Easyjet denies it is in talks with German authorities over state aid November 5, 2020 Easyjet has hit back at reports that it has approached German authorities for emergency funding to help it through the coronavirus pandemic. German business paper Wirtschaftswoche reported that chief exec Johan Lundgren had been involved in talks concerning a sum in the region of hundreds of millions of euros. But representatives for the low-cost carrier [...]
Ghosted: Whatsapp rolls out disappearing messages in privacy push November 5, 2020 Whatsapp is introducing a new function that will delete messages from the app after seven days in an effort to ramp up its privacy credentials. The social media platform, which has more than 2bn users worldwide, said the new feature will help keep chats private and “more like a face-to-face conversation that is not recorded [...]
Boohoo and Nike grilled over supply chain links to slave labour in China November 5, 2020 MPs this morning grilled fashion firms, including Boohoo and Nike, over potential supply chain links to slave labour and exploitation in China. The retailers’ sourcing and sustainability bosses were today called in to give evidence to the Business Select Committee, as part of an investigation into the extent to which the products of forced labour [...]
FCA bans three financial advisers for sex crime convictions November 5, 2020 Three former financial advisers have been banned from working in the financial services industry following sexual assault and other non-financial convictions. Russell Jameson, Mark Horsey and Frank Cochran were each convinced of crimes of a sexual nature in 2018. City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has now banned them from working in financial services. [...]
Chancellor’s furlough extension ‘the right call’, say business bodies November 5, 2020 Business bodies have welcomed the chancellor’s extension of the furlough scheme until the end of March as “the right call”, but warned there was “more to do” to help businesses through winter lockdowns. Rishi Sunak today announced additional financial support for employees across the UK unable to work amid national lockdowns. The government will pay up [...]
Alibaba gets post-pandemic revenue boost amid Ant Group float woes November 5, 2020 Chinese tech giant Alibaba has posted continued sales growth following the coronavirus lockdown, just days after Beijing slammed the brakes on Ant Group’s mammoth stock market float. The conglomerate, run by billionaire Jack Ma, posted a 30 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to 155bn yuan (£17.9bn) in the three months to the end of [...]
Wizz Air boss predicts carrier will make full recovery within a year November 5, 2020 Wizz Air’s chief executive has said that the airline will return to pre-pandemic service levels within a year. Speaking to City A.M., Jozsef Varadi that although it would likely take the aviation sector as a whole much longer to recover, he was incredibly upbeat about the Hungarian airline’s prospects. “It’s going to take five years for [...]
Bank of England goes big with £150bn stimulus amid second lockdown November 5, 2020 The Bank of England will inject £150bn more stimulus into the UK economy to help it handle a new England-wide lockdown, and predicted that growth would go into reverse in the final three months of the year. The big increase in bond-buying – which came as the BoE left interest rates untouched at 0.1 per [...]
Rishi Sunak extends furlough scheme until end of March November 5, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has extended the furlough scheme until the end of March, following days of wrangling over fresh financial support for businesses during the second national lockdown. The furlough scheme, which was due to wind down last Saturday, will be rolled out for the next five months — a year after it was first [...]
Take the edge off the US election with a bourbon cocktail November 5, 2020 With the Presidential election still dragging on, you could be forgiven for having somewhat frayed nerves right now. Will it be resolved with decisive-enough wins in the outstanding states? Will it end up in the courts? Will it lead to the death of democracy and civil conflict? As if 2020 was already stressful enough, without [...]