you are doing with it and why. This is as true for taxpayers as it is for shareholders. The unavoidable reality of increased scrutiny therefore requires increased transparency. Clearly communicating what is being done with the money and why will not only prevent the media from sensationalizing the story, it will also help win the trust of those who are providing the funds.

In the case of the MP pay rise, the government actually appears to be at least trying to do right by the taxpayer. Earlier this week a spokesperson explained that David Cameron could not do anything to prevent the pay rise. Ironically, the process of having an independent body decide on MP pay was put into place to prevent politicians from being paid excessive salaries on the taxpayer dime. Downing Street has followed this explanation with a letter to the authority that decides on MP pay to appeal the increase. At the very least, Downing Street has attempted to show that they are trying to protect taxpayer money.

So while most people living in UK would be thrilled to get a 10% wage increase, for politicians that extra money is likely not worth the public backlash – especially since after tax that £7000 won’t go very far for MP’s based in London.



This week, Abchaps attended the Watson Farley & Williams Commodities Summer Reception at The Salt Point Bar and the London Stock Exchange Summer Advisory Drinks at the Marchant Taylors’ Hall, where we caught up with lots of familiar faces. We also hosted a market lunch that discussed various topical subjects affecting the IPO market.



EY appointed Klaus Woeste, of KPMG, as a Partner and Head of the HR advisory team in its financial services human capital practice. Andrew Charnley joined Lloyds Bank’s Global Transaction banking business as Regional Head of the Trade and Working Capital Team from Barclays. Lloyds also appointed Paul Smith, who has worked at the bank for over 31 years, as Head of Trade Finance. Finally Gareth Lewis joined PwC’s real estate practice as Director, moving from a consultant role at EY and the Urban Land Institute.



“Hot button issue” – an issue that elicits a strong emotional reaction, such as MP’s who receive a 10% pay increase while the wages of those who pay that salary stagnate.



Enjoy Sunset Safari, where London Zoo opens its doors until 10pm, allowing guests to witness nature whilst the sun goes down.

Polo in the Park returns to the Hurlingham Club in Fulham. Nothing gives better excuse to Champagne before lunch than polo, so enjoy the atmosphere as the England team plays its first match there since 1939.

Over in east London, Field Day marks the start of festival season, being held in Victoria Park. With names like Caribou, Clarence Clarity, and Django Django, this promises to see the season kick off in style.

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Weekly Wrap Up: Humility Before Profit

Could an incident that occurred a decade ago create more reputational damage now for the company involved than when the incident first occurred? This is arguably the case for Thomas Cook, who have been under immense pressure in recent weeks over their handling of the high-profile deaths of two children on holiday in Corfu in 2006.

The Independent’s view “a tragedy to a corporate disaster” has been widely voiced, with the public and media consensus being that Thomas Cook’s communications strategy is “too little too late”.

Timeline of events:

• April 2015 – Inquest begins into deaths of the Shepherd children.
• 13 May – Manny Fontenla-Novoa, CEO at the time of the tragedy, appears as a witness to the inquest but refuses to answer a series of questions. Peter Fankhauser, current CEO, tells inquest that Thomas Cook has done "nothing wrong". Inquest jury returns verdict of unlawful killing and says Thomas Cook "breached its duty of care".
• 17 May – Shepherd family reveals it received £350,000 in compensation from the hotel owners for their children’s deaths. It emerges later that day that the hotel paid Thomas Cook up to £3.5m in compensation.
• 18 May – Thomas Cook offers to pay compensation it received to Unicef and apologises to the family.
• 20 May – Fankhauser apologises to the family and says he is "deeply sorry".
• 21 May – Fankhauser meets with the parents face to face, giving a “sincere and heartfelt apology” and agrees to donate an undisclosed sum to six charities of the parents’ choice. In addition, the parents requested that the bungalow where the tragedy took place be demolished and replaced with a “lasting tribute” in the form of a playground.

Thomas Cook’s mistakes and subsequent quick fixes have caused immeasurable damage to the firm’s reputation and future value as they enter a crucial trading period. The Group would expect to be selling holidays to families gearing up for the summer break. Meanwhile, it has been reported that around £75m has been wiped off the company’s share price this week as investor’s dumped stock. Only time will tell whether the share price will recover. This will largely depend on any subsequent actions the Company take to stop the rot.

Fankauser has now done what his predecessor should have done back in 2006; given the parents a sincere apology.

Holly Ward, co-founder of The Forge commented: “As a nation we respond well to humility; even if Peter Fankhauser didn’t want to imply his company was to blame by offering an apology to the parents of Bobby and Christi Shepherd, a little humility would have gone a long way in showing his company actually cared. The Unicef donation smacked of a quick fix that missed its mark.”

The incident can serve as a lesson not only for Thomas Cook, but the majority of companies. Thomas Cook went far too much down the legal route, allowing its lawyers and bean counters to dictate how it dealt with a grieving family, instead of actioning a robust crisis communications plan, or having the inclination to do the right thing.

Julian Pike, Head of Reputation Management at Farrer & Co stated: “From the outset, Thomas Cook should have made the family its priority, irrespective of the legal advice or insurers' requirements. Its own financial wellbeing should also have come a long way second.”



This week, Abchaps hosted an Asia themed market lunch where economic opportunities in the region were explored and the potential impact on the London IPO market was discussed.



