Poundland owner lines up advisors for stock market listing January 7, 2020 The owner of Poundland is reportedly mulling a stock market listing that could value the discount retailer at about £3.4bn. Steinhoff International Holdings, the owner of Poundland’s parent company Pepco Group, is expected to appoint advisors in the next few days to support plans for an initial public offering (IPO), Sky News reported. Read more: [...]
Kantar poaches former ITV exec Ian Griffiths as new finance director January 7, 2020 Market research firm Kantar today said it has appointed ex-ITV bigwig Ian Griffiths as its new chief financial officer. Griffiths, who has served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer at the broadcaster before announcing his departure in 2018 , will take up the new role on 16 January. Read more: Kantar boss to [...]
Minister refuses to confirm election pledge for temporary Hammersmith Bridge January 7, 2020 A transport minister has failed to stand by an election pledge by a fellow minister to build a temporary Hammersmith Bridge. In December, transport minister George Freeman joined environment minister Zac Goldsmith in a Twitter video to confirm that the government wanted to build the temporary river crossing alongside Hammersmith Bridge. Read more: Conservatives pledge [...]
Government to review rollout of controversial IR35 tax reforms January 7, 2020 The government said today it will review the rollout of controversial tax plan IR35 which is due to take effect in April 2020. IR35, which aims to prevent workers from disguising themselves as freelance contractors as a way to pay less tax, is being extended in April. Under the changes private sector employers will be [...]
UBS to cut 500 jobs as firm begins wealth unit revamp January 7, 2020 UBS will cut up to 500 jobs at its wealth management business as division co-head Iqbal Khan looks to tackle flagging profit at the bank. The cuts, which amount to roughly two per cent of the division’s workforce, will get rid of three layers of management and split the firm’s Europe, Middle East and Africa [...]
South Western Railway’s future at risk as losses hit £137m January 7, 2020 South Western Railway is on the brink of collapse, its auditor has warned after it swung to a massive £137m loss in its latest financial year. Deloitte warned there is “significant doubt” over the future of the strike-hit firm, which could be nationalised by the Department of Transport (DfT) in order to keep its rail [...]
CES 2020: Amazon, Sony and Toyota put mobility centre stage at tech conference January 7, 2020 Amazon signalled a concerted push into the car industry at CES 2020, as it announced a partnership with Lamborghini and other firms working on driverless car tech. It signals the latest move into the mobility sector for one of Silicon Valley’s tech giants, as the internet retailer said it would add its voice assistant Alexa [...]
Tech giants lobby EU not to hold them liable for illegal content January 7, 2020 The biggest tech companies have called on the EU not to hold them liable for all content on their platforms, but have accepted that their efforts to remove illegal or harmful content could be regulated by a new European watchdog. A lobby group that represents tech titans including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon has written [...]
TfL and Santander to mark 10-year anniversary of Boris bikes January 7, 2020 Santander and Transport for London (TfL) are set to celebrate the 10th anniversary of so-called “Boris bikes”. The hire scheme – officially known as Santander Cycles – began in July 2010 with 315 docking stations over eight boroughs and was informally named after Prime Minister, and then mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Read more: TfL [...]
Hobbs returns to profit as retailer opens new concession stores January 7, 2020 Fashion retailer Hobbs returned to profit last year despite a “challenging retail environment” as the firm ramped up its concession store expansion plan. The womenswear brand reported a profit after tax of £4.9m compared to a loss of £4.8m the previous year when it was hit with costs related to its 2017 sale to TFG [...]