Car industry faces ‘fight of our generation’ to avoid breakdown, says trade group boss November 26, 2019 Britain’s car industry is locked in the “fight of our generation” to preserve the once-thriving sector, according to one of the UK’s most senior automotive bosses. George Gillespie, the president of influential trade group the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), warned an annual gathering of industry chiefs that investment could dwindle to levels [...]
Virgin Trains manager jumps ship to First Group for west coast main line railway takeover November 26, 2019 First Group has poached the boss of Virgin Trains just in time to take over the west coast main line rail franchise in 12 days’ time. Phil Whittingham, who has been at Virgin since it took control of the country’s most lucrative rail network in 1998, will keep running the line, which connects London to [...]
Revealed: Gatwick airport to lose 600,000 passengers because of Thomas Cook collapse November 26, 2019 Gatwick airport is set to lose more than half-a-million passengers this financial year because of the collapse of Thomas Cook. The UK’s second-biggest airport held a significant number of the airline’s take-off and landing slots before it folded in September and sparked the repatriation of 150,000 Brits who were left stranded abroad. Read more: General [...]
Compass Group shares sink as business catering unit is undercooked November 26, 2019 Compass Group, which provides meals for office workers, armed forces and school children across the globe, has warned deteriorating business and consumer confidence in Europe has hurt volumes and margins at its company catering unit. The London-listed firm’s shares sank 5.5 per cent this morning, despite growth in its North America division and in its [...]
Gatwick enjoys strong summer of retail profit despite modest passenger growth November 26, 2019 Gatwick enjoyed rising profit in the first half of the financial year on the back of strong retail trading at the airport, despite modest passenger growth. In terms of traffic, the UK’s second-biggest airport felt the impact of a tricky economic climate for the aviation industry, with 26.6m passengers passing through the gates, just a [...]
General Election 2019: Chief Rabbi slams Labour over antisemitism claims November 26, 2019 The Chief Rabbi has launched into an explosive broadside against the Labour party, claiming it is not doing enough to tackle antisemitism in its ranks. Ephraim Mirvis urged people to “vote with their conscience” at the General Election on 12 December, and said “a new poison – sanctioned from the very top – has taken [...]
Electric dreams: How long until electric cars go mainstream in the UK? November 26, 2019 Visitors to the picturesque Whitby Bay beach in north Yorkshire were in for a shock earlier this month, when they encountered two giant footprints etched into the sand. The left was half the length of a football pitch, at 50 metres – the right was just 3.5 metres long. The reason? A publicity stunt by [...]
Alibaba IPO: E-commerce giant’s shares jump on blockbuster Hong Kong debut November 26, 2019 Alibaba, the Chinese online retail giant, has enjoyed a surge in its share price after floating on the Hong Kong stock exchange, in one of the year’s most hotly anticipated Initial Public Offerings. The firm, which is already listed in the US, raised around £8.8bn in its secondary listing, with chairman Daniel Zhang cheering on [...]
Business leaders don’t think our roads and railways are up to scratch for post-Brexit growth November 26, 2019 Britain’s roads and railways are in desperate need of an upgrade, otherwise many companies will struggle to get the post-Brexit bounce they need, according to business group the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). A survey of 1,200 business leaders has found that only 35 per cent of businesses feel that the UK road network is [...]
South Western Railway services to close early in December amid strikes November 25, 2019 Christmas parties across London will be scuppered next month, as late night train services face the chop amid 27 days of rail strikes. The strike, which begins next Monday, is on course to be the worst ever in the capital city, and will hit all services which run in and out of Waterloo, the busiest [...]
