Royal London swings to £181m loss on drop in sales and asset values August 10, 2020 Pensions provider Royal London today said it swung to a loss in the six months to 30 June which it blamed on falling asset values and slow sales during lockdown. Royal London posted a loss before tax of £181m for the six-month period, down from a profit of £397m at the half-year in 2019. Its [...]
Government mulls scrapping of daily coronavirus death toll August 10, 2020 The government is considering scrapping the UK’s daily coronavirus death toll after an investigation into how the figure is tallied by Public Health England (PHE). The Telegraph reported that the findings of the investigation were expected to be reported this week, with future options including shifting to a weekly death toll. The probe was launched [...]
Beirut police fire tear gas as protesters regroup and two ministers quit August 10, 2020 Lebanese police fired tear gas to try to disperse rock-throwing protesters blocking a road near parliament in Beirut on Sunday in a second day of anti-government demonstrations triggered by last week’s devastating explosion. Fire broke out at an entrance to Parliament Square as demonstrators tried to break into a cordoned-off area, TV footage showed. Protesters [...]
Superdry secures new lending facility as coronavirus hits revenue August 10, 2020 Superdry has secured a new financing arrangement with its lenders as the designer clothing brand seeks to shore up its financial position amid ongoing disruption from the coronavirus pandemic. In a trading update, the firm said it had agreed a new £70m asset backed lending facility with HSBC and BNPP, extending the term until January [...]
Canary Wharf is ‘open for business’ as firms head back to the office August 10, 2020 As City firms prepare their return to the office, the chief executive of Canary Wharf Group has declared the development is open for business. Shobi Khan told City A.M. that everything is in place for a return to office life at Canary Wharf, which is home to some of the world’s leading firms. Companies had [...]
Monzo? I’d rather invest my tuppence in the bank August 10, 2020 “Railways through Africa. Dams across the Nile. Fleets of ocean greyhounds. Majestic, self-amortizing canals.” So enthuses Mr Banks to his dubious son Michael. An investment in the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, in the words of director Mr Dawes, “fires the imagination”. And tuppence is all you need to open an account. Never has the promise of [...]
Lebanon’s greatest tragedy is its political class August 10, 2020 Following this past terrible Tuesday, it is easy to think about what happened in Beirut as a horrible act of God, of impersonal fate intervening to devastate this already crumbling country. But instead it is rage at Lebanon’s corrupt and incompetent political class that ought to be the dominant emotion. Following Tuesday’s gargantuan explosion — [...]
We need a London housing strategy that doesn’t ignore the squeezed middle August 10, 2020 The UK — and London in particular — faces a housing crisis. This is not news, and nor has the need for more affordable housing been ignored by politicians. Last week, the government announced an overhaul of planning rules to make it easier to build, while earlier this month, a House of Commons committee published [...]
London calling: Why it’s time to bring life back to our city’s streets August 10, 2020 Despite a tentative easing of the national lockdown, the lingering economic and social consequences of this policy are frighteningly obvious to anyone venturing into central London. While social life and economic activity has, to a large extent, returned to the outer zones and suburbs, the offices and shops of London’s professional districts remain eerily and [...]
Pret A Manger to cut staff hours in coronavirus restructuring August 9, 2020 Pret A Manger has asked thousands of its staff to work fewer hours, as the lunch chain restructures its business after the coronavirus pandemic. Staff will work 20 per cent fewer hours on average, as footfall remains low. It follows an announcement by Pret last month that it would be closing 30 outlets and cutting [...]