A large portion of our International Merrill DataSite team are based in London, and in London it’s a beautiful day! In fact, it’s been a beautiful week so far.
We are obsessed with the weather here in the U.K. (not least because you can experience four seasons in one day), but perhaps we’re obsessed with good reason. The weather seemingly has a real and serious impact on our economy. Data available from the Office for National Statistics shows a general trend from 2007 onwards that when the weather spikes, so do retail sales.
A piece was also recently published on the BBC website regarding a slowdown of growth in the Eurozone economies over the first three months of this year. However, they cited the fact that there had been “stronger growth” in Germany, helped by “mild weather”.
Meanwhile, North America had to tough-out a colder-than-expected winter and CNBC stated back in February that “…four of six major economic reports cited the harsh winter as putting a damper on output and sales.”
While we’re on the subject, we can’t ignore the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest prediction of there being a 50/50 chance a titanic “El Niño” later this year. In case you didn’t know, “El Niño” occurs when warm water, emanating from the Asia Pacific region, spreads east and brings with it storms of epic proportion. This definitely impacts economies, as the last big one caused nearly $97billion worth of damage back in 1997/98.
Having said all that, global M&A for the first quarter of 2014 saw overall deal value rise by 39%, according to statistics from Merrill DataSite and Mergermarket. We know and are always ready for the fact that projects kick-off, virtual data rooms are required, due diligence begins, contracts get signed and global dealmakers make deals – whatever the weather.
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