UK private sector growth stagnates as businesses prepare for Brexit March 3, 2019 Growth in the UK’s private sector stagnated in the quarter to February and activity could be set to fall in the coming months. A Confederation of British Industry (CBI) survey revealed the balance of distribution, manufacturing and services firms reporting growth had fallen to -3 per cent – its weakest since April 2013. Read more: [...]
Fintech firms to face increased scrutiny as regulators fear pace of change, KPMG warns March 3, 2019 Regulators are becoming increasingly concerned that the scale and pace of fintech development could harm consumers and threatened the financial system, according to a KPMG report. The report warned that regulators and risk experts were struggling to keep up with the pace of technological change and predicted a fresh wave of regulatory scrutiny in 2019. [...]
McDonald’s kicks off National Apprenticeship Week with 750 apprenticeships March 3, 2019 McDonald’s will today announce more than £2m worth of apprenticeship opportunities for new and current employees in the UK this year, making use of the government’s apprenticeship levy. The fast food chain plans to create 750 new apprenticeship spaces in the UK. McDonald’s promised last summer that it would employ 43,000 apprentices in Europe by [...]
Number of late night alcohol licences falls as consumer behaviour changes March 3, 2019 The number of pubs, bars and nightclubs with late-night licences has fallen by a fifth over the last five years as would-be revellers opt for dating apps and Netflix over boozy nights out, according to new research. While the number of pubs and clubs with 24-hour licences has dropped from 919 in 2018 to 742 [...]
PwC back with a vengeance at top of audit client rankings March 3, 2019 Accountancy giant PwC has become the leading auditor of listed UK clients for the first time since 2013, retaking its FTSE 100 client crown in the process. PwC, Britain’s biggest professional services firm by revenues, leapfrogged fourth-placed KPMG to take pole position. The smaller firm lost 12 clients between November last year and February, while [...]
Space X Dragon capsule successfully docks with International Space Station March 3, 2019 A capsule launched by Elon Musk’s Space X successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) today as part of its demonstration mission. The Dragon vehicle made the attachment autonomously having launched on Saturday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 4.9 metre tall capsule contained a dummy called Ripley and 90kg of supplies. It [...]
Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou sues Canadian authorities over detention March 3, 2019 Senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is suing Canadian authorities for illegally holding her and interrogating her for three hours before her arrest at Vancouver International Airport in December. The chief financial officer of the Chinese telecoms giant is facing extradition to the US to face accusations of sanctions busting. The lawsuit, filed on Friday according [...]
Drop rail franchise system for head-to-head competition to slash fares, says Adam Smith Institute March 3, 2019 Rail fares for British passengers could be slashed if the franchise system was dropped in favour of head-to-head competition, a leading thinktank has argued. The free market thinktank the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) said an “open access” system, which would allow different train companies to compete on the same route, would drive down fares and operating [...]
Claims against banks in Disney tax avoidance case could pass £1bn March 3, 2019 The total damages for banks being sued in relation to a tax scheme that purported to invest in Disney blockbusters could top £1bn, according to a lawyer acting for the claimants. HSBC and Bank of Ireland are being sued by a group of more than 700 investors in the Eclipse film financing scheme after the courts [...]
The future of news: could tax breaks make online news sustainable? March 3, 2019 Sarah Cartwright’s news kiosk is as much a fixture in Sloane Square as the high-end boutiques that have surrounded it since her grandfather began selling newspapers from a wooden box there in 1892. But the kiosk may do well to survive another decade, let alone a century. “Print is dead,” she says. The Cairncross Review [...]