EDF withdraws financial guidance for 2020 and 2021 as coronavirus hits power demand April 14, 2020 French energy company EDF said today it was withdrawing its financial targets for 2020 and 2021 as a result of the coronavirus crisis. EDF said it was pulling all financial targets, including the lower end of the earnings Ebitda range of €17.5bn (£15.2bn) in 2020. “The economic turmoil that follows from the current sanitary crisis [...]
Astrazeneca rushes to open coronavirus drug trial April 14, 2020 Astrazeneca is set to begin clinical trials to test its Calquence drug’s effectiveness in the treatment of severe coronavirus patients. The pharmaceutical giant’s shares shot up on the FTSE 100 in early trading after saying it would begin a clinical trial. The trial will seek to assess Calquence’s potential to treat Covid-19 infections. Calquence is [...]
Heathrow Airport forecasts 90 per cent passenger number plunge in April April 14, 2020 Heathrow Airport, traditionally the busiest in Europe, forecast that passenger demand would plunge by over 90 per cent in April, as coronavirus restrictions stop most people from travelling. Heathrow said today that its passenger numbers were down 52 per cent in March compared with the same period last year, with many of those journeys being [...]
National Express pulls dividend and secures £800m in new cash facilities April 14, 2020 Transport group National Express said today it was scrapping its dividend and keeping future dividends under review as it said it had secured £800m in new cash facilities. National Express said that two of its workers had died of coronavirus globally and that other members of staff were suffering from the virus. The company said [...]
Top scientists to review impact of UK coronavirus lockdown April 14, 2020 The government’s top scientific advisers will meet today to review the impact of the UK coronavirus lockdown. They will pass their findings to the government, though ministers have said it is unlikely the coronavirus lockdown will ease soon. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab yesterday ruled out any change to the UK coronavirus lockdown “until we’re confident…that [...]
Softbank warns of historic $16.7bn loss after coronavirus and bad bets April 14, 2020 Softbank expects to lose $16.7bn (£13.3bn) on tech startups it has invested in through its Vision Fund this year due to coronavirus. The Japanese company blamed the coronavirus pandemic for a “deteriorating market environment” as it booked its first loss in over 20 years. Softbank has also made some bad bets outside its $100bn Vision [...]
Coronavirus: Optimism in financial services craters even before impact of Covid-19 fully felt April 14, 2020 A major survey of the financial services sector showed a collapse in confidence across the industry in March, even before the full force of Britain’s lockdown measures came into effect. The CBI/PwC survey saw only 12 per cent of firms say they were more optimistic about the overall business situation compared with three months ago, [...]
Labour chaos: Party launches investigation into leaked report April 13, 2020 Labour will launch an independent investigation into an internal report that has sparked vicious factional infighting. An 860-page dossier that was reportedly compiled to submit to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) investigation into antisemitism in the party was leaked last night. The report will now not be submitted to the EHRC, but it [...]
Government ‘does not expect’ UK social distancing measures to be eased April 13, 2020 Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has confirmed the government “does not expect” to lift its social distancing measures at this week’s review. Boris Johnson put the UK into effective lockdown last month and said it would be reviewed on a three-weekly basis. Speaking at today’s daily press briefing, Raab said: “This week Sage (the Scientific Advisory [...]
NMC Health administrators appoint new board of directors April 13, 2020 NMC Health’s administrators have replaced the board of the scandal-hit healthcare chain in a bid to improve governance. Consultancy firm Alvarez and Marshal have dismissed the previous board and replaced them with four non-executive directors to “provide more robust governance and oversee the work with the management teams”. Alvarez and Marshal were appointed as administrators [...]