Deliveroo shares slump 30 per cent on long-awaited stock market debut March 31, 2021 Deliveroo shares plunged by as much as 30 per cent on its long-awaited market debut, wiping more than £2bn off its valuation. The delivery firm’s shares closed out their first day of trading well down at 287p, a sharp drop from the offer price of 390p per share. The listing had been hotly anticipated given [...]
UK vaccine passport app could become ‘honeypot’ for hackers, says former top government cyber adviser March 31, 2021 A potential UK vaccine passport is in danger of becoming a “honeypot” for hackers, rogue states and cyber criminal organisations, according to one of the government’s former top cyber security advisers. Peter Yapp, ex-deputy director of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), told City A.M. that a vaccine passport app could be an easy target [...]
Nick Clegg defends Facebook algorithms as platform revamps news feed March 31, 2021 Sir Nick Clegg has launched an impassioned defence of Facebook’s algorithms, insisting the platform had empowered people and denying it was responsible for increased polarisation. The former deputy prime minister, who is now Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, said people needed to “make their peace” with algorithms and acknowledge they were “here to stay”. [...]
World’s largest law firm Dentons to offer permanent home working March 31, 2021 Dentons in the UK, Ireland and the Middle East will allow people to permanently work from home when Covid restrictions ease. As part of a new agile working policy, people working at Dentons will be able to choose when to work from home or in the office. All 750 of Dentons’ London-based staff will be [...]
Bet365 boss Denise Coates nets record £421m payday despite revenue fall March 31, 2021 Bet365 chief executive Denise Coates paid herself at least £421m in the year to March 2020, despite a decline in revenue in the run-up to the pandemic. Company filings show the gambling giant handed the sum to its highest-paid director, who is believed to be Coates. It is thought to be the UK’s largest ever [...]
Pub operator Fuller, Smith & Turner raises £54m through share placing March 31, 2021 Pub operator Fuller, Smith & Turner raised nearly £54m today after completing a share placing in a bid to bolster its books. The pub and hotels company said a total of 6,455,447 placing shares had been placed by its bookrunner Numis at 830 pence per share. It represents approximately a fifth of the company’s shares [...]
Apple leads $50m funding round in record label disruptor United Masters March 31, 2021 Apple has led a $50m (£36m) investment in United Masters, an independent music platform aiming to challenge the dominance of major record labels. United Masters, which was founded in 2017 by former label executive Steve Stoute, provides a platform for artists to distribute their music while retaining ownership of their master recording rights. This is [...]
Glastonbury 2021: Haim, Coldplay and Jorja Smith to play livestream gig March 31, 2021 The organisers of Glastonbury today revealed plans for a “ground-breaking” livestream gig from Worthy Farm after the festival was cancelled for the second year running. Haim, Coldplay and Jorja Smith are among the acts who will perform during the five-hour extravaganza on 22 May. British favourites Wolf Alice and Kano are also named on the [...]
Pfizer vaccine ‘100 per cent effective’ in children as young as 12 March 31, 2021 The Pfizer/Biontech Covid vaccine is safe and 100 per cent effective in children as young as 12, the company has announced. The two pharmaceutical giants carried out trials of the vaccine on 2,260 children aged between 12 and 15 in the US. Preliminary data showed there were no cases of coronavirus among fully vaccinated adolescents [...]
London business confidence ticks up in first quarter of 2021 March 31, 2021 Business confidence in London improved during the first three months of 2021, after reaching its lowest point since the 2008 global financial crisis. A new survey by Savanta ComRes/the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry has revealed that 29 per cent of business leaders in the first quarter of 2021 said London’s economic prospects will [...]