Shipping executives convicted in North Sea oil bribery scheme November 27, 2018 Two former executives of shipping company FH Bertling have been convicted for their part in a corrupt scheme to win a ConocoPhillips freight forwarding contract worth over £16m as part of a North Sea exploration project. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said today that Stephen Emler and Giuseppe Morreale had pleaded guilty to their part in [...]
Network Rail bonuses could be used to pay regulatory fines under new proposals November 27, 2018 Fines levied on Network Rail for poor performance could be funded through management bonuses, the rail regulator has suggested. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has opened a consultation today that will look at news ways to hold Britain's railway operator to account following a disastrous year with the botched timetable upgrade in May. [...]
Services giant Jacobs to move into new 1,000-worker London Bridge office November 27, 2018 Services giant Jacobs Engineering Group is combining its three UK premises to move into a new 80,000 sq ft office in London Bridge. The US firm, which provided infrastructure for the 2012 Olympics, has secured the Cottons Centre site for the next decade, providing offices for around 1,000 employees working on infrastructure projects. The site, [...]
Volkswagen slashes 90 per cent of ad agencies to drive down costs November 27, 2018 Volkswagen is cutting the number of advertising agencies it works with by more than 90 per cent in a bid to improve marketing efficiency. The German car manufacturer has said it will reduce its pool of 40 agencies to just three, while keeping its marketing budget stable at roughly €1.5bn (£1.3bn). Omnicon will be responsible [...]
General Motors scales back workforce as it pushes for self-driving cars November 26, 2018 General Motors will close five plants and lay off around 8,000 workers in North America, the company has revealed. The carmaker hopes cutbacks will help it save around $6bn a year as it doubles the resources spent on its electric and self-driving cars, while discontinuing several old models. The company will say goodbye to around [...]
Flybe shares head skyward as it braces for bidding war November 26, 2018 Flybe shares soared over 23 per cent in trading this morning on reports it has landed at the centre of bidding war between industry rivals Sir Richard Branson and Willie Walsh. Walsh’s International Airlines Group (IAG) is in hot competition with Branson’s Virgin Atlantic, according to reports over the weekend which have sent the budget [...]
The new face of piracy: cyber crime is threatening the shipping industry November 26, 2018 When you think of the word pirate, you probably start to imagine the yo ho ho, Jack Sparrow-sort of buccaneer from Disney movies. Modern-day piracy comes in two varieties. There’s the digital kind: people illegally downloading music or films from the internet. Then there’s the more traditional kind: groups who hijack sea vessels to steal [...]
Melrose share price tumbles following low-ball bids for GKN unit November 26, 2018 Turnaround specialist Melrose led FTSE fallers today as its share price fell over six per cent following reports of disappointing bids for one of its GKN units. Melrose, which bought aerospace company GKN in an £8bn hostile takeover earlier this year, was reportedly forced to reconsider its options after it was low-balled by bids for [...]
Rail industry launches ombudsman to deal with flurry of complaints following May timetable chaos November 26, 2018 The rail industry has today launched the first ever ombudsman to deal with the high volume of complaints from passengers in the wake of May's timetable chaos. Customers are now able to appeal directly to the free-to-use ombudsman if they are unsatisfied with how their complaint has been handled by individual train companies, or they haven't [...]
‘Good chance of death’: Billionaire Elon Musk says he plans move to Mars despite huge risks November 25, 2018 Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk has said he is more likely than not to move to Mars, despite the huge personal risk. The Space X chief executive said there is a 70 per cent chance of him getting to the red planet, but likened the trip to Ernest Shackleton’s dangerous journeys to the Antarctic. “We’ve recently [...]