London workers brave rail strikes and head back to office – but are ‘exception to the rule’ of WFH trend July 21, 2023 Strikes are failing to deter London workers from heading back into the office, with the capital one of only three UK cities to see growth in commuter numbers over the last quarter. As the summer months kicked in, the number of Londoners heading into the office fell significantly across the board, data from Virgin Media’s [...]
Anti-strikes bill becomes law as unions vow to fight it ‘tooth and nail’ July 20, 2023 A law has been passed to curb the effect strikes can have on some key services. The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act has been granted Royal Assent, having cleared both Houses of Parliament after a protracted battle over its impact. The law will allow ministers to impose minimum levels of service during industrial action by [...]
Jaguar Land Rover confirms Mardell as new chief executive July 20, 2023 Jaguar Land Rover has appointed interim chief executive officer Adrian Mardell to the top job permanently, the company announced today. Richard Molyneux, who has served as acting chief financial officer since December, has also been permanently appointed to his role. Jaguar veteran Mardell, who was previously the firm’s CFO, was appointed as interim boss last [...]
Lotus Cars to slash 200 jobs amid heavy annual losses July 20, 2023 Lotus Cars will cut up to 200 jobs from its workforce as it looks to restructure its business following huge losses announced earlier in the week. Lotus – who are owned by the Chinese carmaker Geely – reported pretax losses of £141.1m for 2022 on Monday, largely as a result of supply chain issues. In [...]
More business groups back London City Airport expansion after council blocked growth plans July 20, 2023 More business groups have come out in support of City Airport’s expansion plans after they were blocked by a local council. Early last week, Newham Council voted to oppose City Airport’s proposals, which would have created nearly 4,000 jobs and upped passenger capacity by two and a half million at the east-London hub. The airport [...]
Babcock shares up 10 per cent after reinstating dividend July 20, 2023 British engineering company Babcock said it was confident on further growth this year and would reinstate its dividend, encouraged by the boost to defence spending since the war in Ukraine. The company, which designs and manufactures naval ships and weapons handling systems as well as supporting Britain’s nuclear submarines, said it expected to deliver average [...]
Pendragon reports strong first half results but rate hikes spark concern July 20, 2023 Pendragon said this morning it expects pretax profits to rise nine per cent for the first half of 2023, on the back of a strong performance from its motor division. In a trading update, the Nottingham-based motor dealership – which is behind brands including Evans Halshaw and Stratstone – said it expects underlying profit before [...]
UK could pay up to £500m in subsidies to support new Jaguar Land Rover battery plant July 20, 2023 The UK could pay as much as £500m in subsidies to Tata Group to support its £4bn investment in a new battery plant in Somerset that would supply a new range of electric Jaguar and Land Rover models. Tata Group – the Indian conglomerate who own Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) – announced yesterday that it [...]
Easyjet profit flies on soaring summer demand as pandemic recovery continues July 20, 2023 Easyjet has swung to a record pre-tax profit of £203 million, up from a £114 million loss the previous year, on the back of soaring travel demand and high ticket fares. For the three months leading up to June, the budget airline said revenues hit £2.3 billion, up 34 per cent year-on-year and giving a [...]
Lime bike use soaring in London with 12 million rides since 2019 July 20, 2023 Lime has seen soaring demand for its e-bikes in London with over 12m rides since 2019 and an average monthly increase of 10 per cent, it has been revealed. Londoners have travelled nearly 30m kilometres using Lime’s e-bikes since 2019, according to a new report from the transport consultancy Steer, commissioned by the e-bike and [...]