Lloyds’ 2019 profit sinks after £2.45bn PPI charge February 20, 2020 Lloyds Banking Group revealed its 2019 profit sank 26 per cent today as it said it must pay out £2.45bn to settle payment protection insurance (PPI) claims. The figures Lloyds recorded profit before tax of £4.39bn, down 26 per cent on 2018, after the £2.45bn PPI charge. Underlying profit slipped seven per cent to £7.5bn [...]
Global aviation to lose $30bn as a result of coronavirus outbreak February 20, 2020 Global aviation body the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has today said that the coronavirus outbreak will cost the world’s airlines a combined $29.3bn in revenue, a reduction of five per cent on December’s estimates. The vast majority of the cost – $27.8bn – will be borne by carriers based in the Asia-Pacific, with Chinese [...]
Google users set to lose EU data protections after Brexit February 20, 2020 Google is planning to move its British users’ accounts out of the control of the European Union privacy regulators and place them under US jurisdiction. Ireland, where Google and other US tech firms have their headquarters, remains in the EU and its data is protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Reuters reported that [...]
Emerging markets help Smith & Nephew beat annual sales record February 20, 2020 Improved underlying revenue growth of 4.4 per cent has propelled Smith & Nephew’s sales above $5bn (£3.8bn) for the first time in its history. The figures Underlying revenue growth for the year was up 4.4 per cent propelling sales above $5bn for the first time. Underlying sales growth from emerging markets was 16.1 per cent [...]
Chief executive of recruiter Staffline resigns after string of profit warnings February 20, 2020 Staffline has announced the resignation of chief executive Chris Pullen, weeks after the recruiting firm issued a profit warning due to an ongoing accounting review. The company had warned last month that annual adjusted profit would be materially below prior forecasts. The company issued three profit warnings in 2019, delayed publishing its annual results, and [...]
Laura Ashley scraps dividend after doubling losses to £4m February 20, 2020 Struggling retailer Laura Ashley will not pay an interim dividend after losses more than doubled in the first half of the year amid a “challenging” trading period. The figures Laura Ashley reported total group sales of £109.6m, down from £122.9m a year earlier, for the first half of the year. The decline in total revenue [...]
How to break up big tech? Regulating technology companies is more easily said than done February 20, 2020 Over the last few years, the public perception of technology companies has shifted quite dramatically. Large tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon are no longer the darlings of the world. They are attracting the same kind of ire that financiers attracted a decade ago. At the political level, this translates into a broad [...]
Tech leaders must adapt or risk obsolescence February 20, 2020 While it may not always have felt it, the tech sector has had a relatively easy path to growth over the last three decades. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 ushered in a “peace dividend” which released swathes of public money that would otherwise have gone into national defence. Much of this spare [...]
They’re not just phones, they hold our entire lives together February 20, 2020 This month, we are marking the eighteenth year of O2. The world of 2002 feels like a very long time ago — and over the past 18 years, the mobile industry has been at the heart of some seismic changes in the way we live our lives. An eighteenth birthday is an important milestone, sparking [...]
DEBATE: Should business be concerned about the planned immigration curbs on low-skilled workers? February 20, 2020 Should business be concerned about the planned immigration curbs on low-skilled workers? Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, says YES. The proposals announced yesterday are overly restrictive and will halt business growth in huge swathes of the economy. They also give very little time for business to adjust and adapt, as the government has said [...]