Virgin Galactic shares stall as space tourism firm posts $73m loss February 26, 2020 Richard Branson-founded Virgin Galactic fell to a $73m loss in the final quarter of 2019 as the space tourism firm announced it had received twice as many registrations for its space flight programme. The loss, which has widened compared to the same period last year, meant that Virgin Galactic’s share price, which has risen nearly [...]
Heathrow soars to ninth year of growth as third runway decision looms February 26, 2020 Heathrow Airport posted its ninth consecutive year of passenger growth as stakeholders gear up for tomorrow’s judicial review decision on whether the third runway expansion project can go ahead. The transport hub also said that though it was closely monitoring the coronavirus outbreak, it does “not expect [it] to have a material negative impact on [...]
Peugeot owner PSA roars to record profit as group prepares for Fiat merger February 26, 2020 Peugeot manufacturer PSA Group offset a slump in vehicle sales across European markets as it posted a record profit in 2019, ahead of its merger with Fiat Chrsyler later this year. However the firm said that an industrial shutdown in China as a result of the coronavirus outbreak could knock its supply chain, leading to [...]
UK power storage firm wins £35m investment from Japanese tech giant February 25, 2020 A UK company developing technology to store power more efficiently has won a key investment from a Japanese technology firm. Highview Power, which plans to store renewable energy by using liquid air announced the $46m (£35m) investment from Sumitomo Heavy Industries today. The money will be used to help export the “CRYOBattery” technology around the [...]
Crossrail reviews safety procedures after a string of ‘near misses’ February 25, 2020 Crossrail has conducted a review of its safety assessment measures, after a spate of incidents where construction workers almost seriously injured. City A.M. exclusively reported in December that “high risk incidents” in the construction of the £18.25bn train line doubled last year. These incidents, known as as high potential near misses, “could have resulted in [...]
Tourism body calls on government to rethink immigration policy February 25, 2020 A trade body representing the UK’s travel and tourism industry has called on the government to rethink its new immigration policy or risk “undermining the business model of many UK companies”. ABTA, the Travel Association, has today released a paper demonstrating the importance of non-UK workers to the UK travel industry which outlines the challenges [...]
Car dealers confident for coming year as Brexit fears dwindle February 25, 2020 An overwhelming majority of UK car dealerships are confident about the outlook for their business, despite a challenging 2019 for the motor industry. A new survey by Close Brothers Motor Finance shows that 98 per cent of dealers were optimistic about the future, with almost two-thirds (63 per cent) describing themselves as “very confident”. The [...]
Ricardo warns of coronavirus blow to profit February 25, 2020 Shares in engineering consultancy Ricardo fell 12 per cent today after the company warned the coronavirus outbreak will have a “material” hit on its annual profit. The Covid-19 strain of coronavirus has hurt Ricardo’s presence in China, where it has had to close offices and impose travel restrictions on staff, while clients have faced similar [...]
Meggitt boosts profit but warns over coronavirus and 737 Max hit February 25, 2020 Meggitt said that it would be impacted by both the coronavirus outbreak and the halt in production of the 737 Max after in year in which the aerospace engineers boosted profit by 33 per cent. Shares in the British firm fell 2.7 per cent by midday. The figures Statutory profit before tax increased from £216.1m [...]
Fuming: Foreign Office names and shames embassies for unpaid congestion charges February 25, 2020 Transport for London (TfL) is owed more than £116m of unpaid congestion charges by diplomatic officials, with the US embassy leading the way. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office released the figures today, showing that the US embassy had accumulated a total of 102,225 unpaid congestion charges, which adds up to £12.44m in lost revenue for [...]