NMC Health identifies $2.7bn in additional debt bringing total to $5bn March 10, 2020 NMC Health has identified an additional $2.7bn (£2.09bn) in debt bringing the group’s total debt position to around $5bn (£3.87bn). The firm said it had been notified by Moelis and PwC, who it appointed as advisers last week, that the group’s position had more than doubled from the $2.1bn reported at 30 June 2019, to [...]
Police watchdog probe into Johnson and Arcuri not expected before May March 10, 2020 A police watchdog report into Boris Johnson’s relationship with US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri is now not expected until May at the earliest. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is probing Johnson’s relationship with Arcuri to see if the Prime Minister could have engaged in criminal misconduct when he was mayor of London. The police [...]
Bank of England could penalise banks for polluting assets March 10, 2020 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said Threadneedle Street is weighing up penalties for banks that hold assets that encourage polluting. Carney told parliament’s Treasury Committee in a letter that the Bank is considering a “brown penalising factor”, which he said would introduce tougher capital requirements for banks whose investments encourage “polluting and potentially [...]
STV shares rise as broadcaster posts huge rise in profit March 10, 2020 Shares in STV rose roughly seven per cent today after the Scottish broadcaster posted a huge rise in profit for the full year. STV, which holds the channel 3 licence in Scotland, reported pre-tax profit of £19m last year, up from just £1.9m in 2018. However, revenue slipped two per cent over the period to [...]
Oil rebounds after Black Monday price crash March 10, 2020 Oil prices have shown some signs of recovery today after yesterday’s rout which led to such dramatic global stock market falls it was dubbed Black Monday. Brent Crude oil is currently trading at $36 a barrel, an eight per cent increase on yesterday. At the end of February, it was $51 a barrel. “Oil prices [...]
Goldman-backed Neyber finalises sale to Salary Finance March 10, 2020 The Goldman-Sachs backed lender Neyber has finalised its sale to rival Salary Finance. The deal came after weeks of talks after BDO was appointed as an administrator. The takeover by Salary Finance creates a workplace lender with more than 500 corporate clients, including BT, the NHS and Virgin Active. Among the combined client base will [...]
Huawei rebels defeated – but give government bloody nose March 10, 2020 The government was given a bloody nose by its own backbenchers this afternoon, after a group of rebels led by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith stuck to their guns on Huawei. MPs voted 306 to 282 against an amendment calling for Downing Street to stop using “high risk vendors” – a term that appears [...]
EU suspends landing slots rule in bid to ease burden on beleaguered airlines March 10, 2020 The EU has dropped a rule meaning that airlines must run the majority of their scheduled services or risk losing profitable landing slots in a bid to give the industry some relief amid the coronavirus outbreak. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said that the bloc would temporarily do away with [...]
Iceland’s founding family mulls buying bigger stake March 10, 2020 Iceland’s founder could seek to regain ownership of the supermarket when South African investment company Brait sells its stake. Brait, which owns around 63 per cent of the frozen food specialist, said in November it plans to offload its stake in several British companies, including Iceland, in the next five years. It will also sell [...]
UK coronavirus: Sixth Brit dies as Covid-19 infections hit 373 March 10, 2020 A sixth person has died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, as the number of confirmed cases rises to 373. The patient, who was in their eighties and had underlying health conditions, was treated by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said it appeared that the virus was [...]