Exclusive: Spectre of rising costs threatens to derail London recovery October 5, 2021 Businesses across London are under threat from the spectre of soaring costs. Almost half of firms in the capital are suffering from a sharp rise in energy, raw material and fuel costs, which is squeezing their margins “on several fronts”, the London Chamber of Commerce (LCCI) has warned. Richard Burge, chief executive of the LCCI, [...]
Just a handful of Brits want to work remotely all the time October 5, 2021 Just a handful of Brits want to work remotely all the time, reveal new figures published today. Research by the UK’s largest bank HSBC found 14 per cent of people want to work away from the office all the time. The figures reinforce the continued pull of physical offices, but highlight that elements of hybrid [...]
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ‘start to come back online’ October 5, 2021 Social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are starting to come back online, after a major outage meant millions couldn’t use their platforms for most of the night. In a very bad day for parent company Facebook, its shares closed 4.9 per cent lower on Wall Street, having plummeted as much as 5.74 per cent [...]
Ozy U-turn: Scandal-ridden digital media company will stay open October 4, 2021 In a rapid change of course, digital media startup Ozy has said it is “open for business” again, just days after it shut down. “This is our Lazarus moment,” founder Carlos Watson told US broadcaster NBC, as he announced Ozy, which collapsed mere days ago after its co-founder was exposed for deceiving Goldman Sachs in [...]
Return to work: Midweek-only office workers gain a new moniker October 4, 2021 Last Thursday was the busiest day for Farringdon, Canary Wharf, Bank and Monument stations since the pandemic began, as London’s commuters adjust to a new world of hybrid working Almost a hundred thousand people travelled through Bank and Monument stations. And since City workers were encouraged “back to school” from the beginning of September, footfall [...]
Challenger challenge: Monzo aborts US banking licence application October 4, 2021 Monzo has followed in rival Robinhood’s footsteps and abandoned its application for a US banking license after regulators told the UK fintech it was unlikely to be approved. In a major setback for its international expansion plans, the challenger bank said it had decided to withdraw from the process after recent talks with the Office [...]
Exclusive: Minister is ‘very optimistic’ people will not be told to work from home in winter October 4, 2021 It is unlikely the government will tell people to work from home this winter, London minister Paul Scully has said. Scully told City A.M. today that he was “very optimistic” the government will not have to mandate working from home as a part of its Covid “plan b” for winter. Boris Johnson last month outlined [...]
FinnCap shares soar after M&A deal frenzy hikes revenue by 55 per cent October 4, 2021 Shares in Finncap, the AIM-listed tech and life sciences small cap broker, closed 4.29 per cent higher today after the firm posted robust half year results. FinnCap said that unaudited revenue was up 55 per cent to £32m in the six months to 30 September this year, after the firm advised on £1bn worth of M&A [...]
Supermarket sweep: Sainsbury’s and Tesco singled out as next takeover targets October 4, 2021 Sainsbury’s and Tesco have been singled out as the next targets for buyout firms after the Morrisons deal. US investment company Fortress – which was beaten to the Morrisons takeover by private equity Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) at auction – has indicated it is interested in other UK acquisitions. Joshua Pack, financier at Fortress, [...]
IATA estimates aviation’s pandemic losses at $201bn October 4, 2021 The International Air Transport Association has estimated that the aviation sector will return to profitability in 2023. As a result of the pandemic, aviation will lose around $201bn before returning profitable in 2023. As explained by International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) director general Willie Walsh, losses in 2021 are expected to be nearly $52bn – [...]