Online takeaway company Just Eat buys rivals Hungryhouse and SkipTheDishes December 15, 2016 Online takeaway company Just Eat has snapped up two of its rivals, Hungryhouse and SkipTheDishes, a Canadian firm. Shares in the group went up two per cent at the open. Just Eat paid £200m for Hungryhouse, which it bought from Delivery Hero. The group said a further cash amount of up to £40m "may also be payable, subject [...]
Yahoo hit by largest cyber attack of all time in second mega-hack December 15, 2016 More than one billion Yahoo user accounts have been hacked after the search engine revealed it had been the victim of the largest cyber attack in history. The breach is the second mammoth attack on Yahoo uncovered this year and has affected more than double the number of accounts compared with a breach revealed in September [...]
Financial services sector is a “golden goose” for tax revenue as top UK firms contribute £82.3bn December 15, 2016 The tax contribution of the largest UK companies to the economy is now £82.3bn, according to a study published today. A survey of the total tax contribution of the 100 Group shows that the amount either paid or generated by the biggest UK firms has gone up by 2.2 per cent from last year’s total [...]
Britain’s services trade can flourish outside the EU Single Market December 15, 2016 Negotiating sensible agreements on services trade with the EU, WTO and third countries may not be as difficult as many are suggesting. There are a number of options negotiators can pursue which would go beyond the existing arrangements and further liberalise services trade to Britain’s economic advantage. First, the issue of “passporting” will need to be [...]
Britain can Brexit in two years if politicians adopt the right can-do attitude December 15, 2016 The chancellor, along with a number of his cabinet colleagues, appears to be swinging round to the view that more than two years is going to be required for Brexit. This may be unnecessarily dangerous territory both for us and the EU 27. And it’s an unnecessarily long timetable too. When we joined the Common Market [...]
Five reasons the Anglosphere is more than just a romantic vision – but has real geopolitical teeth December 15, 2016 The Anglosphere, a concept that can trace its lineage back to Winston Churchill’s A History of the English Speaking Peoples, has received renewed interest in the wake of the Brexit referendum. The idea of the Anglosphere has been advanced in recent times by a number of historians, such as Andrew Roberts (A History of the [...]
As Trump packs his cabinet with leading executives, are business people any good at politics? December 15, 2016 Sam Bowman, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Well, it’d be hard to do worse than the politicians. And Trump’s appointments make some sense. Exxon’s Rex Tillerson, in particular, is experienced at negotiating with the leaders of tinpot kleptocracies – a useful skill in a secretary of state. Mitt Romney’s business success [...]
Punch Taverns takeover: Heineken and pub entrepreneur Alan McIntosh in bidding war December 15, 2016 Punch Taverns is in the midst of a takeover tussle between Heineken and Alan McIntosh, an entrepreneur who was one of the pub company’s founders. Shares in Punch soared as news of the two approaches emerged, ending the day nearly 38 per cent up at 177p. Yesterday morning, City A.M. revealed that McIntosh has tabled [...]
Brexit negotiations are not a zero sum game – here’s why December 15, 2016 Concern for the UK’s banking industry has spread across the country, marking an awkward (but amusing) shift in sentiment among people who were previously keen to trash the sector. Yesterday, the left-leaning Guardian newspaper splashed its front page on worries that “banks need urgent deal on EU to save jobs”, while last week one of the [...]
Central Line closed during rush hour after reports of man with a knife December 14, 2016 The Central Line was closed during rush hour this evening after reports of a "man with a knife" on Bank station. Armed police carried out a search after closing down Bank and Liverpool Street stations. The two stations reopened just after 7pm. Commuters were evacuated causing travel chaos with one calling the ordeal "terrifying". Just been [...]