Andrew Penny joined EY from JP Morgan as Senior Advisor to its real estate corporate finance team; Judith Mackenzie, Partner at Acuity Capital and Senior Investment Manager at Aberdeen Asset Management Growth Capital, joined the board of Quoted Companies Alliance, whilst Kelly Tubman Hardy joined Hogan Lovells’ corporate practice in Baltimore from DLA Piper.



“Stop the rot”: to take action against something bad, before it spreads and becomes worse



If craft beer is your thing, head along to the Old Royal Naval College, and try over 80 different types of draft beer at Brewfest; Greenwich.

This weekend sees a particularly British pastime, with the Gloucestershire cheese rolling taking place, where you can throw yourself down a hill after Cheddar!

Finally, Kew Gardens is holding a Full of Spice festival, starting this weekend. With everything from a Strictly Spice dance-off to a pop up bar, this festival has everything.

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Weekly Wrap Up: The Anti-immigrant Immigrant

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney inadvertently put himself in the running to become UKIP’s new leader this week while delivering the quarterly Inflation Report. Never mind that Carney comes from a country built on the backs of immigrants, somehow the Bank’s forecast of economic conditions in the UK was translated into an anti-immigration rant by some newspapers.

The Daily Mail headline that followed Carney’s press conference read, “Foreign workers drag down UK wages, says bank chief: Carney’s explosive intervention as number of EU migrants working here hits 2 million.” The Express ran the following emphatic headline: “Foreign workers ARE dragging down UK wages: Bank of England’s shock warning to Britain.”

But it wasn’t just the predictable Daily Mail and Express that ran the immigrant scare story: The Times headline stated, “Migrants ‘threaten economic recovery’.”

So how did the apolitical Central Bank suddenly make headlines usually attributed to Nigel Farage?

It seems the Canadian banker fell victim to the UK media’s drive for sensational headlines. What he actually said was: “In recent years, labour supply has expanded significantly owing to higher participation rates among older workers, a greater willingness to work longer hours and strong population growth, partly driven by higher net migration. These positive labour supply shocks have contained wage growth in the face of robust employment growth.”

Yes, Carney mentions net migration. But his first two points focus on British workers, which the Daily Mail and others conveniently chose to ignore. However, Carney clarified his comments on BBC Radio 4 the next morning by pointing out that the increase in labour supply is down to British workers taking more hours, and older workers staying in employment, and that over the last two years, increases in those two factors have been 10 times more important than migrants. In other words, you can blame your colleagues that stay late every day and refuse to retire for your stagnating wage.

Shortly after that clarification, the headlines began to look much more sensible: The Independent ran a story titled, “Bank of England governor Mark Carney says UK productivity not harmed by migrant workers.” Business Insider bluntly headlined its story, “No, Mark Carney is not anti-immigration.”

Of course it’s almost absurd that Carney, a foreigner who came to work in the UK, even has to defend himself against anti-immigration allegations. Still, what happened to him can happen to any business or prominent individual. The media can, and will, twist the truth. So that’s why it’s important to note that the Bank of England responded almost perfectly by having Carney quickly dispel any misunderstandings. In short, Carney and the Bank of England won this battle against bad press because they fought back in a timely fashion with the best weapon possible: The Truth.



This week Abchaps took some special guests to mingle with old friends at City institution Gulls Egg Luncheon at Merchant Taylors Hall; and attended Rushlight’s Cleantech event ‘Getting CCS in the UK to happen’, hosted by Smith and Williamson. Abchaps also headed to the Gorkana Media breakfast briefing with Bloomberg, to hear the Company’s new direction, including the newly launched Bloomberg Europe website and how PRs can use Bloomberg’s services to benefit their clients.

Two of our graduates also attended the next stage of their FinanceTalking training, “Finance Essentials for Communicators” focusing on understanding corporate finance and accounting concepts, as well as learning how to use numbers and KPIs in order to tell a positive financial story. Back at home, we hosted another successful Oil and Gas focused Market Lunch, where it was reassuring to see deals are still being for near term projects with good management teams.



Charles Russell Speechlys promoted Suzi Gatward to real estate Partner, whilst WH Ireland has appointed Roland Kitson Head of Business Development for wealth management. Paul Stevens, who has headed up Olswang’s international intellectual property practice group since 2013, was appointed Chief Executive of the law firm.



“Quarterly inflation report”: It’s normally about as exciting as the title implies, but this week the Bank of England’s forecast of economic conditions in the UK made headlines for Mark Carney’s supposed anti-immigration rhetoric.



This weekend, the international rugby 7s is coming to Twickenham, so celebrate in a carnival of fancy dress. For this year, the theme is ‘out of this world’. Go big or go home!

If beer, rugby, and aliens aren’t necessarily your thing, the Natural History Museum is holding an afterhours ‘Night Safari’. Seen as time travelling across three centuries, visitors will be able to see this cathedral of knowledge devoid of its usual madding crowds.

Finally, with spring finally showing its face, London’s rooftops are becoming pleasant places to be again. The Rooftop Film Club is one of the best ways of seeing a film, out in the open air, with cocktails and deckchairs.

Follow us on Twitter @AbchurchComms

Weekly Wrap Up: The Biggest Loser this Election

Before the polls even opened on Thursday, there was already a clear loser in the UK general election: banks. Regardless of which party takes power, it seems that UK bank earnings are set to be hit by a wave of new legislation that could result in a rising bank levy, ring-fencing of operations, and even capping of retail banking market shares.

To be clear, banks and individual bankers whose recklessness and criminal behaviour precipitated the financial crisis deserved to be punished. And yes, the government should play a strong role in ensuring economic stability and therefore has to keep an eye on the financial industry.

