Centrica faces board shake-up as chief executive steps down March 17, 2020 British Gas owner Centrica is facing fresh chaos as its chairman resigned on medical grounds and its boss is leaving without a permanent successor. Centrica said its chairman, Charles Berry, who has been on medical leave since 12 February had tendered his resignation with immediate effect. Berry, who has chaired the group for just a [...]
MPs blast government ‘delay’ in virus fake news crackdown March 17, 2020 MPs have lambasted the government over its ‘delayed’ attempt to clamp down on disinformation relating to coronavirus. Earlier this month the government launched a new cyber unit aimed at preventing the spread of fake news about the Covid-19 outbreak on social media. The team, assembled from departments across Whitehall, will also hold discussions with tech [...]
Compass Group’s shares slump as coronavirus closures dent profits March 17, 2020 Compass Group is the FTSE 100’s biggest faller as it warned interim profits will be lower than expected because of closures in its sport, leisure and education businesses. The catering company said the acceleration of containment measures adopted by governments and clients in Europe and North America, notably the closure of schools and cancellation of [...]
Ferguson shares tumble on coronavirus impact warning March 17, 2020 Shares in plumbing group Ferguson slumped over 13 per cent in morning trading after it warned it could not confirm its full-year outlook due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company also reported a 5.7 per cent drop in pre-tax profit for the six months ending 31 January, which fell to $640m (£522m). Revenue rose 1.1 [...]
City Pub Group to slash jobs as coronavirus threat looms March 17, 2020 City Pub Group today said it will lay off staff across the company as it braces for a decline in footfall caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The upmarket pub chain said it will reduce employee numbers in its head office and at site level, while opening hours will be reviewed to cut out “non-productive” times. [...]
Chancellor Rishi Sunak to unveil lifeline for virus-hit businesses March 17, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is today expected to unveil a raft of additional measures to help the economy amid fears the coronavirus outbreak could put some firms out of business. In a joint press conference with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, scheduled for today, the chancellor will offer a larger bail-out fund for struggling firms, according to [...]
Our obsession with George Orwell has robbed his name of all meaning March 17, 2020 The very first rule for writing set out in George Orwell’s 1949 essay “Politics and the English Language” is: “Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print”. It’s therefore amusing that “Orwellian” has become one of the most widely used figures of speech in English-language [...]
‘Levelling up’ is as important for London as it is for the rest of the country March 17, 2020 For many years there have been calls to bridge the UK’s stark north-south divide. These have come under many badges, from “rebalancing the economy” to “building a Northern Powerhouse”. Now, “levelling up” is the choice term for a government ambitious to deliver for voters who tore down Labour’s so-called “red wall” in December’s election. It [...]
The coronavirus crisis calls for a two-week stock market trading holiday March 17, 2020 Last week was marked by a series of trading halts as stock markets swung from “limit down” to “limit up,” and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its worst single-day loss since Black Monday in 1987. Uncertainty abounds, but one thing is for sure — no one knows what is going to happen next. It’s [...]
DEBATE: Is now a good time to invest in gold? March 17, 2020 Is now a good time to invest in gold? Monica Tepes, investment companies research director at finnCap, says YES. Now is a good time to buy gold if you believe that we are in the early stages of an economic crisis or in a prolonged period of low economic growth. In a risk-off environment and [...]