I’d kill to be the chief exec of… Unilever March 22, 2019 Last week, Unilever’s chief executive Alan Jope announced that he would promote his rival for the top job – Nitin Paranjpe – to the newly created role of chief operations officer. He also said farewell to two other executive members – all in pursuit of the ever-elusive goal of three to five per cent top-line [...]
Smiths Group to spin off ailing medical division into separate listed company March 22, 2019 British engineering firm Smiths Group will spin off its struggling medical business and list it separately on the London Stock Exchange, the company said today. Smiths had unveiled plans for a demerger in November after a proposed sale of the healthcare unit to US firm ICU Medical fell through. Read more: Smiths Group to spin [...]
Debenhams on the verge of sealing £200m funding from lenders March 22, 2019 Debenhams is close to receiving a £200m lifeline from lenders that would prevent the department store falling into the hands of largest shareholder Mike Ashley. A deal finalising its borrowing facilities, which are larger than expected, could be announced as soon as today, according to Sky News. Read more: Levi shares soar as jeans retailer makes stock market [...]
Midnight crisis: EU leaders offer two new Brexit delay deadlines March 22, 2019 European leaders debated late into last night in a bid to avert a no-deal Brexit on 29 March, with negotiators agreeing to give Theresa May one last shot at getting her deal through parliament. Read more: Editor’s Notes: A dose of rational optimism blew away the fog of Brexit The Prime Minister travelled to Brussels [...]
Credit Suisse boss receives 30 per cent pay rise despite falling share price March 22, 2019 The chief executive of Credit Suisse Tidjane Thiam has received a pay boost of 30 per cent to 12.65m Swiss francs (£9.7m), the group’s annual report showed today. The Swiss bank said the pay rise was “designed to acknowledge the strong performance of Mr Thiam over the course of his tenure to date and the successful [...]
Countdown to Brexit: three market indicators to watch March 22, 2019 | City Talk The UK is due to leave the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019. With politicians still struggling to agree the terms of withdrawal, investors in assets linked to the UK economy could be in for an uncertain time. UK investments have already underperformed their global peers since Britain voted to leave the EU, in [...]
Royal Mail appoints second chairman in just six months after tumultuous year March 22, 2019 Royal Mail has appointed new chairman for the second time in just six months as his deputy steps into the role. British Airways veteran Keith Williams – who worked as chief executive, head of finance and executive chairman at the carrier – will take on the job from 22 May, the company announced. Read more: [...]
Theresa May’s perverse migration stance will damage the UK’s economy March 22, 2019 One of the unexpected impacts of the Brexit vote has been a marked change in public attitudes towards immigration – for the better. Today, 45 per cent of Britons are positive about the impacts of immigration on the UK, while only 31 per cent are negative – roughly the reverse of the figures from three [...]
DEBATE: A third of voters would rather AI ran the country than politicians – so should robots move into Downing Street? March 22, 2019 A third of voters would rather AI ran the country than politicians – so should robots move into Downing Street? Takashi Sonoda, chief executive of internet of things company Uhuru, says YES. The idea that an artificial intelligence (AI) device could wholly take over the decision making at the top of the British government is pure [...]
Only a failing healthcare system would discourage patients from getting tested March 22, 2019 Health secretary Matt Hancock is facing backlash for sharing his personal testimony about health screenings. Writing for The Times, Hancock hailed predictive risk tests as a tool that “may save my life”, after discovering his increased risk of having prostate cancer. Yesterday, in the same newspaper, a host of medical professionals pushed back against the his [...]