Boeing fires chief executive Dennis Muilenburg over 737 Max crisis December 23, 2019 Boeing has fired its chief executive Dennis Muilenburg, nine months after the second of two deadly crashes involving his planes that killed a total of 346 people. Muilenburg, a Boeing employee of more than three decades, has been under intense pressure since a 737 Max went down in Ethiopia in March, killing everyone on board. [...]
Ryanair fails to block operation chief’s move to Easyjet December 23, 2019 Budget airline Ryanair has failed to delay its former operation chief’s move to rival company Easyjet after a court rejected its claim. The Irish High Court has rejected Ryanair’s attempt to stop Peter Bellow from joining Easyjet until 2021, saying a 12-month non-compete clause was not enforceable. Ryanair has instructed its lawyers to immediately appeal, [...]
Regulator ramps up Lloyd’s of London whistleblowing monitoring December 23, 2019 The Bank of England has ramped up its monitoring of Lloyd’s on London’s whistleblowing processes, it said today. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) announced the insurance market had agreed to extra checks. Read more: FCA head Andrew Bailey confirmed as next Bank of England governor In February, Lloyd’s told the PRA its only anonymous whistleblowing [...]
‘Super Saturday’ fails to deliver retail footfall spike December 23, 2019 So-called Super Saturday failed to deliver for high street retailers this year after footfall dropped more than seven per cent. According to the latest figures for the week to 21 December, footfall on the last Saturday before Christmas fell 7.6 per cent year on year and rose just 2.3 per cent compared to the rest [...]
All the big high street retailers that collapsed in 2019 December 23, 2019 It has been another turbulent year for the UK high street, which has struggled to adapt to changing consumer behaviour while battling rising overhead costs. Household names such as Debenhams, Mothercare and Clintons hit the news after they were forced to launch restructuring plans, close stores or simply stop operations. Read more: Why high street [...]
Disney’s latest Star Wars film disappoints at box office over opening weekend December 23, 2019 The latest instalment in the Star Wars film saga was a relative disappointment for opening weekend ticket sales compared to other films in the franchise. The Rise of Skywalker took $374m (£288m) in global sales over its first weekend. Read more: Can The Rise of Skywalker reawaken Disney’s Force? US sales down nearly 30 per [...]
Vimto owner Nichols warns on profit due to sugar tax December 23, 2019 Vimto-maker Nichols has warned that profits will be lower than expected next year after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates implement a 50 per cent excise sugar tax. The company said the impact of the tax, which will be levied on all drinks containing either natural or artificial sweeteners so product reformulation is not [...]
Softbank’s Wework financing talks stall December 23, 2019 Softbank’s attempts to secure $3bn from three Japanese banks have stalled, creating a hurdle for the firm’s $9.5bn rescue plan for Wework. Softbank is now likely to start the new year without the funding for the office sharing company in place, after two of the lenders hit internal lending limits to the firm. Read more: [...]
China to cut tariffs on hundreds of products December 23, 2019 China is preparing to slash tariffs on hundreds of products next year in a bid to bolster the economy. Import tariffs on 859 items, ranging from frozen pork to technology products, will be cut from 1 January in order to “increase imports of products facing a relative domestic shortage, or foreign speciality goods for everyday [...]
Four London infrastructure projects that unravelled in 2019 December 23, 2019 Boris Johnson “loves infrastructure”. At least, that’s what the Prime Minister said when he was asked about the High Speed Two rail project on the campaign trail earlier this month. And it is just as well. Because some of London’s biggest infrastructure problems are creaking at the seams. If the PM were not so keen on [...]