Some proposed policies aimed at banks suggest politicians have become irrational. How, for example, would a Labour Party proposal to increase the bank levy to support free childcare have prevented the next financial crisis? Tory plans to use the money from fines to create apprenticeships also suggest politicians are simply using this money for political gain. It’s no wonder then that the Institute for Fiscal Studies recently felt compelled to warn politicians against treating banks like a “cash cow”.

But still, banks have been remarkably silent when it comes to defending themselves against political attacks in the post credit crunch era. This is particularly surprising because many politicians were themselves complicit in creating the conditions that led to the financial crisis.

So perhaps it’s time for banks to change their PR strategy and speak up. Already there are rumblings: The Chief Executive of the British Bankers’ Association was recently quoted in the Financial Times reminding politicians that “Banking is by far Britain’s leading export industry, and one of its biggest taxpayers, but…it is very internationally mobile.”

But instead of running away, as HSBC and Standard Chartered have threatened, it would be refreshing to hear more about the value that the financial industry brings to the UK and how banks are working to prevent further bad behaviour. After all, the staggering fines paid by banks since the financial crisis are not just the result of overzealous politicians on a witch hunt – banking culture was clearly dysfunctional pre crunch.

According to the FT, most bank bosses recognize that the industry is not doing enough to convince sceptics it has changed. Increased transparency would be a step in the right direction since it would prevent people from coming to their own conclusions, which has been mostly that banks are still up to no good.

So it’s time for the banks to take back control of the narrative. Until now, it may have been easier for banks to remain silent and for the public to hate them, but in reality if the financial industry continues to be a political target the biggest loser in this election will ultimately be the UK economy.



This week, Abchaps have been networking across the continent with our global partners at IPREX’s Annual Meeting in Berlin. We also met CMS Advisory over breakfast, discussing the ever increasing importance of social media in the City. Our Market Lunch series continued unabated; with this generalist lunch as the last held before the election, understandably, politics was at the forefront of the agenda.



Richard Hughes joined Norton Rose Fulbright as a Partner in its banking and finance practice, having previously worked with Simmons & Simmons. Alistair Mackenzie joined Associate Sales Director at UBS Global Asset Management, from Curzon Capital. Finally Cavendish Corporate Finance appointed Kate Gibbon, David Harris, Victoria Clarke, and Nathan Harroch into its Corporate Finance team.



The Saatchi Gallery the annual Contemporary Craft Fair ‘2015 edition’, presenting 35 international galleries showcasing the most exciting examples of applied arts craftsmanship.

To all you wannabe Sir Bradley Wiggins’ out there, SPIN London – The Urban Cycling Show celebrates the urban cycling scene with international brands and smaller independent makers in fixed gear, single speed, custom and BMX bikes in attendance as well as emerging cycle fashion brands, cyclic artwork, talks, demonstrations and workshops.

If you happen to be having a stroll with your dog on Hampstead Heath this Sunday, then why not enter The Great Hampstead Bark Off 2015? With a dog-themed-cake bake off, a dog show, and prizes awarded in categories like ‘cutest pup’ and ‘best rescue’. The event, in association with charity All Dogs Matter, will also give you the chance to meet some lovely mutts in need of a new home.

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Weekly Wrap Up: Flash Crash brings Fast Cash?

The City has been in the PR mire for some time. Since the financial crash, institutions and individuals have been scrambling to save face, only to be undermined by a stream of negative press.

This week, that negative press has been provided with the flash crash case of Navinder Singh Sarao. A self-employed day trader, he faces extradition charges to the US, where he is accused of playing a significant role in, momentarily, taking up to $1 trillion off Wall Street. In a 45 minute period, almost 1000 points were knocked from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the US’s premier exchange. The premise was simple, Sarao added sell orders which could be seen around the world, and caused others to add sell orders, panicking about a potential fall in their market. Following the cancellation of his orders, Sarao would then track the market down, and buy for supposed huge personal profits. This crime carries the potential for 380 years in prison, not something to be sniffed at.

In addition, Deutsche Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, accepted a record libor fine of £1.6 billion for its role in fixing international interest rates during 2005-2010. These two crimes accurately portray the various flaws in City institutions. Firstly, the ability to undermine and subvert the system, and secondly the damage that can be done to its image.

Having been caught on the back foot when the markets fell, the financial regulators have now taken the fight to the institutions, inflicting more stringent fines. However, more needs to be done. Whilst America can be seen setting a hardline with its sentencing, 150 years for Bernie Madoff springs to mind, the UK needs to work harder at finding those who have abused the system criminally guilty.

The banks themselves, seemingly reticent to move on from their glory years, need to be seen doing more in the public eye to clear up their act. Possibly fearful of their pariah status, heads of UK banks have been notable in their absence from British screens in the last seven years. It will take strong character, but to move past the current public perception, banks need to work as never before to root out those who are abusing the system, and prove to the country and the world that this vital part of our economy is worth sustaining.



This week, Abchaps hosted multiple events including two Market Lunches, one focused on Mining and the other focused on the Environment, whilst also entertaining Northland Capital, after successfully working on TechFinancials IPO together. We also met with Richard Dunnett of Director Magazine, in order to learn more about how the magazine operates; and attended the Entrepreneurs Breakfast, a joint initiative between Smith & Williamson and freshbusinessthinking.com, which brought together multiple entrepreneurs at breakfast with keynote speaker Christopher Baker-Brian.



