Ocado losses widen: Share price rises as retail arm shows signs of improvement July 18, 2023 Pre-tax losses at Ocado have widened to £289m in the first half of the year, as the grocery firm’s share price was up over 14 per cent this morning. The supermarket technology business said its retail arm – which is a joint venture with M&S – grew five per cent to £1.17bn as it returned [...]
Mace: Construction firm on track for £3bn revenues as it bolstered by international growth July 18, 2023 Construction giant Mace has been bolstered by traction in its consultancy business and completions of landmark buildings abroad and in the UK (such as Battersea Power Station) during the year, hiking its turnover to £1.936bn. The London-headquartered firm, which has plans to reach £3bn revenues by 2026, said that its consultancy business reached £500m in [...]
Live music gives London a £2bn boost – but venues are still battling rising costs July 18, 2023 Economists and melomaniacs alike have reason to cheer the capital’s post-pandemic musical revival with the capital’s coffers given a £2bn boost by large and small concerts alike. Nearly 5m music lovers flocked to the capital last year to attend live music events, according to a report from UK Music, filling hotels, bars and restaurants. The [...]
The Notebook: Ed Perry and Rosie Brown on hiring prison leavers, shopping local and saving our soil July 18, 2023 Ed Perry and Rosie Brown are the sibling owners of COOK, the ‘force for good’ frozen food innovator Closer link between prisons and firms can work for all The government’s call last week for businesses to hire more prison leavers is to be applauded. At a time when the public sector is short of good [...]
Ofgem shortlists four suitors for £2bn offshore wind assets July 18, 2023 Ofgem has now shortlisted four operators for the next bidding round of its highly prized offshore transmission links, worth an estimated £2bn.
Robinhood prepares to storm UK share trading market July 18, 2023 US share trading app giant Robinhood is preparing to target British investors, The Telegraph has reported. The company is best known for its association with so-called “meme stocks”. These are stocks popular with younger investors that are discussed on social media platforms such as Reddit and Instagram. The company has recently opened up job listings [...]
Some honesty could spice up CEO meetings with Number 10 July 18, 2023 To listen to Downing Street, today’s meeting of the great and good of the British corporate world in Number 10 – as part of the “business council” – is part of a groundbreaking relationship between private sector and policymakers. It would be churlish to critique anything that brings our business leaders closer to government, but [...]
UK optical chip company Optalysys bags £21m in funding for ‘groundbreaking’ encryption tech July 17, 2023 A UK chip designer has secured £21m in a Series A round of investment as it looks to enhance its “groundbreaking” data-sharing security that could pave the way for new levels of encryption able to defend users even from quantum computer-using hackers. Leeds-based Optalysys has secured the funding led by investment companies Lingotto and Northern [...]
California holidays: Why Monterey, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara make the perfect road trip July 17, 2023 There’s more to California than Los Angeles and San Francisco – try Monterey, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, says Richard Franks America is the land of the road trip, and its Pacific Highway is up there with its most iconic. Hugging some 656 miles of rugged Californian coast between San Francisco and San Diego, the [...]
Post Office scandal: Government urged to sort compensation delays for victims July 17, 2023 Sir Wyn Williams, chair of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry, has called on the government to address compensation issues faced by sub-postmasters affected by the scandal. In an interim report presented to parliament today, Williams recommended legislative changes and stronger support for the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board. He brought forward the investigation of compensation [...]