“Frankly I’m very angry,” says BT boss Gavin Patterson at the end of a tumultuous week January 27, 2017 The accounting scandal plaguing BT’s Italian arm has not spread to other countries, BT’s boss said today, although the firm is considering the future of its overseas operations. BT has had a tumultuous week that kicked off on Tuesday with revelations of a £530m accounting black hole in Italy and a group profit downgrade. Read [...]
As Tesco embarks on £3.7bn merger with wholesaler Booker Group, will other UK supermarkets follow suit? January 27, 2017 Tesco’s £3.7bn proposed merger with Booker, the UK’s largest food wholesaler, represents a change of commercial strategy for the supermarket giant. Following the firm’s decision to retract from some parts of their international operations, including the South Korean and Turkish arms of the business, this merger is another indication that Tesco is more comfortable operating [...]
More chaos in the capital: Two new Tube strikes to go ahead in February with more in the works for March January 27, 2017 London Underground workers have said they will stage fresh walkouts, with a 16-hour strike from 5 February and a 15-hour one from the 7 February. The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union announced the new dates as a row continued to rage over jobs and Tube ticket office closures. Talks had been taking place at conciliation service Acas in an [...]
Severe delays on Jubilee line after security alert at Bond Street station January 27, 2017 Bond Street station has reopened after being closed when a suspicious package was reported – but police have established that the item in question was just lost property. There are severe delays on the Jubilee line. https://twitter.com/jubileeline/status/824984898016509953 British Transport Police tweeted a picture of the security dog, Scooby, used to help deal with the suspect [...]
US economy grows slower than expected in fourth quarter of 2016 January 27, 2017 The US economy grew by less than expected in the last full quarter of the presidency of Barack Obama, as the country enters a new era of fiscal and monetary policy. Real GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the US Bureau of Economic [...]
European and US visitor numbers to Britain surge after Brexit as spending jumps January 27, 2017 Visitor numbers to the UK from the EU and America have surged year on year, while a new analysis shows just under 900,000 British citizens live in Europe. US visitor numbers increased by 11 per cent in the three months to November 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, according to the Office for [...]
No fireworks: Bank of England and Federal Reserve set to hold interest rates next week January 27, 2017 With both the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve set to meet it’s a big week for monetary policy, but don’t expect fireworks, economists say. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers sparked the financial crisis, the top 50 central banks have cut rates over 700 times, according to JP Morgan. While Brexit and the [...]
More jobs go in “extremely challenging and upsetting” cost-cutting at newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror January 27, 2017 Newspaper industry cuts are showing little sign of abating this year, with Trinity Mirror announcing more cuts. Shortly after the publisher announced it was making dozens of redundancies across its regional newsrooms, it has emerged there will be more jobs lost at its national newspapers operation. Read more: Trinity Mirror's cutting dozens of jobs in a [...]
Criminals made €8.6m of fake “Bin Laden” banknotes at the end of last year January 27, 2017 The European Central Bank (ECB) said it withdrew €8.6m worth of so-called "Bin Laden" banknotes in the final six months of last year. The notes, worth €500, are in the process of being phased out because of their association with money-laundering and terror – but they nevertheless made up just under five per cent of all [...]
Some peace at last? Alliance Trust to buy back activist investor Elliott’s shares January 27, 2017 Relief at last for Alliance Trust’s management team: the company announced this morning it has reached a deal to buy its shares back from activist shareholder Elliott. The US hedge fund became a shareholder in the investment trust in 2011, and has, to put it mildly, shaken things up a little. The drama peaked in [...]