Mobile bank N26 targets UK expansion with general manager appointment March 14, 2019 European mobile bank N26 has appointed a new general manager to drive forward UK expansion as it steps up competition against rivals such as Monzo and Revolut. Former Morgan Stanley investment banker Will Sorby has joined the Berlin-based digital bank, which operates in 24 markets across Europe, following its UK launch in October last year. Read [...]
Police discover unexploded Second World War bomb in no-deal Brexit lorry car park March 14, 2019 An unexploded bomb from World War Two has been found in the abandoned airport that is to be used as a lorry car park in a no-deal Brexit. Read more: ‘Wrecking ball’: Grayling refuses to resign over £33m Eurotunnel fiasco Police and army bomb disposal experts arrived at Kent’s Manston Airport this morning to investigate [...]
Netflix to set its own age ratings for streaming shows and movies in new partnership with BBFC March 14, 2019 Netflix will be granted powers to set the official age ratings for its film and TV programmes as part of a new partnership with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The streaming giant will use an automated rating algorithm, alongside a manual tagging system, to apply official UK age ratings to its original films [...]
TfL boss Mike Brown ‘hid Crossrail testing issues’ from Sadiq Khan in weekly email update March 14, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) boss Mike Brown ordered references to the difficulties Crossrail was experiencing with dynamic testing to be removed from email updates sent to Sadiq Khan, it was revealed today. At a grilling by the London Assembly's transport committee, Howard Smith, operations director for TfL Rail and the Elizabeth Line, admitted he felt Crossrail ought [...]
Sofa giant DFS doubles profit but warns of ‘challenging’ market in 2019 March 14, 2019 Sofa giant DFS more than doubled profits at the end of last year but warned of a softer start to 2019 and a “challenging” market in the year ahead. The furniture retailer reported pre-tax profits of £14.1m in the 22 weeks to the end of December, compared with £6.2m the previous year as online sales [...]
How to have a healthy relationship when working with family March 14, 2019 It is often said that people should avoid going into business with a loved one, but according to the Institute For Family Business, two thirds of UK businesses are family owned. That's a whopping 4.8m companies in total. And we're not just talking about immediate family members or spouses either, because some entrepreneurs even choose to go into [...]
Leading German think tank almost halves country’s growth prediction March 14, 2019 Germany has had its growth forecast for 2019 almost halved by one of the country’s top think tanks, adding to its economic gloom. GDP growth this year will be just 0.6 per cent, the Ifo Institute said today. It had previously predicted growth of 1.1 per cent. Read more: No-deal Brexit could hit Germany's economy, [...]
Volkswagen boss apologises for ‘unfortunate’ Nazi gaffe, after evoking Holocaust slogan at company event March 14, 2019 Volkswagen’s chief executive has apologised after closely echoing a Nazi slogan in an attempt to emphasise the importance of growing profit. Speaking at a company event on Tuesday, Herbert Diess used to phrase “Ebit macht frei”, referring to the acronym Ebit, which stands for “earnings before interest and taxes”. Read more: IBM's Watson supercomputer launches [...]
Pi in the sky: Google Cloud sets new Pi record with 31 trillion digits March 14, 2019 A Google employee has set a new record by calculating the value of the number Pi to more than 31 trillion digits. Emma Haruka Iwao, a developer advocate at the tech firm, beat the previous record of 22 trillion, set in 2016. Read more: IBM's Watson supercomputer launches tie-up with Volkswagen's SEAT The calculation, which [...]
Investor group Glass Lewis opposes Vivendi in Telecom Italia feud March 14, 2019 Investor group Glass Lewis has dealt a blow to Vivendi in its ongoing dispute at Telecom Italia as it became the latest proxy adviser to warn shareholders against the French firm’s proposals. Vivendi has laid out proposals to replace five Telecom Italia board members backed by rival investor Elliott and replace them with its own [...]