First hybrid Hitachi TransPennine trains due to reach UK in next couple of months April 20, 2018 Hitachi’s first test TransPennine Express trains (TPE) have left Japan and are due to arrive in the UK in the next couple of months. The new Nova 1 trains, are hybrid-powered, can reach speeds of up to 140mph in electric mode and 125 mph using diesel engines. They will use MTU engines from Rolls-Royce to [...]
Takeda Pharmaceutical announces improved offer for Shire April 20, 2018 Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda today made an improved offer for Shire, after its £43bn takeover bid was rejected. The company is now willing to pay £47 per share, of which £21 would be cash and £26 new Takeda shares. This represents a seven per cent increase on the original proposal of £44 per share made [...]
Ion has thrown down the gauntlet for Fidessa with £1.5bn bid, as Temenos loses board’s support for its offer April 20, 2018 Ion Group Investments has waded into the battle for software company Fidessa, making a formal £1.5bn bid for the company just over two hours before the deadline. Fidessa had already recommended that shareholders accept a £1.4bn offer from Swiss rival Temenos, but has now changed its allegiance to recommend Fidessa’s bid. “The Fidessa board, which [...]
Melissa Morris wants to save the NHS one billion pounds a year | City A.M. April 20, 2018 Depending on who you ask, the UK’s National Health Service is one of two things. Either, it’s the pride of a nation and envy of the world, which must be protected at all costs. Or, it’s a bureaucratic relic, consistently lagging behind most comparable systems in terms of health outcome, desperate for reform. Since its [...]
Nissan to cut hundreds of jobs at main UK hub in Sunderland April 20, 2018 Nissan is to cut hundreds of jobs at its main UK plant in Sunderland as it moves to develop new electric-powered powertrains in the wake of the collapse in demand for diesel. A spokesperson for the company said: “As previously communicated, we are transitioning to a new range of powertrains over the next year. As [...]
Poundland owner Steinhoff tells angry shareholders it is renegotiating debt April 20, 2018 Steinhoff, the South African retailer, said today that it is renegotiating its debt as it faced shareholders for the first time since its shares plunged on the emergence of an accounting scandal. An investigation into the scandal is making “good progress”, the acting chairman told investors, and is expected to be completed by the end [...]
Fitness advice: How to get ripped quick… And stay that way April 20, 2018 People are finally wising up to fad diets. Things like the Atkins and the 5/2 and the ketogenic and the million other silly ways to lose weight are beginning to drown under the, ahem, weight of science and common sense. We know that losing weight is mostly a matter of calories-in balanced against calories out, [...]
Sterling improves as Bank of England hawk Saunders brushes aside Carney’s rate-hike hesitance April 20, 2018 Sterling began to climb from its early morning slide this afternoon, as a more hawkish Bank of England policymaker trampled on governor Mark Carney’s warnings that an interest rate hike might not be imminent. Michael Saunders, speaking at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, said he was sticking by his minority decision to raise interest [...]
Brexit latest: Pro-Leave MPs and ministers including Michael Gove are making their peace with a “temporary” customs union April 20, 2018 Brexiters appear to be making their peace with the idea of staying in the customs union after Brexit – albeit only as a temporary solution – as it becomes an increasingly probable option. The government has suffered a triple-whammy of disappointments this week – defeat over an amendment in the House of Lords, a new [...]
Principal London and Bloomsbury Hotel revamp to draw in a younger crowd April 20, 2018 We had no brief when we started this project,” says interiors guru Tara Bernerd, showing me around the former grandiose Hotel Russell on Russell Square. It re-opened on Monday but rechristened as the Principal London. Built in 1898 by the English fin-de-siecle architect Charles Fitzroy Doll, its magnificent Renaissance-revival terracotta exterior is Grade II-Listed, along [...]