Laterooms collapses after failure to sell business August 1, 2019 Holiday bookings site Laterooms has collapsed into insolvency after its parent company Malvern Group ran out of cash before it could secure a sale. Last month Malvern appointed KPMG to undertake an accelerated sales process after Cox & Kings India, which owned a 49 per cent stake in Malvern, defaulted on loan repayments. The default [...]
Chinese army in Hong Kong releases anti-protest video August 1, 2019 China’s army in Hong Kong has released a video that shows its forces engaged in riot control, in what has been seen as a warning to protesters in Hong Kong. The video, which was released yesterday and is now circulating on social media, contains captions such as “All consequences are taken at your own risk” [...]
Watchdog fines Casio millions for blocking discounts August 1, 2019 The UK’s competition watchdog has fined Casio £3.7m after the electronics company admitted to illegally preventing online retailers from selling discounted musical instruments. Casio put pressure on retailers to sell digital pianos and keyboards online at or above a certain price, using new software to monitor online prices in real time. Read more: Competition regulator [...]
Rio Tinto announces $1bn special dividend as profits fall August 1, 2019 Rio Tinto has announced a bumper dividend of $1bn (£825m) after reporting a drop in first-half pre-tax profits, despite red-hot iron ore prices. The Anglo-Australian mining firm’s pre-tax profits for the first half of the year were almost $5.2bn, a 23 per cent drop from the same period in 2018. Iron ore prices have risen [...]
Westfield owner suffers income drop as UK retailers shut shops and cut rents August 1, 2019 Retail landlord Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) suffered a drop in UK rental income in the first six months of the year as the property giant’s two London sites were hit by store closures and leasing delays. Like-for-like net rental income was down 3.1 per cent compared to the previous year as tenants – struggling in a challenging [...]
Boris Johnson faces first electoral test as polls open in Brecon and Radnorshire by-election August 1, 2019 Boris Johnson faces his first electoral test as Prime Minister today as voters head to the polls in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. The by-election in the Welsh seat has been called following a recall petition by residents against the incumbent Tory MP Chris Davies following his submission of a false expenses claim. Read more: [...]
Sterling tumbles below $1.21 on Fed rate cut and no-deal fears August 1, 2019 Sterling fell against the dollar today in reaction to the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates last night and continued fears over a no-deal Brexit. Sterling fell below $1.21 today for the first time since January 2017. At the time of writing, sterling had climbed back above $1.21 and was trading at $1.2106. Read more: [...]
Lego Movie 2 fails to deliver for Merlin Entertainments August 1, 2019 Theme park operator Merlin Entertainments reported weaker trading at Legoland in the first half of the year due to poor weather and a lack of visitor momentum from the latest Lego film release. Read more: Merlin Entertainments accepts £4.8bn takeover offer The figures Revenue rose in the 26 weeks to 29 June to £763m – [...]
New £300m no-deal Brexit freight plan risks legal delays, experts warn July 31, 2019 A new £300m plan to acquire additional freight services in the event of a no-deal Brexit risks descending into chaos because of the government’s pledge to leave the EU on 31 October, experts have warned. Fears have been raised that the government could be forced into another high risk freight procurement process because of Boris Johnson’s commitment [...]
Mark Carney on climate change: Capitalism is part of the solution July 31, 2019 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has swung to the defence of capitalism over its role in tackling climate change, saying that the financial system is “part of the solution” in dealing with current environmental challenges. The head of Britain’s central bank said last night that “capitalism is part of the solution and part of [...]