Defence contractor Cobham reinstates dividend as recovery from 2017 rights issue continues March 7, 2019 Engineering firm Cobham has announced plans to reinstate a progressive dividend after it shored up its balance sheet and settled a dispute with aerospace giant Boeing. The FTSE 250 defence and engineering group forecast more progress in 2019, expecting strong demand for its products in markets such as the US, but tightening budgets would place [...]
Vodafone expands 5G rollout to 19 UK cities this year March 7, 2019 Vodafone will roll out 5G in 19 cities across the UK this year as it looks to pull ahead of rivals in the race to launch the new network. The operator has already announced 5G trials in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Manchester. Read more: Vodafone connects smartphones to 5G in world first [...]
BBC ‘risks irrelevance’ unless it adapts to digital age, says director general March 7, 2019 The BBC risks irrelevance unless it adapts to changing viewing habits, the broadcaster’s director general has said. Speaking at the Media & Telecoms Conference this morning, Tony Hall admitted the BBC faces an uphill struggle to keep up with deep-pocketed rivals such as Netflix and Amazon, but insisted public service broadcasters are as important as [...]
Eurozone GDP growth falls below expectations confirming sluggish 2018 March 7, 2019 Eurozone GDP grew slightly in the final three months of last year but dropped sharply year-on-year, falling below expectations. The EU’s statistical office Eurostat confirmed that GDP grew 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 0.1 per cent the previous quarter. Read more: Eurozone construction rebounds led by German recovery in February But [...]
Consumer watchdog urges holidaymakers to renew passports by tomorrow to avoid no-deal travel shock March 7, 2019 Millions of British holidaymakers have just two days to renew their passports if they want to travel to hotspots such as Spain and Italy after Brexit, a consumer watchdog has warned. Which is warning that 3.5m passports holders with up to 15 months validity could be prevented from travelling to the continent if the UK [...]
Aviva share price falls as it warns of ‘muted’ 2019 March 7, 2019 Aviva's shares were down five per cent this morning after it warned of a "muted" outlook for 2019 despite reporting rising profits for 2018 today. New boss Maurice Tulloch, appointed earlier this week, said the results showed the insurer’s “strong foundations”. The figures Profit before tax rose to £2.13bn in 2018 from £2bn in 2017 while group operating profit [...]
The big banks are losing their grip on the market to fintechs and challengers, but can big data save the day? March 7, 2019 Over a year on from the launch of Open Banking, and following last year’s IT catastrophes at Visa and TSB, it is no surprise that many in our industry are considering how effectively the big banks are reacting to this era of transformative technological upheaval. It is estimated that the five biggest UK banks hold [...]
M&A could be the cure for the UK’s threatened pharmaceutical industry March 7, 2019 Six in 10 UK hospital pharmacists report medicine shortages daily – twice the rate as the whole of the European Union. And this is before the fast-approaching EU withdrawal agreement puts additional pressure on the medicine supply chain. According to Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry: “every month, 45m [...]
Startup entrepreneurs, watch out for these classic spam emails from rubbish sales people March 7, 2019 So, I have finally decided to do it. After more than a decade of working for other people in a number of roles, I’ve actually taken the leap and launched my own business. It’s been barely three months and things are going great – we have clients already on board and more soon, hopefully. Really, the [...]
‘Tim Apple’: Donald Trump makes latest name gaffe with Apple boss Tim Cook March 7, 2019 US President Donald Trump has referred to Apple chief executive Tim Cook as ‘Tim Apple’ in his latest name-related gaffe. Trump met with the Silicon Valley boss during a White House meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, which was set up to help the country manage the shift to automation and artificial intelligence. [...]