Shortages and spiralling costs deal blow to Chinese economy September 30, 2021 The steam engine of China’s economy unexpectedly shrank last month, indicating the global recovery from the Covd-19 crisis is losing momentum. China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, a closely watched indicator of the health of the country’s economy, notched a reading of 49.6 in September, lower than the 50.1 predicted by analysts. China, like much of [...]
Sarah Everard: Wayne Couzens sentenced to whole life in prison September 30, 2021 Met Police officer Wayne Couzens has been sentenced to a whole life order after admitting to the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. Couzens was a serving police officer with the Metropolitan Police when he kidnapped the 33-year-old marketing executive. At the sentencing at the Old Bailey on Thursday afternoon, Lord Justice Fulford said [...]
Virgin Money store closures latest in long line of banks and lenders shutting branches September 30, 2021 Virgin Money’s latest tranche of branch closures, announced this morning, comes after swathes have been shut across the banking sector in recent months. The move to axe nearly a fifth of Virgin Money’s branch network – 31 stores with 112 jobs at risk – comes as rival HSBC also calls time on the last of [...]
Exclusive: End of furlough could be the ‘final ingredient in a catalyst for disaster’ September 30, 2021 The end of furlough payments could be the final ingredient in a catalyst for disaster for businesses, according to restructuring and insolvency lawyers City A.M. spoke to this morning. With the winding up of the job retention scheme today, they warned that the 1,348 registered company insolvencies in August could rocket in the months ahead. [...]
Oxford Nanopore soars on London debut, touching £5bn September 30, 2021 Shares in genome sequencing company Oxford Nanopore rocketed as much as 45 per cent this morning after its IPO, in the best-ever London market debut for a company of its size. Oxford Nanopore shares were trading at 619p per share at market open, pushing its market cap up to £4.93bn – significantly higher than the [...]
IEA: Ease tax burden to stimulate job creation after furlough ends September 30, 2021 The government should tilt policy toward stimulating job creation after the furlough scheme ends today, according to a free-market economic think tank. Professor Len Shackleton, editorial and research fellow at the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), slammed the chancellor’s decision to hike national insurance as the jobs market emerges from 18 months of life support. [...]
H&M reinstates divided payments as profits triple on back of global recovery September 30, 2021 Swedish retail giant H&M nearly tripled its profit during the past quarter on the back of a “strong recovery” in sales as restrictions eased across the globe. H&M told shareholders this morning that it had reinstated its dividend for the first time in 18 months as a result. It reported a pre-tax profit of £520m [...]
Sunak to unveil £500m grants to ease cost of living for UK’s poorest September 30, 2021 Rishi Sunak is set to announce £500m in grants to help the country’s poorest during the current cost of living crisis the UK is facing. The chancellor is expected to announce in his Tory party conference speech next week that it will be put in place to help households cope with costs over what is [...]
Newspaper tycoon Lord Rothermere has until 28 October to make £800m Daily Mail offer September 30, 2021 Since negotiations are taking longer than expected, newspaper tycoon Lord Rothermere has been granted a one-month extension to make an offer for the group behind the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Metro newspapers. A previous deadline was set for today but negotiations with the pension trustees at the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) [...]
M&S pledges to be fully net zero on carbon emissions by 2040 September 30, 2021 Supermarket Marks & Spencer has committed to becoming fully net zero in carbon emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of a national government target. The retailer set out plans for rapid decarbonisation of its operations that will cut its carbon footprint by a third by 2025, from a 5.7m tonne 2017 baseline. M&S has reset [...]