N+1 Singer appointed Nic Hellyer as Director in its Corporate Finance team from HSBC, whilst Nicole Martin was hired as Audit Partner in BDO’s Technology and Media practice. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered appointed Sir Iain Lobban to the bank’s board Financial Crime Risk Committee.



“Flash Crash” – A word which has entered the lexicon as quickly as the crime was purported to take. Having taken five years to work out a potential culprit, one feels that we will be reminded of the flash crash for some time to come.



If you’re an athlete you might be heading to the London Marathon this weekend. But for the less active among us, you will probably want to avoid Central London.

For those not running, there’s still a chance to celebrate England’s Patron Saint this weekend: The Mayor of London's throwing a party in his honour at Trafalgar Square on both Saturday and Sunday, where Robbie Boyd is headlining from 4pm-5pm on Saturday.

Follow us on Twitter @AbchurchComms

Weekly Wrap Up: Minimise risk to your Corporate Reputation

The value of a good corporate reputation cannot be understated. It’s one of the main reasons businesses invest in communications and public relations. That’s why tracking media trends and watching for developments that signal risks, as well as opportunities, should be part of any corporate communications strategy.

This week there was a prime example of exactly why this matters so much. CEO of fashion retailer Next, Simon Wolfson, made headlines when he criticised an organisation dedicated to urging businesses to pay a so-called living wage. He claimed that £6.70 an hour is enough to live on for some people. Coming from a man titled Lord, worth an estimated £100 million and who took home a £4.6 million pay package last year, this out-of-touch comment would have been a PR disaster at the best of times. However, his outrageous remark came on the same day that Next posted bumper annual figures: pre-tax profit increased 12.5% to £794.8 million and the dividend rose by 16.3%. These results should, and probably would have, dominated media coverage of Next if not for Lord Wolfson’s poor judgement.

It would have helped if Lord Wolfson, or his communications advisors, had been paying attention to just how controversial living wage discussions have become. In the US, for example, Walmart and McDonald’s were among the major corporations that were villainised in the press due to their refusal to pay a living wage. Low paid employees at both companies even went on strike to demand a better wage.

Corporate missteps like this naturally generate plenty of bad publicity and are detrimental to an organisation. But arguably the worst part is that this damage could have easily been avoided by tracking recent media trends. If that had happened at Next, maybe they would have realised that someone who makes £4.6 million a year should refrain from providing “thought leadership” on the living wage debate.



This week Abchaps welcomed some of our UK IPREX partners to our offices, to discuss how our complementary services can further benefit our clients; joined Equity Development for an evening where they hosted three exciting and innovative company presentations within the media and technology sector for the City and PCIM community; and also attended Gorkana’s breakfast briefing, hosted by Director magazine. This newly relaunched title offers a direct line to C-Suite occupiers, and with its new look, Director does away with the usually drab vision of the board room.



Simon MacKinnon has been appointed Asia strategy adviser at the asset management firm Old Mutual Global Investors. Panmure Gordon has hired Patric Johnson as head of securities. He will also serve on Panmure’s Board.



“Living wage” - the amount an individual needs to earn to cover the basic costs of living. So maybe Lord Wolfson does know a thing or two about a living wage? His £4.6 million pay package should be just about enough to survive in London.



What says Hipster more than food served from a van? Get your kicks this weekend at Urban Food Fest, a revolving cast of food stalls and trucks serving a UN worth list of food cultures. All taking place in a Shoreditch car park, it could only be more zeitgeist if it came with a moustache.

Continuing the theme of facial hirsuteness, it is currently impossible to be more than six feet from a man with facial topiary. Love it or hate it, it has become part of our culture. So celebrate or castigate at Somerset House, whose exhibition Beard is open until Sunday.

Benedict Cumberbatch may have been taken off the market, but the Museum of London is still offering the opportunity to Sleep with Sherlock. Included in this all night event are a plethora of themed opportunities, ranging from a three course dinner, talks from detective specialists, right through to ghost stories told in the depths of the museum.

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Weekly Wrap Up: This will blow your mind

With a headline like that, how could you NOT read this blog post? After all, that’s the point of click bait, the internet phenomenon made popular by websites such as Upworthy and Buzzfeed. Click bait essentially exploits the curiosity gap by omitting a key piece of information to entice someone to click and/or keep reading.

The digital era has created a wealth of opportunity to reach a much wider audience. But there has also been a struggle to understand how, exactly, one should go about doing so. This is certainly true for the PR industry, but also for traditional news organizations and even businesses, and it makes the extraordinary success of the click bait strategy all the more enviable.

So it came as somewhat of a surprise this week when Business Insider reported that Upworthy's cofounder Peter Koechley apologized for the sensational headlines that made him rich – and his website famous - at the Guardian's Changing Media Summit in London this week. Going forward, he’s saying “good-bye to click bait”.

Upworthy successfully embraced the digital disruption – so why change strategy now?

The problem with Upworthy’s click bait headlines is that they tend to over promise and then under deliver. And eventually readers will catch on and stop falling for the same trick.

On the other hand, if your headline is incredibly boring it doesn’t matter if your content over delivers – no one will bother reading it. That’s exactly why click bait headlines shouldn’t be so easily dismissed. They do offer something. After all, they get people reading.

So here’s where your mind is blown: the solution is actually quite simple, and Koechley pointed to it at the Guardian event. He went on to say that Upworthy’s new approach would include sharing powerful stories “…that put you in someone else's shoes to help you see the world in other people's eyes."

The Upworthy example underscores that any piece of writing in the digital era – whether it’s a press release, news article or even blog post - needs to not only capture a reader’s attention but also deliver on content.

