Glimmer of hope for London as Berkeley Group says South East has “stabilised” March 17, 2017 Shares in London housebuilder Berkeley Group shot up in early trading after it broke away from the pack, saying the London property market is "stabilising". Read more: Berkeley boss gives up salary… but could still rake in £8.2m next year The figures In a trading update today, the London-focused housebuilder said profits were on target [...]
French authorities join the UK’s Serious Fraud Office in Airbus fraud and corruption investigation March 17, 2017 French authorities have opened their own investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption at Airbus, joining Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) which launched an inquiry in August. The Parquet National Financier and the SFO will "act in coordination" going forward as they look into the allegations in the civil aviation business of Airbus Group [...]
GCHQ vehemently denies wire-tapping US President Donald Trump March 17, 2017 Britain’s cyber spy agency has fiercely denied allegations it put the communications of US President Donald Trump under surveillance. White House press secretary Sean Spicer cited a report by a pundit on Fox News that the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had spied on Trump after he was elected. In a strongly worded statement GCHQ [...]
Amec Foster Wheeler share price rises as it signs $950m US Air Force contract March 17, 2017 Amec Foster Wheeler announced this morning that it has been awarded a contract to sustain US Air Force installations around the world. Shares were up two per cent at the open. The five-year contract has an aggregate maximum value of $950m (£768m) for the multiple awardees and is estimated to reach completion by 2022. The deal sees [...]
Can you vape inside? The 10 rules of vaping etiquette you need to know according to experts Debrett’s March 17, 2017 Once upon a time you could smoke in bars, have a quick puff of a cigarette on a train, and blow smoke in kids' faces to your hearts content, but thankfully, that's no longer acceptable because we don't live in the blissful ignorance of the Mad Men era. And with the number of smokers dropping quicker than [...]
Walkie Talkie sale: Why a foreign buyer for 20 Fenchurch Street would be no bad thing March 17, 2017 Few eyebrows were raised when it emerged a 50 per cent stake in 20 Fenchurch Street, better known as the Walkie Talkie, may be about to go up for sale. The news came a few weeks after its neighbour, the Cheesegrater, was sold for £1.15bn, so you can forgive the Walkie Talkie’s owners for asking [...]
The majority of gig-economy workers want employment rights such holiday and sick pay – but they’re still happy March 17, 2017 The majority of people who are part of the gig economy want access to the same benefits as traditional employees such as holiday pay, new research reveals. Some 1.3m people in the UK are workers in the gig economy, the human resources trade body CIPD estimates, with 63 per cent saying the government should regulate to ensure [...]
The City’s pay schizophrenia will fuel discord March 17, 2017 There won’t be much sympathy on the streets of the City today for the eight dozen-or-so people who chair FTSE-100 remuneration committees. Call it Thumbscrews Day, if you like – because by the close of play, Whitehall will have been deluged with all sorts of funky ideas about how boards should be addressing the Prime Minister’s desired clampdown on [...]
Will fortune favour brave Bob Diamond’s Panmure Gordon takeover, Unilever’s flawed logic and the IoD’s Simon Walker heads back to his PR roots March 17, 2017 He's back – and brave. Conventional wisdom has it that smaller City brokers are destined either to merge or die, so a Bob Diamond-backed move for Panmure Gordon represents a bold bet that he and his partners can forge a fresh path for one of the broking world’s most venerable names. Boldness isn’t a fitting adjective [...]
Editor’s Notes: Only a lack of ambition can hold Britain back, says the Legatum Institute’s researcher tasked with finding the upside of the Brexit vote March 17, 2017 Britain faces an enormous challenge in the wake of Brexit, but the prize is more than worth the fight. That’s according to one experienced former trade negotiator who now finds himself at the heart of the UK’s trade debate. Shanker Singham is director of economic policy and prosperity studies at the Legatum Institute in London. He’s [...]