Aston Martin owner Stroll to invest £200m in new HQ for F1 team September 14, 2021 Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll will put up to £200m into a new manufacturing headquarters for the marque’s Formula 1 team. In an interview with the FT, the Canadian billionaire said he was aiming to increase the team’s valuation to £1bn over the next five years. The 37,000 square metre campus is located near British [...]
Exclusive: UK customs duties shoot up by 42 per cent to record £2.2bn since Brexit September 14, 2021 UK businesses and consumers have paid 42 per cent more in customs duties on goods since Brexit came into force on 1 January of this year, according to new data shared with City A.M. this afternoon. The jump to £2.2billion in customs duties – paid in the year from 1 January to July 31 of [...]
First Group shares up as bus firm confirms £500m payout September 13, 2021 Shares in transport operator First Group rose 4.0 per cent this morning as the firm confirmed it would return £500m to shareholders through a tender process. In a statement ahead of today’s AGM, the FTSE 250 firm said that it was trading in line with expectations for the year so far. It said that bus [...]
Getlink to launch new cross-Channel rail freight service September 13, 2021 Getlink has today announced that it will launch a new rail service which will allow freight to cross the Channel totally unaccompanied. The firm, which manages and operates the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel between England and France, will open the new service on 18 September. The new service, which will operate six days a [...]
Heathrow now 10th busiest European airport as passenger slump goes on September 13, 2021 Heathrow Airport has this morning urged ministers to streamline the UK’s travel restrictions as it revealed it had fallen to 10th on the list of Europe’s busiest airports. It said that passenger numbers at the airport last month were down 71 per cent on pre-pandemic levels. It blamed the ongoing slump on “ever-changing restrictions, expensive [...]
Lorry driver shortage: Govt promises 50,000 more HGV driving tests September 11, 2021 The government has announced that it will make 50,000 more Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) driving tests available a year in response to “the worldwide lorry driver shortage”. Covid has led to a major backlog of tests for new drivers – 28,000 as of May this year – while the recent ‘pingdemic’ has caused many drivers to [...]
Toyota cuts annual production target as semiconductor shortage and Covid outbreaks weigh September 10, 2021 Car giant Toyota today said that it would slash its global production target by 300,000 units as a combination of the semiconductor shortage and the coronavirus continue to hammer output. Having already announced that it would cut production in September alone by 360,000 cars, the Japanese automaker said it would have to reduce output by [...]
More traffic looms over cities if rail fails to win back commuters hearts September 10, 2021 Cities like London could be struck by more traffic jams and business closures if train commuting fails to meet pre-pandemic levels, the rail industry has warned. Train commuting is at just 33 per cent of 2019 levels, according to the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), with some commuters opting for cars instead. Commuters were deterred from [...]
Petrol station firm EG Group mulls ‘potential $15bn sale’ September 9, 2021 Petrol station forecourt giant EG Group is reportedly mulling options for its future, including a potential sale. Bloomberg reported that a deal to sell the company, which is backed by the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital, could fetch as much as $15bn. The firm could also go for an initial public [...]
Easyjet shares dive as carrier rejects takeover bid ‘from Wizz Air’ and flags £1.2bn rights issue September 9, 2021 Easyjet this morning said that it had rejected an unsolicited takeover bid as it announced a new £1.2bn rights issue. Shares in the FTSE 250 firm were down 10.2 per cent by the time markets closed this evening. The budget carrier said that the bid had took the “form of a low premium and highly [...]