Luton Airport enjoys busiest ever year in 2018 as passenger numbers soar to 16.6m January 14, 2019 Recently revamped London Luton Airport (LLA) enjoyed its busiest year last year, welcoming 16.6m passengers to the airport. The figures are a five per cent increase on the previous year. During December, 1.26m passengers used the airport, an increase of 19.7 per cent on December the year before. The airport unveiled its upgraded terminal after its three-year [...]
Hermes Investment Management steps up Dublin presence in no-deal Brexit contingency planning January 14, 2019 Hermes Investment Management has stepped up its presence in Ireland to mitigate against the risks posed by Brexit, the company announced today. The City-headquartered firm has set up an Irish management company, saying its mitigation activities have been based on the presumption of a “hard Brexit” without any transitional arrangements. Read more: 60 per cent [...]
Littlewoods and Very owner Shop Direct enjoys Christmas sales bounce January 14, 2019 Very and Littlewoods operator Shop Direct saw a rise in revenues over the festive period, as Black Friday discounts and Christmas shopping boosted sales. Revenue climbed 3.7 per cent year-on-year for the seven weeks to 28 December, with clothing and footwear seeing a particular bounce, rising eight per cent at group level. Very, the company’s [...]
EU repeats it does not want to use Brexit backstop in letter designed to help May win crunch vote January 14, 2019 EU leaders have released a letter reiterating the so-called backstop plan would only ever be temporary after Brexit, but have refused to reopen negotiations to amend the proposal in the withdrawal deal. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk gave the assurances in a letter published a day before MPs vote [...]
Sterling slips as trader nerves kick in ahead of crunch Brexit vote January 14, 2019 Sterling has dropped from the seven-week highs of last week as investor nerves kick in ahead of tomorrow’s crunch Commons vote. The pound rallied on Friday, hitting $1.286, on suggestions Article 50 could be extended if Theresa May loses her Brexit deal vote as predicted. Read more: Sterling falls as investors fears of a general election [...]
Ophir Energy rejects Medco’s £343m offer, saying price is too low January 14, 2019 Shares in Ophir Energy fell 2.2 per cent this morning as the company’s board rejected a takeover bid from Medco Global. The company’s directors unanimously decided to reject the 48.5p per share bid from Medco, claiming it undervalues Ophir. Although it represents a 46 per cent premium on Ophir’s share price when the bid was [...]
Data and machine-learning needs human intelligence to achieve the best business results January 14, 2019 Data has become the most valuable currency in business. But without the right tools or intelligence, its true value will not be realised. According to a MiQ survey, 43 per cent of US and UK brand marketers think that the lack of measurement of business impact, such as sales or growth, is the main hurdle [...]
What3words wants to replace your address with three simple words, but how do you market such a revolutionary idea? January 14, 2019 Erase. Damp. Name. No, I’ve not gone mad due to the latest Brexit drama – these three words make up my exact location as I write this article. This information comes from What3words, a technology startup that’s trying to revolutionise – wait for it – addresses. It has divided up the entire world into a [...]
Late payments: Public sector outsourcers fail to pay cash-strapped suppliers for six weeks January 14, 2019 The government’s most frequently-used outsourcers took more than six weeks on average to pay their suppliers in 2017, 11 per cent longer than two years earlier, data published today reveals. Many of these suppliers are small businesses operating with a limited cash cushion, meaning late-paying clients could easily wipe out their short term liquidity or [...]
Top 10 CEOs: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos tops index of chief executives, but who else makes the list? January 14, 2019 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos today took the top spot in a new index that rates bosses on the star power they bring to their companies. Billionaire Bezos, who has run Amazon for the past 25 years, has come first in a ranking out today that measures the brand value the world’s most rich-and-famous chief executives [...]