Apple boss Tim Cook brands reports he fell out with designer Jony Ive ‘absurd’ July 2, 2019 Apple chief executive Tim Cook has hit out at reports he fell out with departing design chief Sir Jony Ive, calling the claims “absurd”. Ive, the British designer behind the iPhone, iPod and iMac, announced last week he was leaving Apple to set up an independent design company. A report in the Wall Street Journal [...]
Johnson will demand EU talks over free trade says campaign chair July 2, 2019 Boris Johnson is willing to make an offer to the European Union over post-Brexit free trade, but if his offer is rejected, Britain will leave the EU without a deal, the head of his Tory leadership campaign has said. Iain Duncan Smith, Johnson’s campaign chair, told Sky News his candidate would tell the EU Britain [...]
L’Oreal in talks to buy Azzaro and Mugler from Clarins July 2, 2019 L’Oreal is in talks to buy perfume and fashion brands Azzaro and Mugler from Clarins Group, it said today. The company did not disclose the financial details of the proposed deals. Clarins said the two brands’ have combined sales of €416m (£372m), representing 26 per cent of Clarins’ annual sales of €1.6bn. Read more: L’Oreal [...]
China accuses Hong Kong protesters of ‘undisguised challenge’ to running of city July 2, 2019 China has accused protesters who stormed Hong Kong’s legislative building on Monday of “serious illegal actions” that constitute an “undisguised challenge” to the way the city is ruled. Police used tear gas early this morning to disperse protesters who had smashed their way into the city’s Legislative Council building as part of protests against a [...]
Publicis Groupe completes $4bn acquisition of data marketing firm Epsilon July 2, 2019 Advertising giant Publicis Groupe today said it has completed its takeover of data marketing company Epsilon, revealing a final price tag of $3.95bn (£3.1bn). Read more: Creative advertising ‘in crisis’ as brands pursue short-term targets Publicis said the deal, which represents eight times Epsilon’s adjusted earnings, will boost its creative and tech operations as it [...]
Dim showing: LED maker Dialight’s share price falls on CEO exit and weak sales July 2, 2019 Shares in Dialight crashed this morning as the LED giant warned of weakening sales and revealed its boss is set to step down. The London-listed lighting firm led the market fallers as its share price plunged by roughly 30 per cent, having announced an additional £4m of costs following a botched effort to move production [...]
Bookies route £60m to fight problem gambling July 2, 2019 Five of the UK’s biggest bookies have committed to a tenfold increase in their contributions towards fighting gambling addiction. Bet 365, Flutter, GVC, Sky Betting and Gaming and William Hill said they signed a pledge this morning. It commits them to spend one per cent of their UK gross gambling yield promoting safer gambling. Read [...]
UK construction sector suffers worst output in 10 years July 2, 2019 Activity in the UK construction sector “dropped like a stone” last month as suffered its steepest fall in output since the height of the financial crisis, according to a closely followed industry index. Construction activity plummeted to its lowest level since April 2009 in June, on the back of the sharpest drop in UK housebuilding [...]
If there are problems the government can’t solve, unleash the power of entrepreneurs July 2, 2019 Britain must soon learn to wrestle with more responsibility over its domestic policy than it has had since the 1970s. For decades, the country’s financial direction has been increasingly influenced at a European level, but with Brexit looming, our next Prime Minister and his likely-new chancellor must be prepared to grab both existing and newly-available [...]
Wizz Air grows passenger numbers amid route expansion July 2, 2019 Low cost airline Wizz Air has posted a 19 per cent increase in passenger numbers for June as a string of new routes continues to drive growth. Read more: Wizz Air profits rise as it expects higher fuel costs to push up 2020 earnings The Budapest-based company also increased its average capacity by 1.7 percentage [...]