So go ahead and write an intriguing headline that sparks interest – just make sure your writing actually fills that curiosity gap.



This week Abchurch hosted two successful market lunches and had insightful discussions with City advisers on the sentiments of the IPO market and the potential effect the 2015 election will have. We also hosted the Allenby Capital team for an enjoyable evening, as well as travelling to Newcastle to celebrate Quantum Pharma’s successful floatation on AIM party.



Investec Investment Banking appointed Serge Rissi as a director of financial sponsor transaction group, whilst Sarah Owen-Jones joined Rathbone Brothers as chief risk officer from RBS. Meanwhile, Baker Tilly appointed Rowan Williams as head of its professional services group.



"Click bait" – exploiting the curiosity gap by omitting a key piece of information to entice someone to click and/or keep reading.



If you are a beer drinker, you can’t miss this weekend Over the Hop Festival at the White Horse in Parsons Green. There will be live music, an outdoor BBQ and Six Nations screenings on Saturday.

Fancy a bit of Asia this weekend? Silk Road travels to Marylebone for one long weekend. The seventh annual Asia House Fair will feature dozens of exhibitors that represent the best in arts, crafts, fashion and design from across the pan-Asia region.

Whether you are a rugby lover or hater, the Six Nations Championship concludes on Saturday with three teams (Ireland, Wales & England) in contention for first place. Italy play Wales first at 12.30, followed by Scotland versus Ireland at 14.30, with finally England playing France at 17:30. If you are a rugby hater, we would recommend avoiding the pubs at those times!

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Weekly Wrap Up: A booster for energy companies’ PR

Public contempt for UK energy companies has hit an all-time high since the Great Recession. In fact, energy bosses managed to achieve the impossible: they became an even greater embodiment of greed than the bankers who actually caused the financial crisis.

So how did energy companies knock banks off the top position and assume the role of public enemy number one?

Well it certainly didn’t help that energy bosses decided to impose steep price hikes on a UK public enduring the longest ever squeeze in living standards. It helped even less that the decision to raise prices was apparently not a necessity but simply a way to increase profits. The average profit that energy companies made per household tripled from £30 in 2011 to roughly £105 by 2014. Those figures certainly make it difficult to fathom the claims by energy companies that the price increases were beyond their control.

Public outrage over the nearly 75% increase in profits has made the UK’s so-called ‘big six’ energy companies an easy target for both media and politicians. As some politicians began to call for an energy price freeze, the media gleefully produced a slew of damaging headlines about the evil energy companies.

This week is a prime example: news outlets published a number of stories highlighting the fact that energy companies are actually punishing customers for their loyalty after a report by the Competition and Markets Authority revealed that dual fuel customers were over-paying by up to £234 per year – for Londoners that amount is even higher at nearly £350.

Bad publicity isn’t just coming from the media: some politicians have jumped on the anti-energy company bandwagon, which means that depending on who wins the May 2015 General Election, there could be an energy price freeze. If this happens, the energy companies will finally really lose: they won’t be able to raise prices if they actually need to and the good publicity that lower energy bills will generate goes to the politicians that implemented the freeze.

This makes the recent drop in oil price a very interesting turn of events. It presents a massive opportunity for energy companies to turn around their battered image without hurting their bottom line, since oil and gas prices are expected to stay low until at least 2017.

Yet none of the big six have managed to do this. Yes, some energy firms announced price drops at the beginning of this year. But oil prices have been nearly halved since last June’s peak of $115, and the biggest reduction announced, by British Gas, was a measly 5%. EDF only cut prices by 1.3%. What’s more, these lower prices only come into effect at the end of this month – in other words when the worst of the winter cold is over and energy bills will reduce anyway.

This week the CEO of British Gas owner Centrica hinted that the company could cut prices again later this year, it will probably be too little too late.

Energy companies need to act fast. Passing savings onto the customer would generate plenty of good headlines and could relieve some of the political pressure. After all, if a company is not price gouging its customers with unjustifiably high bills, it is much less likely to incur the wrath of media, politicians and watchdogs.

Energy companies have certainly managed to dig themselves into a hole. But there’s a very good opportunity for any one of the big energy companies to turn this around, especially if they are the first to act. It seems almost incomprehensible that a business would not take the simple steps of following the law and introducing fair pricing and rewards for loyal customers. And since these are conditions that will very likely be enforced soon anyway, why not take the bull by the horn and benefit from all the good publicity that would follow?



Northland Capital partners appointed Mark Treharne, previously of Daniel Stewart & Co, to its corporate bank team, whilst FinnCap appointed Christian Hobart as Sales Director, who joins from Cenkos Securities.



"Price gouging" – a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities at a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. In other words, a synonym for UK energy companies’ pricing methods.



This week we moved from horse to sheep, and not just in a Tesco Shepard’s pie. With the celebration of the Chinese New Year and the changing of the Zodiac, London will be awash this weekend with paper dragons, red envelopes, and Shou Sui. Our pick of the lot is the traditional Chinatown display, which is the largest in the world outside of China.

Love the history of the Tower of London but find the crowds something more akin to Dante? Well this weekend you’re in luck, as the Tower has just relaunched their twilight tours. Be guided round this 1000 year old castle by a yeoman warder, and see a side of the White Tower you’d never usually get to see.

Finally, if you like nothing more than a quiet beer on a Sunday, but Fosters isn’t quite your brew, Truman’s is your best bet. Craft Beer Rising are hosting their annual festival at the Old Truman Brewery, with 70 different producers in attendance, all hoping to remove the usual Sunday fear from your day.

