US slowdown doesn’t hold back Balfour Beatty’s pre-tax profit jump August 16, 2023 Balfour Beatty hailed a nine per cent rise in revenues during its half year results, rising to £4.7bn up from £4.1bn when compared to last year, as the construction firm praised its “diverse portfolio” for the lift. The business which works on trackwork and power supply builds has been less impacted by a slow down [...]
Another Musk mess: X goes down after ‘delay’ trial on loading news and Insta links August 16, 2023 Elon Musk’s X, previously known as Twitter, caused a brief disruption in the loading of links leading to some news outlets and social media rivals. Users attempting to access content from an affected source through X experienced a delay of five seconds, according to tests run by The Washington Post and, later, Reuters. Links to [...]
Trap Tox: the Botox trend going viral on TikTok August 16, 2023 Botox is typically associated with aesthetics, with changing the way we physically appear. But the latest Botox trend can have an impact on health and wellbeing more than anything to do with appearance. ‘Trap Tox’ is when Botox injections are sent into the Trapezius muscle to try to help alleviate shoulder pain. Trap Tox injections [...]
Marshalls profits slump as business warns ‘challenging’ environment expected to persist into 2024 August 16, 2023 Building products supplier Marshalls reported a 26 per cent slide in adjusted profit before tax in its half year results, slumping to £33.2m, as a slowdown in the UK house building market continues to eat away at its earnings. The group, which is headquartered in West Yorkshire, also said that adjusted EBITDA fell eight per [...]
The Notebook: Patrick Spencer on the global economy, Simpsons stereotypes and why not all businesspeople are evil August 16, 2023 Today, Patrick Spencer, former government advisor and director of the Jobs Foundation, takes the pen Economic news, jobs, jobs and more jobs. Waking up yesterday, the big news is from the US as former president Donald Trump was charged with intentionally interfering with the US election result in 2020. Grim news indeed but the more [...]
He could work on the delivery, but Bailey’s warnings were right August 16, 2023 So was he right? Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey’s comments that Brits shouldn’t ask for a pay rise looked tin-eared at the time, and it didn’t help when the Bank then upped its bonus pool. But his warnings of a wage price spiral appear to be coming to fruition. Now, what brought on the [...]
Why is Netflix jumping into the cloud gaming market? August 15, 2023 Netflix first announced its move into the cloud gaming industry back in November 2021, and it is now starting to test its games in the UK on televisions and computers as it looks to grow the service. Cloud gaming – sometimes known as gaming on demand or game streaming – allows users to play video [...]
Energy firms split as Ofgem boss calls for price cap rethink August 15, 2023 Energy bosses are split over the role of the price cap in the UK's retail market, with a seeming rift between challengers and the Big Six.
Liberty Global inks €1.5bn deal with IT giant Infosys to scale up Horizon entertainment platform August 15, 2023 International telecoms firm Liberty Global (LG) has struck a €1.5bn (£1.3bn) deal to outsource its Horizon entertainment platform to Indian IT consultancy Infosys. The two corporate giants are poised to collaborate over a five-year period, with Infosys helping Liberty Global expand its Horizon entertainment platform, a TV and video streaming service used by over 10m. [...]
Yet more rail strikes have been announced – here’s all you need to know August 15, 2023 Commuters are to face yet more misery from rail strikes this August after the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) announced fresh industrial action last week. 20,000 RMT members from a host of train operators nationwide will walk out, disrupting the UK’s rail network on dates that coincide with the August Bank holiday weekend. The [...]