Sweating under today’s tax return deadline? It might be time to let your accountant go… January 31, 2019 Left your tax return until the last minute? Desperate to avoid a fine? Take a few tips from me, an award-winning financial technology journalist. Well, okay, the “award” came from Guildford Magistrates Court – in the form of compensation against my useless accountant at the end of a small claims hearing. That verdict was an [...]
Drinks giant Diageo boosts sales and profits January 31, 2019 Drinks conglomerate Diageo boosted both profit and sales in the first-half of its financial year and announced a £660m share buyback. The maker of drink brands such as Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky, said net sales increased 5.8 per cent to £6.9bn with organic growth partially offset by unfavourable exchange. Reported operating profit was [...]
RPC Group takeover: US-based Berry Global threatens to crash Apollo’s party January 31, 2019 Private equity firm Apollo’s takeover of plastic packaging manufacturer RPC group has come under threat after US company Berry Global said it was considering making a counter offer. Berry, another a plastic packaging supplier, said it had reached out to RPC for the due diligence information needed to make an offer, but also stressed it [...]
Flexible working does increase job satisfaction but it depends how you arrange it January 31, 2019 | City Talk Research from Cass Business School and Cranfield School of Management has confirmed that flexible working can increase employee job satisfaction and organisational commitment. However, the researchers discovered that employees who establish flexible working arrangements through informal discussion with their line manager are judged to perform much better than those who use formal flexible working arrangements. [...]
Unilever warns of ‘challenging’ 2019 after missing sales expectations January 31, 2019 Consumer goods giant Unilever has warned of a “challenging” year ahead after falling below sales expectations in the fourth quarter of 2018. The Anglo-Dutch group reported sales growth of 2.9 per cent, which was below a consensus forecast of 3.5 per cent. Read more: Unilever scraps proposals to quit London HQ Full year sales growth [...]
Law firm DWF announces intention to float in UK’s largest legal listing January 31, 2019 Law firm DWF yesterday announced its intention to float on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in what would make it by far the largest law firm to go public worldwide. The firm would become just the sixth publicly traded UK law firm, the first to list on the main market and the [...]
BT boss Gavin Patterson signs off by beating revenue and profit forecasts despite industry headwinds January 31, 2019 Outgoing BT boss Gavin Patterson signed off today by beating revenue and profit expectations in the telecom giant’s third quarter. Patterson will make way for ex-Worldpay chief executive Philip Jansen tomorrow, after BT suffered a sustained drop in its share price. Read more: BT names ex-Worldpay chief Philip Jansen as new CEO Analysts said Patterson [...]
Of course AI can be biased – and it’s up to businesses to fix that January 31, 2019 When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the recently elected US representative, suggested last week that algorithms could be racist, she received a lot of attention. Naysayers derided her for suggesting that inanimate objects can display prejudice, but a number of experts actually supported her. The central premise of the debate is this: machines cannot be biased, but the humans [...]
Regulator Ofwat rejects water firms’ five-year business plans for ‘failing customers’ January 31, 2019 Seven of the UK’s leading 10 water companies’ business plans for the next five years have been rejected by Ofwat because they do not “deliver for customers”. In the regulator’s initial assessment of industry players’ plans for 2020-2025, only three companies were given the green light. Four companies – Affinity Water, Hafren Dyfrdwy, Thames Water [...]
Britain has never understood the fervour for the EU project January 31, 2019 What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? It would appear that we are about to find out in the latest instalment of the Brexit soap opera that has been running since we announced our intention to leave in 2016. For no sooner had MPs voted on Tuesday night to back Sir Graham [...]