John Allan: Tesco chair now also quits Barratt role fearing misconduct claims may become ‘disruptive’ John Allan Tesco chair John Allan will quit his role at the top of Barratt Developments, fearing sexual misconduct claims which he staunchly denies will become “disruptive. The London-listed housebuilder told investors this morning that Allan would step aside from the role he has chaired for nine years at the end of next month – three months [...]
EY plots leadership reshuffle after Big Four firm’s break-up plans scrapped Big Four EY is planning to alter the leadership team of its UK operations just weeks after it scrapped plans to break-up its audit and consulting business. The Big four accountancy firm’s UK managing partner Alison Kay, one of the top executives in Britain and a likely candidate for the role of boss, will move to a [...]
Virgin Media O2 reports slight bump in revenue after price hikes TELECOMS Virgin Media O2 reported a slight increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2023 as a result of price increases and stronger consumer retention. Adjusted quarterly revenue increased by 3.9 per cent on the same period last year to £2.6bn, the company announced today. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter increased by 2 per [...]
Pearson integration of AI appears to excite investors as share price rises May 9, 2023 Educational publisher Pearson is embedding AI across its products as the AI race heats up and the technology encroaches on the edtech sector. The London-based publisher said on Tuesday that projects to embed generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology — meaning tools which can create new content from large data sets — were already “well underway.” [...]
LinkedIn latest tech giant to axe jobs blaming ‘drop in demand’ May 9, 2023 LinkedIn is culling over 700 jobs and closing its local app in China, blaming a slump in consumer demand and turbulent market conditions. In an email to LinkedIn employees, Ryan Roslanksy, LinkedIn chief executive. said the changes would be made in order to shake up the business, which is being hit by slower revenue growth. [...]
AI doing the work of over 200 people at Octopus, chief executive says May 8, 2023 Octopus Energy customers are more satisfied with AI bots answering their emails than humans, the energy provider’s chief executive revealed on Monday. Writing in the Times newspaper, the energy company’s chief executive, Greg Jackson, said the technology was doing the work of 250 people by answering customer emails and had received a 80 per cent [...]
Activision deal: Survey says CMA wrong to block Microsoft tie-up May 8, 2023 A quarter of the public thought the UK competition watchdog was wrong to block Microsoft’s $70b deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, a new poll has found. One in four of the public were opposed to the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision to block the deal, while a further 16 percent thought it was [...]
FRC begins hunt for new boss as audit body advertises role with £330k salary (and to be able to work from both London and Birmingham) May 5, 2023 The boss of Britain’s audit regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) will need “credibility, integrity and capability” to enact “organisation change”; they can also expect to be paid £330k plus benefits for doing so. An advert for the next chief executive of the FRC, which will soon become ARGA confirms previous City A.M . reports [...]
Vodafone and CK Hutchinson close to merging UK telecoms businesses May 4, 2023 Vodafone and CK Hutchinson are close to agreeing a merger of their UK telecoms businesses, according to reports. The new company would have an enterprise value of £15bn and would be the UK’s largest mobile provider with 28m customers, the Financial Times reported on Thursda, citing people familiar with the matter. The move to combine [...]
Domino’s takeaway: Pizza chain announces £20m share buyback as UK sales soar May 4, 2023 UK consumers shrugged off inflation and a cost of living crisis to order more pizza, according to UK and Irish-based chain Domino’s. The fast food chain said sales increased to £386.6m across its branches, up 5.6 per cent compared to the same period last year. Quarterly orders at Domino’s Pizza group grew 2.8 per cent [...]