Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp emerge from worst outage in tech giant’s history March 14, 2019 Facebook showed signs of recovery this morning after suffering a partial outage that affected users across the world for more than 14 hours. The outage, believed to be the longest in the social media site’s history, began yesterday afternoon and also affected Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp. Read more: Global outages cripple Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram The [...]
Capita slashes net debt and profit as outsourcer kicks on with ‘radical’ turnaround plan March 14, 2019 Outsourcer Capita’s revenues were down more than £300m last year, as turnaround specialist CEO Jonathan Lewis worked to nullify the “existential threat” facing the firm when he took over in late 2017. Lewis told City A.M. he has taken “radical, decisive action” to simplify the firm, which saw profits fall more than one-quarter but still [...]
Debenhams considers Mike Ashley’s £150m loan offer March 14, 2019 Debenhams said it will give “careful consideration” to Sports Direct’s proposed £150m loan this morning, after receiving the offer last night. Read more: Sports Direct accuses Debenhams of 'deliberately misleading' the market The struggling department store chain received the 12-month loan offer from billionaire Mike Ashley last night, as the retail magnate accused the board [...]
Govia Thameslink Railway hit with £5m fine over May’s timetable chaos March 14, 2019 Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) faces a £5m fine over its role in last May’s timetable chaos, the rail regulator announced this morning. The Office for Rail and Road (ORR) accused the train operator of failing to provide “appropriate, accurate and timely” information to passengers about the timetable change. Read more: Rail review head Keith Williams [...]
Savills profits slide as it warns of tough year ahead amid Brexit uncertainty March 14, 2019 Property firm Savills has posted a three per cent slip in profit before tax in 2018 as it warned of a decline in transaction volumes over the year ahead. Read more: Savills to hit 2018 targets but warns of uncertainty in the year ahead The figures Group revenue rose 10 per cent to £1.76bn. Profit before [...]
Raising corporation tax may seem like a vote winner, but it makes all of us poorer March 14, 2019 Last year, parliament passed a law requiring the UK’s overseas territories (OTs) – including Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and the Virgin Islands – to publish lists of the “beneficial owners” of the companies registered in them. The sponsors of the law claimed it was a crime-fighting measure. Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell justified the law by [...]
The UK’s elites have a habit of ignoring the will of the people March 14, 2019 On 20 April 1653, Oliver Cromwell marched into parliament saying, “you have sat here too long for any good you have been doing here lately” – words that surely chime with current events. Cromwell was utterly frustrated with an establishment which denied the will of the people. Obviously, no one is suggesting that the army should [...]
Ray Kelvin held Ted Baker too tight March 14, 2019 Yet another big-name chief executive has stepped down from their position at the helm of a well-known British business. The founder of fashion retail brand Ted Baker, Ray Kelvin, announced last Monday that he was going to be resigning from his position as chief executive, as the firm investigates allegations that he behaved inappropriately toward [...]
Money laundering is a dirty business that we need to clean up together March 14, 2019 Flag it up, clean it up, flush it out, whatever the call to action, anti-money laundering (AML) legislation is worthy of laser focus. It also requires hyper-vigilance from the accountancy profession. Last week, parliament’s Treasury select committee warned that the UK’s current efforts to counter money laundering are “fragmented”, and that its supervision requires greater [...]
Government must change policy on rail electrification or risk missing climate change targets, industry body warns March 14, 2019 The national body for Britain’s railways has warned the government could miss its targets of decarbonising train travel by 2040 unless it changes its policy on electrification. The Railway Industry Association (RIA) called on the government to collaborate with the rail industry and commit to electrification after several projects were cancelled in 2017. The association [...]