Apprenticeships proving popular as over half of parents disagree that a degree is a better guarantee for career success October 3, 2016 Apprenticeships are becoming more popular among parents, with over half now disagreeing a university degree is the best choice for their children's blossoming careers, a study out today has found. According to the research by Prudential, 51 per cent of parents disagree graduates are more likely to climb the career ladder faster than apprentices while the [...]
Negotiations over the largest pension deficit in the FTSE 100 could be made worse by an Openreach spin-off October 2, 2016 BT's mammoth pension scheme deficit is threatening to derail Ofcom's plans to make its broadband infrastructure arm Openreach more independent from the telecoms giant. A consultation on the future of Openreach is due to close on Tuesday after attracting over 75,000 responses. Investors and analysts are deeply concerned that separating it from BT could cause significant issues for the group when it comes to [...]
Increased profits on the cards at Tesco but pension headache persists October 2, 2016 Tesco is expected to report on Wednesday that it has grown half-year profits but its steady resurgence could be undermined by a spiralling pension scheme deficit. Analysts expect a rise in underlying sales for the third quarter in a row and half-year profits could be as much as £624m – dwarfing the £354m generated in the same period last year. [...]
Sainsbury’s hires former Boots boss as retail and operations director September 30, 2016 Supermarket Sainsbury's has hired a veteran of the UK retail sector as its new retail and operations director. The company has appointed former Boots managing director Simon Roberts to the role. Roberts was most recently executive vice president of pharmaceutical retailer Walgreens Boots Alliance and president of Boots in the UK & Ireland. Prior to that, [...]
Speedmailing: Control your email, don’t let it control you September 30, 2016 Email is both the boon and bane of nearly every business, a necessary evil that, left unchecked, can control your day and destabilise your work/life balance. Whether it’s the dread of returning from holiday to a wall of bumf, or the Saturday morning spent checking for important missed messages, not being on top of your email [...]
Computer says no: Women still face an uphill battle to prove their worth in IT September 29, 2016 Women hankering after a career in IT are still struggling to prove their worth, research out today has found. Over half (57 per cent) of the IT directors surveyed by recruitment firm Robert Half said a major barrier to entry for women in the profession was proving their competence. A similar proportion (54 per cent) [...]
Record pension deficits could undermine the financial performance of the UK’s largest listed companies September 29, 2016 The largest listed companies in the UK could have £2bn of their bottom lines wiped out by spiralling pension costs according to data released today. Record low corporate bond yields – which are used to price pension pots for accounting purposes – have driven up liabilities. With asset values failing to keep up the increases [...]
Genel Energy boss – and former BP chief exec – Tony Hayward to step down next year September 29, 2016 Genel Energy chairman Tony Hayward, who previously led BP, is rumoured to be stepping down next year. According to Reuters, Hayward has said in closed discussions in recent weeks that he plans to quit his post in the second half of next year. However, a spokesman for the company said today: "Genel Energy is committed to having [...]
Meet the five startups joining London’s newest corporate fintech lab September 29, 2016 Five up-and-coming startups have been chosen by a London investment firm to join its newly created fintech lab. The new cohort joining Octopus Labs' 12 week programme include companies working on artificial intelligence powered financial news and financial management platforms aimed at investors and financial advisors. The director of the accelerator run by Octopus Investments, the group behind the venture capital firm [...]
Treasury committee chairman seeking assurances from high street bank bosses on IT health September 29, 2016 The chairman of the influential Treasury Select Committee (TSC) Andrew Tyrie has written to the chief executives of two of the UK's biggest banks over recent IT failures. City A.M. understands Tyrie will publish letters to the bosses of Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC tomorrow morning. Tyrie has also written to the heads of the financial regulators the Financial Conduct [...]
