RT fined £200,000 for impartiality breach over Salisbury poisoning coverage July 26, 2019 Russian broadcaster RT has been fined £200,000 by Ofcom over “serious failures” to comply with impartiality rules. Read more: RT broke broadcasting rules on impartiality, says Ofcom The regulator said RT – formerly known as Russia Today – had breached requirements for broadcast news to be presented with due impartiality in seven programmes that covered [...]
Patisserie Valerie appoints administrators for Grant Thornton probe July 26, 2019 Patisserie Valerie’s creditors have appointed new administrators to probe the cafe chain’s auditor Grant Thornton. FRP Advisory will take over from KPMG after the financial services firm said it could not investigate Grant Thornton due to a conflict of interest. Grant Thornton audits KPMG’s accounts. Read more: Patisserie Valerie overstated financial position by £94m The [...]
Boris Johnson to begin recruiting 20,000 new police officers in first policy as Prime Minister July 26, 2019 New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has unveiled the first policy he will implement since winning the Tory leadership battle on Wednesday. Johnson has confirmed that the process of recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers will begin “within weeks” across England and Wales. Read more: Johnson gears up for war with a cabinet of resurrected soliders [...]
Softbank launches new $108bn Vision Fund for AI investment July 26, 2019 Softbank has unveiled its second mammoth Vision Fund, which it said will have $108bn (£87bn) to invest in AI-focused tech firms. Read more: Softbank earns $11bn for selling some of its huge Alibaba stake Softbank said it has received backing from a string of companies including Apple, Foxconn, Microsoft and Standard Chartered, while the Japanese [...]
Santander hits back at Andrea Orcel over would-be CEO’s €100m lawsuit July 26, 2019 Santander has responded to a €100m (£90m) lawsuit being brought by its would-be chief executive, Andrea Orcel, after the bank withdrew its job offer in early 2019. The Spanish bank said the offer letter it sent to Orcel in September 2018 did not constitute a contract under local law. Read more: Orcel ‘offered €52m’ by [...]
Pearson holds full-year guidance as digital shift pays off July 26, 2019 Pearson has held its guidance for the full year as the firm’s ongoing shift from textbooks to digital formats drove robust trading in the first half. The publishing and education firm posted a two per cent decline in revenue to £1.83bn in the first six months of the year. Read more: Pearson sales slip as [...]
Foxtons sales suffer in London property market downturn July 26, 2019 Sales at estate agents Foxtons suffered in the first half of the year due to a downturn in the London property market. The figures Group revenue declined by 3.5 per cent to £51.1m and losses deepened from £2.5m in the first half of 2018 to £3.2m this year. Revenue in Foxton’s letting business was flat [...]
Vodafone shares rise as it mulls stock market float for mobile mast business July 26, 2019 Shares in Vodafone jumped more than seven per cent this morning after it announced plans to spin off its mobile masts business into an independent company that could be floated on the stock exchange. Chief executive Nick Read said the move will create Europe’s largest tower company, with around 61,700 masts in 10 markets. Read [...]
Revenue rises at Rightmove as half-year results reveal 10 per cent increase July 26, 2019 Rightmove said its revenue has increased by almost 10 per cent during the first half of this year after issuing results to its investors this morning. The property portal reported strong results with revenue to the end of June up to £143.9m, from £131.1m last year. It claimed this was largely driven by continued growth [...]
TSB returns to growth after IT meltdown July 26, 2019 TSB announced it has returned to growth following a computer system meltdown that left millions of customers unable to access their accounts. The figures Statutory profit before tax in the first half of the year was £21.1m, compared to a loss of £107.4m in the first six months of 2018. Total customer deposits increased by [...]