Prime Minister stands by Brexit minister Steve Baker despite claims he misled parliament February 1, 2018 The Prime Minister is standing by minister Steve Baker, despite claims he misled parliament after implying the civil service had distorted economic analysis to push for a softer Brexit. Baker this morning appeared to confirm backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg’s claim that Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, had said “officials in the Treasury [...]
Crossrail 2 progress stalls as independent funding review won’t wrap up until the autumn February 1, 2018 Progress on the £31bn Crossrail 2 project has stuttered, after Transport for London (TfL) said today an independent financing review sought by the government will not be completed until the autumn. It means hopes for a public consultation getting underway early this year have been dashed. TfL’s director of City Planning, Alex Williams told the [...]
Ollie Phillips: Playing Scotland will be England’s biggest Six Nations test, but Ireland more likely to stop third title on the trot February 1, 2018 When Scotland travel to Wales this weekend, they do so sniffing the opportunity of a first Six Nations title in 18 years. They’re hungry. They’re buoyant from fantastic performances in the autumn, when they narrowly missed out on beating the All Blacks and smashed Australia. They have a really savvy coach in Gregor Townsend and [...]
Dragons’ Den star Julie Meyer’s bust venture capital firm Ariadne Capital owed almost £2m to employees and advisers, administrators’ report reveals February 1, 2018 The venture capital and corporate finance firm of former Dragons’ Den star Julie Meyer, which was put into administration at the end of last year, owes almost £2m to unpaid employees and advisers, City A.M. can reveal. Ariadne Capital, which was founded and owned by TV personality Julie Meyer, owes £530,692 to 14 current and [...]
City Hall presses Philip Hammond to return Londoners’ £500m in vehicle excise duty February 1, 2018 The London Assembly is pressing Philip Hammond to return some of the £500m the capital contributes to the government in vehicle excise duty (VED). Sadiq Khan has complained that none of the VED generated by London is spent on roads in the capital, which he says has put a strain on Transport for London (TfL), [...]
Sainsbury’s takes full control of Nectar in £60m deal with Aimia February 1, 2018 Sainsbury’s has paid £60m to take full control of the Nectar loyalty scheme, giving it greater access to information about customer habits. It said the decision to acquire the shares in the programme from analytics firm Aimia Inc UK was part of a strategy “of knowing its customers better than anyone else”. While consumers will [...]
EBay just ditched PayPal for a fintech startup unicorn from Europe to process all its payments February 1, 2018 EBay is ditching PayPal, the US giant which used to be part of the online marketplace, and instead will be turning to a highly valued fintech startup from Europe as its main payments processor. The move is a huge vote of confidence for the startup, Adyen, and will fuel speculation around an IPO of the [...]
Elon Musk’s Boring Company flamethrower has sold out after $10m of sales in less than a week February 1, 2018 Not content with running several successful companies, entrepreneur Elon Musk has made a niche sideline in novelty products, the latest of which is an Instragram-worthy flamethrower costing $500 (£351). But anyone hoping to get their hands on one has missed their window of opportunity – the entire 20,000 have already sold out. And it’s netted [...]
Bitcoin price (BTC): $44bn wiped from its value in January 2018 February 1, 2018 The price of bitcoin has fallen to its lowest yet this year as its losses for January totted up to $44bn. The cryptocurrency fell below $10,000 overnight bookending a month where its value fell by 30 per cent, Bloomberg cakculates. Bitcoin had been closing in on $20,000 before Christmas but has since fallen with a [...]
Nex Group share price surges as it looks towards pick-up in volatility as revenues rise and US tax cut adds boost February 1, 2018 Financial trading infrastructure firm Nex Group today said a pick-up in foreign exchange trading in January and a boost from US tax cuts may boost future earnings. Group revenue rose by three per cent on a constant currency basis in the three months to the end of December compared with the same period last year, [...]