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Weekly Wrap Up: Steering tech coverage in the right direction

It looks like soon Britons won’t have to worry about driving home from the pub after having had a few too many. At least that’s what the Daily Mail coverage of the UK Government’s decision to allow driverless cars to be tested on public roads suggests.

In case you missed this story, the self-driving vehicles that will be seen in the UK as of next summer are like traditional cars but can also sense their environment and navigate without human input. The driverless cars that will be tested on UK roads, however, will be required to have a fully qualified test driver who could take over, should anything go awry.

Still, the Daily Mail jumped on the news, writing that occupants of driverless cars, “…won’t even need a driving license. And even those now considered ‘unfit’ to drive will be eligible.” In the same article, the writer eventually concedes that current laws actually prohibit this, but not without mentioning that this could change in the future.

And it wasn’t just the Daily Mail that presented driverless technology in the most horrifying way possible. The Telegraph responded with a headline asking, “Driverless cars sound great, but can we stop the sat nav driving us off bridges first?”

This headline refers to concern about whether vehicles controlled by software can be hacked, causing cars to crash into each other or “drive off a bridge”. Then again, human driven cars already crash and there’s no software update that will ever prevent this.

The press coverage of this new technology demonstrates how much the media enjoys a good technology scare story. Findings by the Pew Research Centre, an American think-tank, support this theory: research shows that the press has a tendency to express wariness about the effects of technology on our lives. In other words, it’s common for the press to take the “robots are taking over” angle when it comes to reporting on technology. This is certainly true for the coverage of driverless cars in the UK, and exactly why it’s especially important for technology to be presented in a way that showcases the benefits, of which there are usually many.

The truth about driverless cars is that they won’t just make life easier by perhaps allowing people to have a few drinks before getting behind the wheel, or reading, surfing the internet and even taking a nap all while driving – these cars will actually save lives.

In reality cars with a human driver behind the wheel are the real danger: a staggering 90% of car crashes are caused by human error. That is one of the main reasons the UK insurance industry supports driverless technology.

Consider airplanes for a moment: It’s a well-known fact that you are much more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport than you are in a plane crash. That’s mainly due to the fact that airplane technology has advanced considerably in recent decades that planes basically fly themselves on auto-pilot, except at take-off and landing. In recent years almost all plane crashes have been due to human error, not the auto-pilot.

Furthermore it’s not just airplanes that have been improved by technology: Driverless underground systems already exist all over the world. And while this technology was met with resistance, it has proven to be safe and cost efficient.

In addition to significantly improving safety, driverless cars would be a boon to the British economy if this technology was developed here and exported. The industry is expected to be worth £900 billion by 2025, which is why the UK government wants to embrace the technology. The value of British car exports has nearly doubled in the past decade, but it could become vital to embrace driverless technology in order to maintain this momentum.

In short, driverless cars are poised to significantly improve our lives. However the negative media coverage seems to be having a significant impact on public opinion: 48% of the population would be unwilling to “drive” an autonomous vehicle, according to a survey by the price comparison website uSwitch.com. Of those surveyed, 16% were “horrified” merely by the idea of a driverless car.

There is an important lesson in the media coverage of driverless cars for tech companies: technology is an easy target for scaremongering. This is true not just for driverless cars, but all technology that will result in significant change, regardless of whether that change is positive or negative. When the media gets a hold of a good scare story, the facts can often become muddled. So the best approach for tech companies is to get ahead of the story and steer it in the right direction because even when it comes to reporting the facts, it’s almost always human error that results in disaster.



This week Abchaps attended the CIPR Speaker lunch where Chris Blackhurst of the Independent and Evening Standard was guest speaker. The event was very informative, discussing topics ranging from the future of journalism to current affairs. We also enjoyed an evening at the 48 Group Club Chinese New Year Icebreaker dinner.



Cantor Fitzgerald announced Deven Sthankiya as new managing director in its debt capital markets team. This appointment sees him move from HSBC. Edison, the investment intelligence firm added David Stoddart, Victoria Pease and Sara Welford to its research team. Finally, Robin Wilson, previously of Rightmove, was appointed Taylor Wessing’s new chief operating officer.



“Scare story” – the media’s tendency to take an issue wildly out of context in order to generate headlines.



Held almost every year since 1854, The Royal Photographic Society’s International Print Exhibition is the longest-running display of its kind in the world. With plenty of novelty on show, the photography ranges from documentary to natural history. The exhibition is free to view for people attending Royal Albert Hall performances or can be visited for free by the general public between 10am and 1pm on Saturday February 14.

Another exhibition, promising to be extremely thought provoking, is Mapping the City at Somerset House. This display of cartographic representations will allow you a glimpse of how more than 50 internationally recognised artists, from the graffiti and street art scenes, view the home towns they use as their canvas. Using digital technologies, illustration, sculpture, paintings, video presentations and even performances, its a very contemporary way to view cities from around the world.

Are you fan of Sunday’s involving kicking back and watching a good film? Head to the Barbican cinema where there’s a screening of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1921), with a live piano accompaniment by Neil Brand.

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Weekly Wrap Up: Can Tesco turnaround its tarnished image?

Say what you will about Tesco, but there is no denying that the UK’s biggest retailer has been very good at least one thing in the past few months: generating headlines. The problem is most of that press coverage was not exactly positive. In fact, it has been pretty bad.

