Despite the slim pickings, The Weekly is yet to give up on its hunt for a regular sporting fix. Sergio Aguero is best known for popping up outside the 6-yard box and slotting home goal after goal for Manchester City. The Argentinian has one hundred and eighty Premier League goals, the fourth highest tally of all time. But how’s his driving? This afternoon the footballer will be changing his light blue Man City strip for the black, red and yellow of the Red Bull F1 team as the Virtual Spanish GP gets underway. Currently the first eight races of the actual 2020 F1 season have been postponed or cancelled, leading to the sport to organise virtual races on each day when a Grand Prix was due to take place, featuring current F1 stars, former drivers and other well-known sports people. Aguero won’t be the only novice racing around Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya circuit as golfer Ian Poulter will be lining up for Renault and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, for Alfa Romeo. Going on previous celebrity results, The Weekly wouldn’t bet on any of them bothering the podium. Ben Stokes competed in the first race of the series, finishing an unfortunate… dead last!
The MSCI/IPF Quarterly Results event is often a battle for a front row seat as property professionals eagerly await to hear how the sector has performed over the previous three months. Thursday morning was slightly more relaxed than usual as the attendees sat back on the sofa, morning coffee in hand, for the UK Property Investment Webinar for Q1 2020. Unsurprisingly the results made for a particularly uncomfortable read. All Property delivered a quarterly total return of -1.4% as at the end of March 2020, taking the 12-month total return into negative territory (-0.6%). Alternatives (excluding hotels and residential) which is largely dominated by Leisure saw the biggest quarterly trend movement, posting a negative total return of -1.6% (down from +1.3% in Q4 2019). Industrials and Residential posted the most positive picture, both delivering a 0.6% quarterly return. Bonds were the best performing asset class over the last twelve months (6.4%) with Property coming in a rather distant second place (-0.6%). However, there was a glimmer of positivity at least. Property continues to outperform other asset classes over the medium and long term, with a total return of 5.8% over 5 years and 7.9% over 10 years. By fund type, long lease funds led the way over the first three months of 2020, recording a 0.8% total return for the quarter. It was no surprise that portfolios with a higher exposure to retail, and particularly shopping centres, suffered most. The Weekly’s attention will now turn to Boris Johnson’s COVID-19 briefing later today, with the hope that speculative lockdown easing may open the door, albeit it only ajar, for the beginning of a gradual recovery.
One thing that we are all more than acutely aware of at the moment is the length of the hair on our head. With barbers and hairdressers closed around the country some have taken to a ‘growing it out’ strategy, whilst others have attempted to reach for the clippers themselves, often with varying results, as can be seen here. Unfortunately for them, one desk at The Weekly HQ is speaking from experience when they say ‘don’t try this at home!’. Legislation was brought in six weeks ago to close barbers in the UK to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, this week the BBC investigated whether these laws were being adhered to, with some quite harrowing results. Out of fifty barbers contacted in the South East, nineteen of them confirmed that they were open for business, with one saying he was so busy he had a two-day waiting list! Despite the evident rogues, there is no doubt the queue will be out the door when barbers and salons are eventually given the green light to reopen. But how this will work in practice is still unknown. Hairdressers in China reopened at the beginning of March for ‘long distance haircuts’, where barbers attached tools to wooden poles in order to style customers hair, whilst keeping a safe distance. Despite the expertise of Tony, the barber conveniently situated two doors down from 5 St Bride Street, The Weekly isn’t sure it has quite that high a level of trust!
Stay safe and enjoy your Sunday.
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