Good morning. This week Noma, a three-Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen that has claimed the title of “World’s Best Restaurant” five times, announced that it will close next year, pivoting to an e-commerce model and the occasional pop-up event.

The owner said the modern fine-dining business is unsustainable both “financially and emotionally.” The restaurant workforce previously comprised of 30% unpaid interns but began paying its interns in October 2021, which added around $50,000 to its monthly costs.

Big Stories

Global economy on the ‘edge’

Yesterday the World Bank warned that the global economy is ‘on a razor’s edge’ with 2023 likely to be third-weakest year for global growth in 30 years, only beaten by the recessions of 2009 and 2020.

The international body cut its forecast for global economic growth this year from 2.9% to 1.7% blaming unexpectedly tough measures to combat inflation, persistently high energy prices and lockdowns in China. The Bank expects advanced nations to grow by just 0.5% this year compared to growth in developing countries of 3.4%.

Qatar goes shopping

Fresh out of hosting the most expensive World Cup ever, the Gulf state is looking to expand its portfolio with a minority stake in an English Premier League club. Targets in the mix include Manchester United and Liverpool FC but Tottenham Hotspur is thought to be the most likely as its chairman recently held conversations with Qatar Sports Investments. Qatar already owns French side Paris Saint-Germain and has a 22% stake in Portuguese club SC Braga. This year could be a busy year for English club sales with the Glazer family that owns Manchester United looking for an investor and the owners of Liverpool FC also weighing up a sale.

Amazon shuts three UK warehouses

The ecommerce giant announced plans to close sites in Hemel Hempstead, Doncaster and Gourock in the west of Scotland, impacting 1,200 jobs. The company said all workers will be offered roles at other Amazon locations. The closures will be offset by the opening of two new major fulfilment centres in Peddimore in the West Midlands and Stockton-on-Tees in the North East, creating 2,500 jobs over the next three years. The news comes as Amazon announced last week its biggest ever layoffs of 18,000 jobs or around 1% of its global workforce.

Recruitment slowdown warning

Yesterday shares in British recruitment firm Robert Walters fell as much as 9% after it lowered its profit expectations for this year. The company, which specialises in finance, legal and IT roles for the likes of Amazon, Meta and Netflix, warned that job cuts in the US tech sector has reduced activity. Robert Walters said companies had become more cautious about hiring, given signs of an economic slowdown in many parts of the world.

Elsewhere...

Closing shop: Nearly half of Byron's restaurants are to close in the burger chain's latest brush with insolvency.

Going down: The average UK price for a litre of petrol has fallen below 150p for the first time since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Failure to launch: Shares in Virgin Orbit, the company behind the failed first UK space launch have fallen by more than a quarter.

Crypto downfall: Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange platform, is to cut 950 jobs, about 20% of its global workforce in its third round of layoffs in a year as part of a restructuring plan.

Sorry we missed you: Parcel delivery giant Evri has apologised after customers across the UK are still not receiving packages on time or at all.

Sacre bleu: France's government has proposed raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 in a major reform to the pension system.

Raising the wage: Asia's largest clothing retailer Uniqlo said it would raise wages by as much as 40% in Japan, in a high-profile sign that the country's stagnant salaries may be starting to move after decades of deflation and cost-cutting.

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Fact Of The Day

More than 650,000 deaths were registered in the UK in 2022 - 9% more than 2019 and one of the largest excess death tolls outside the pandemic in 50 years.

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