Good morning. Here is your AM bulletin, with the latest news and views from EG, as well as a few of the best bits from the morning papers.
WeWork has filed for bankruptcy in the US after months of speculation over how the co-working company can manage its massive debt pile. In a statement that suggested pain ahead for its landlords, chief executive David Tolley said: “Now is the time for us to pull the future forward by aggressively addressing our legacy leases and dramatically improving our balance sheet.”
Last night – or early morning by Eastern Standard time – shares in the flex giant were suspended ahead of the New York Stock Exchange’s opening bell.
Several of the morning papers take a look at how WeWork fell(£) from a $47bn private valuation to bankruptcy in just four years and speculate about its future(£).
Incidentally, WeWork has filed a request to be given more time to file all of its paperwork with the courts. Apparently it didn’t see this coming.
Meanwhile, rival flex operator IWG has rubbed salt into the wound by posting an 8% increase in quarterly revenue to £830m, pointing out that it owes its success to its “capital-light model”.
And there is some good news for Canary Wharf, too. Fintech firm Revolut is in talks to move its headquarters to Canary Wharf’s YY Building. Admittedly, its HQ is already in Canary Wharf – at 7 Westferry Circus – but signing for 113,000 sq ft in the former Thomson Reuters building would be a vote of confidence in the Docklands estate.
Reform of leasehold and renters rights will sit at the heart of the King’s Speech later today, but may be crowded out by more political measures as the government looks ahead to next year’s election.
In other news, proposals to turn a 106-acre former army camp in Winchester, Hampshire, into a 1m sq ft knowledge and innovation hub have been submitted by the Church Commissioners for England, L&G and Gisborne.
Construction levels have fallen below expectations, driven by the 11th consecutive monthly fall in housebuilding.
And retail sales growth has slowed to just 2.5%, far below inflation and the three-monthly average.
And finally, Donald Trump has testified in a New York court, where he took a novel approach to clearing his name over allegations of real estate valuation fraud. Not only did Trump appear to undermine his own lawyers’ entire case – claiming that he did decide what valuations would be used in financial statements, when they worked very hard to point out that this was decided by his accountants – he also appeared to undermine the entire valuation profession. Valuations were “worthless”, he told the increasingly aggravated Judge Arthur Engoron. In fact, he went on, “I can value a building just by looking at it.” To prove this, he pointed out that his Scotland golf courses were worth a lot more than people thought, because one day he could build houses there, and if he did they would be worth a lot of money because they are “on the North Sea”. Incidentally, the judge has already found him guilty. The trial is to decide just how guilty.
