Marks & Spencer investors suffer dividend blow as retailer nets food delivery service in £750m Ocado venture February 27, 2019 Shareholders hammered Marks & Spencer’s shares this morning as it became clear the retailer plans to hit up investors to fund a £750m food delivery venture with Ocado. M&S’s stock dropped 9.2 per cent to 303p as it confirmed plans to raise £600m through a rights issue as well as knocking down shareholders’ dividend. The [...]
Why you should blame personality tests for the psycho in your office February 27, 2019 Most of us have, at some point, encountered a Myers-Briggs personality test. Katherine Cook Briggs began her personality research over a century ago after an awkward dinner party, which just goes to show the lengths that some people will go to avoid small talk. Of course, personality tests can be useful, but the corporate world [...]
SSE pays out £705,000 to regulator Ofgem after misreporting £4m renewable energy payments February 27, 2019 Troubled energy supplier SSE has paid £705,000 to regulator Ofgem after it received £4.07m more than it was owed under the renewable energy scheme. The company overstated payments in its Feed-in Tariff (FIT) submissions to low carbon generators because of an administrative error, the company said, causing it to receive the extra cash. Read more: [...]
Britain lost faith in its politicians – and then it voted for Brexit February 27, 2019 What do Bill Clinton, the Beano, and moat cleaning have in common? Answer: they all contributed to Brexit. We are about to reach the tenth anniversary of the MPs’ expenses scandal, the fifteenth anniversary of the launch of the TaxPayers’ Alliance (which I co-founded in 2004), and in 30 days’ time we should be leaving [...]
Under-fire Ted Baker issues profit warning as shares plunge February 27, 2019 Ted Baker warned investors of a £10m hit to profits for its full year this morning, blaming a series of unexpected blows to its bottom line. Profit before tax for the year to the end of January is now expected to fall in the region of £63m, sending shares crashing 13 per cent to 1,734p. [...]
It makes smart business sense to invest in the future of refugees February 27, 2019 Amid scenes of refugees’ flight from Venezuela, it is easy to forget that the world’s largest refugee crisis remains Syria. And that’s why the UK-Jordan Conference in London tomorrow is so important. Jordan has generously provided refuge for more than 670,000 Syrian refugees fleeing their homes amid a brutal war. Its role in the stability [...]
DEBATE: Is Labour’s sudden support for second referendum a good political move? February 27, 2019 Is Labour’s sudden support for second referendum a good political move? Finn McRedmond, staff writer at Reaction, says YES. It is no secret that Jeremy Corbyn is a longstanding eurosceptic. It is also no secret that vast swathes of Labour’s support base are Remainers. So the challenge facing the Labour leadership is this: how do we [...]
If we’re going to get serious climate action, we need to talk honestly about the economic costs February 27, 2019 Sydney University’s Centre for Complex Systems does innovative work on a broad range of topics. But spending the last couple of weeks there has also given me a wider perspective on some familiar themes. Climate change is, quite literally, a hot topic in Australian politics. The country melted in 45-degree record temperatures in January, and [...]
ITV and BBC announce online streaming service to rival Netflix February 27, 2019 ITV has reported boosted revenue this morning as the broadcaster announced it is in final talks with the BBC to launch Netflix rival Britbox. The figures Total external revenue was up three per cent to £3.2bn and total non-advertising revenues grew five per cent to £1.9bn, ITV said in its full-year year results for [...]
Government told to publish Govia’s profit cap amid concerns over taxpayers’ money February 26, 2019 The public spending watchdog has urged the government to publish details of Govia's profit cap, citing fears taxpayers' money is not being "adequately protected" after last year's rail chaos. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by MP Meg Hillier, said there was a lack of transparency around the profit rate that Govia earns from its [...]