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 [...]
Airline stocks sink for second day amid coronavirus sell-off February 25, 2020 Airline stocks continued their decline today as investors continued to sell over growing fears over the economic impact of the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Norwegian Air was the worst affected, falling almost 13 per cent, whilst budget carrier Easyjet and tour operator Tui both fell around three per cent. British Airways-owner IAG, Ryanair, Lufthansa and Wizz [...]
British Airways extends China flight cancellations until after Easter February 25, 2020 British Airways (BA) has extended its suspension of flights to China until after Easter, the airline announced, after increased fears over the spread of the deadly coronavirus. BA, which had previously said it would cancel all flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai until 1 April, has now said it is extending the ban for [...]
Nissan Europe chairman casts fresh doubt on future of Sunderland plant February 24, 2020 The future of Nissan’s Sunderland factory remains in doubt amid the ongoing trade negotiations between the UK and the European Union, the car-maker’s European chairman said today. Britain has until the end of the year to reach a free-trade agreement with the EU. If it fails, a 10 per cent tariff would be applied to [...]
Only five car battery tech patents filed from the UK in 2019, says BDO February 24, 2020 A record number of patents were filed in 2018/2019 as countries race to develop electric car batteries – but data suggests the UK is falling behind when it comes to the automotive technology. Advisory firm BDO has found 3,400 battery patents were filed in this period, a 57 per cent increase on the year before [...]
Justice Committee chair calls for Attorney-General to make decision on Airbus bribery probe February 24, 2020 The chair of the Justice Committee Sir Bob Neill today called for the new Attorney-General Suella Braverman to take a decision on a bribery investigation into an Airbus subsidiary that has been in limbo for more than 18 months. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched an investigation into Airbus GPT Special Project Management in 2012 [...]