Tesco’s trouble really started last year, when it faced a string of profit warnings amid falling sales as the British supermarket giant struggled to compete with Lidl and Aldi’s low prices, which led to the ousting of the Company’s directors. By the end of year, it went from bad to worse for Tesco when it was revealed that an accounting “error” led the Company to overstate its profits by a cool £250 million. (That number has since crept up to £263 million.) Not surprisingly, Tesco became one of the UK media’s favourite villains of 2014.

The New Year was looking like a fresh start for Tesco when investors actually responded quite well to new CEO Dave Lewis’ proposed turnaround plan. The plan, which involves slashing prices and closing stores, should save the company £250m per year. This led to a 22% increase in Tesco’s share price in the past month despite the fact that Tesco’s underlying business performance doesn’t seem to have improved significantly during this time and that the rating agency Moody’s decided to downgrade the supermarket’s credit rating to junk.

The increase is pretty good news for Tesco, especially after such a dismal 2014, and the jump in share price suggests that the market believes in Lewis’ overhaul plan. Yet a quick scan of the headlines shows that these positive developments are still being overshadowed by negative stories.

The turnaround plan has certainly been getting plenty of press coverage, but mostly because it has been revealed that 43 stores will be closing and thousands of employees will be losing their jobs. The positive story there though was that the turnaround plan has led to Tesco cutting prices, which is news that will definitely make consumers happy.

But the bad news just keeps coming. This week Tesco has again made headlines after a new investigation was launched by Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) into allegations that the supermarket has not been paying suppliers and in some cases even charging them for preferential treatment. In fairness to Tesco’s new management this is probably not something that happened under their tenure.

Another story that made headlines this week was that Tesco has agreed to pay its former CEO and CFO, who were in charge at the time of the accounting fiasco, a combined £2.1m. So-called golden goodbyes such as these tend not to go down all too well with shareholders. And really, why would they? A CEO can run a company into the ground and yet is still entitled to a big pay-out when he or she is fired. It’s certainly a good way to generate press coverage – just not the kind any company would want. But this is where Tesco actually deserves some credit – they did try to withhold the pay-out. Ultimately, the legal battle would have been pricier and that’s obviously not good for shareholders. So Tesco should really try and get that story out, along with the fact that they may even try to recover that payment.

What Tesco really demonstrates is the uphill media battle that most companies trying to make a post-scandal-comeback face. To give another example, since the financial crisis, many banks became and still remain easy targets for the media and key cultural influencers; Russell Brand springs to mind, to keep generating negative headlines and sentiment. So that’s why a company’s external message communications, and ultimately media relations are paramount. It will be a challenge, but Tesco’s promising turnaround plan and jump in share price gives the Company every opportunity to reposition itself in the media.

For now, it’s almost guaranteed that we will keep seeing Tesco headlines. It remains to be seen if these will be good or bad.



This week Abchaps were out and about at Zeus Capital's Evening with Sir Ranulph Fiennes at Claridge's; celebrating Aquatic Foods Group's IPO at the London Stock Exchange, and hosting a Market Lunch.



This week N +1 Singer made two new hires, Lauren Kettle joining the corporate finance department as a senior associate, having previously worked at Merchant Securities and Northland Capital Partners. Alex Laughton-Scott also joins the corporate finance team, arriving as an associate from PwC. Finally, Richard Hickinbotham, previously of Charles Stanley joins Cantor Fitzgerald Europe as their head of European equity research.



“Turnaround”: The financial recovery of a troubled company. Investors can profit from a turnaround by accurately anticipating the improvement of a poorly performing company



Are you a fan of vintage film? Is so, the BFI will be your nirvana this weekend, as Katherine Hepburn takes centre stage for her very own season, celebrating one of Hollywood’s most iconic leading ladies.

How about afternoon tea, like the little sandwiches but find the whole affair a little staid? Well you’re in luck, as Kettner’s in Soho is doing what Soho does best, and is offering a High Societease, the opportunity to enjoy scones, tea, (and of course Champagne) whilst being entertained by burlesque, cabaret, and circus performances.

Finally, if you feel you haven’t seen enough of the City this week, how about jazz inside the Gherkin? Usually the preserve of its own private members club, this Sunday you have the opportunity to see the inside of this iconic building, enjoy fantastic music with performers who shared stages with the likes of Jools Holland and Van Morrison, all with a free cocktail.

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Weekly Wrap Up: McDonald’s turnaround

To say that the world’s most famous fast food chain, McDonald’s, is in financial trouble might seem a gross exaggeration. However the US giant is certainly in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position. In 2014, the Company recorded its first annual decline in global same-store sales in a dozen years.

The tip of the iceberg (lettuce) is their most recent announcement stating that British Steve Easterbrook will replace current Chief Executive, Don Thompson in March. The Brit will have to find a way to turn around one of the biggest challenges the $87bn company has faced in its 60-year history.

During the recession, the company profited from customer demand to eat cheaply, as well as staff that were happy to put up with low wages, simply glad to have a job. A couple of years later however, America witnessed strikes by its lowest-paid workers, which included Mcdonald’s. Due to the Company’s global status, it was one of the most targeted by the media. And because of their initial refusal to increase wages, they were also one of the worst affected. It angered some regular customers, who took their money elsewhere. This, along with a failed PR twitter campaign in 2012, ‘Tell us what you think of us’, begins to answer another question – why are McDonald’s struggling?

In recent years, Mcdonald’s has found more and more competitors encroaching on their turf. In addition, the shape of the market is changing. Consumers are no longer interested in food that is just fast – amongst other things, they want healthy, fresh and natural. The consumer is willing to pay more, changing ‘fast food’ into what is becoming known as ‘fast-casual’ food.

McDonald’s are falling behind competitors in an overcrowded market. However, the company has introduced campaigns over the years promoting fresh produce or healthy salads. And they are currently running a transparency campaign to give more insight into how their food is made and what goes into it. Predictably, this has brought even more negative press, as the horror of what goes into their food has been revealed.

It seems that McDonald’s should delve deeper into their brand positioning to redefine their 60-year old reputation. As the Company’s former Chief Brand Officer in charge of marketing and menu innovation, Easterbrook seems perfectly tooled to take on this challenge. Perhaps cleaner processes, less junk and better quality ingredients will finally be on the menu. Single figure ingredients for their fries would be a start.



This week, Abchaps welcomed London and West Country Lawyers Thrings to our Sky Bar to exchange our shared areas of expertise. We also hosted a Market Lunch where the outlook and opportunities of AIM was discussed.



Panmure Gordon made two appointments to its research team: Jonathan Leinster as consumer analyst from UBS and Mike Stewart, formerly of Shore Capital, as retail analyst. Erik Anderson, previously of Investec, is joining its corporate broking team. Meanwhile, at Hamlins, Charles Bezzant has been appointed as partner, and he joins from Reed Smith.



"Fast-casual": A fast-casual restaurant is a type of restaurant that does not offer full table service, but promises a higher quality of food with fewer frozen or processed ingredients than a fast-food restaurant.



This weekend, see the inside of one of London’s most iconic film sets. Aldwych tube station has been used in Atonement, V for Vendetta, and Bond, and this weekend is being opened by the London Transport Museum for a rare insight into London’s past.

From underground to up in the air, London is currently playing host to the inimitable Cirque du Soleil, with their new show, Kooza, tickets are still available, but they’re going fast.

Finally, as only Shoreditch can, Floripa is holding a carnival brunch from 12pm – 6pm, promising beach burgers, samba, and potentially some margharita’s!

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Weekly Wrap Up: Hostile takeover of an iconic recipe

When Cadbury was acquired by Kraft Foods a few years ago, many British chocolate lovers immediately feared the worst: the American company would tinker with the recipes of their beloved treats.

Well this month that nightmare became a reality.

It all began with reports that a new batch of Creme Eggs “tasted different”. So in an instance of sound investigative journalism, The Sun newspaper contacted the company, whose name has been changed to Mondelez International since the takeover.

A Mondelez spokesperson confirmed the worst. The Creme Egg recipe has indeed been altered, meaning the iconic Easter egg will no longer be made with Dairy Milk chocolate. The shell will now be made of a standard cocoa mix chocolate.

What unfolded next was nothing short of a PR disaster. Online outrage and calls for a boycott of Creme Eggs and Cadbury were followed by a slew of negative press coverage. One man from Liverpool was so angry he started a petition demanding that Mondolez change the recipe back.

Clearly, there is such a thing as bad publicity. City A.M. pointed out this week that the YouGov Brand Index Buzz score, which indicates if a respondent has heard something very positive or negative about a company, has plummeted since the revelation. The purchase consideration metric, which shows whether a respondent would buy an item, also dropped after the change in recipe was announced.

This whole mishap could easily have been prevented. It seems Mondelez failed to have an adequate PR plan in place. Also, they only confessed that they had meddled with the recipe once confronted by The Sun. There was almost certainly a better way to deliver the bad news. Perhaps Mondelez should have picked up on the anger and resentment that arose when an American company took over this beloved UK brand. If the company had done more to understand that to the British consumer the Creme Egg is iconic, maybe they would have realised they probably shouldn’t ‘Americanise’ the recipe. In that respect, the way to avoid all this bad publicity is actually quite simple: don’t change a recipe that has served the company extremely well for over 50 years. Or, to put it in more American terms: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.



Zeus Capital announced three appointments: Nick How has arrived from Oriel Securities as corporate finance director; Hugo Chance joins as director and head of family offices having previously headed up the angel investor forum Angels and Equity under Truestone Group; and Claire Frangou joins from Deloitte as business development director. Meanwhile, PwC appointed Naomi Saragoussi, previously of Mercer, to develop its private healthcare and group protection advisory business.



Americanisation: The influence the United States has on other cultures. It’s a term often considered to be synonymous with progress and innovation, although British consumers of Cadbury’s Creme Eggs might disagree



Felt the toll of the worst week of the year (it’s a scientific fact…)? Well try to escape blue Monday with the LOCO London Comedy Film Festival – based at the BFI on the Southbank. With every genre of comedy covered, from Ealing classics to brand new British films, LOCO’s mission is to kickstart the next generation of British comedy film-writers, why not try out the world premiere Lost in Karastan?

If film’s your thing but you fancy something more cerebral, why not try BAFTA, Backstage, the latest photographic exhibition from the BAFTA archive. With an exclusive insight into the backstage workings of Britain’s most impressive film event of the year, see candid shots of such disparate stars as Annette Bening, Brad Pitt, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. As an opportunity to see behind the film industry’s visage, this is not one to be missed.

Or, if you like nothing more than a wander to your local on a weekend, why not try wandering to someone else’s? Random London Walk’s, a tour which plays out by luck and chance more than judgement, have offered a Pub Special for this weekend. With where you go completely put in the hands of fate, you pick a card, and it tells you where you’re going. With a starting point near Covent Garden, this tour is for those who are confident they can get themselves home after a night out, where ever they end up!

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