Cloud-based phone system Aircall raises $120m as home working endures June 23, 2021 Cloud-based phone system Aircall has raised $120m in Series D funding led by Goldman Sachs, as demand for the firm’s technology surged during the remote-working boom. The round was led by Goldman Sachs with participation from current investors DTCP, eFounders, Draper Esprit, Adams Street Partners, NextWorld and Gaia Capital Partners. Aircall’s total valuation is more [...]
Vodafone powers entire European network with renewable energy June 23, 2021 Vodafone has announced its entire European operations will be 100 per cent powered by electricity from renewable sources next month. The FTSE 100 telecoms firm’s mobile and fixed networks, data centres, retail and offices will all be powered more sustainably from July 1. The announcement comes after a decision this time last year to bring [...]
UK business given £12.3bn export support from government June 23, 2021 The government’s export credit agency has announced it gave a “record level” of financial support to UK exporters in the last year. UK Export Finance (UKEF) provided £12.3bn of support to UK exporters in the last financial year, almost three times the amount given in 2019-20, according to its annual results published today. The agency, [...]
HMRC will take ‘cautious approach’ with pandemic-torn UK businesses June 22, 2021 The UK business secretary has promised HMRC will take a “cautious approach” with companies that are grappling with post-pandemic debt. Kwasi Kwarteng wrote a letter to business groups this week that assured them the taxman would adopt “a cautious approach to enforcement of debt owed to government that will have accrued,” the Financial Times first [...]
David Attenborough calls for govt to stop ‘short-sighted’ attack on broadcasting June 22, 2021 The British broadcaster has put his name to a campaign accusing the government of “short-sighted political and financial attacks” on the UK’s television networks. Sir David Attenborough is the latest media star to support the British Broadcasting Challenge campaign, as the government mulls the privatisation of Channel 4. The 95-year-old presenter today signed the campaign’s [...]
China crackdown sends Bitcoin tumbling below $30,000 June 22, 2021 The price of Bitcoin tumbled below $30,000 for the first time since January, wiping out all its gains for the year. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency plummeted by as much as 12 per cent to $28,893 on Tuesday, after China’s central bank intensified a crackdown on cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has fallen 50 per cent from its April peak [...]
BioNTech considers possible dividend next year June 22, 2021 The German biotech, which developed its lucrative vaccine with Pfizer, said it was looking into a potential dividend next year. BioNTech, which shares gross profits on the Covid vaccine with Pfizer on a 50:50 basis, said it would consider paying out a dividend in 2022, but that its focus for this year was spending on [...]
Londoners avoid the office but visit parks en masse June 22, 2021 Visits to London’s central parks are back up to pre-pandemic levels but weekday commutes are far less popular, according to new data. Footfall in Regent’s Park has returned to 100 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, while Hyde park has seen 80 to 99 per cent of normal levels, according to provisional figures gathered by City [...]
No 10 insists government will stick to £4bn ‘triple lock’ pension pledge June 21, 2021 A spokesperson for the prime minister has vowed the government will not ditch the “triple lock” pension pledge, despite its £4bn price tag. Downing Street insisted that the pledge – part of the Conservative party manifesto in 2019 – will not be broken, after reports that government ministers were considering a temporary suspension to the [...]
The vaccine race is on: London borough winners and losers June 21, 2021 Richmond currently wears the crown as the London borough that has vaccinated the highest proportion of its adult population, according to the latest NHS data. The south west London borough has vaccinated 132,627 of its residents with a first dose – 85 per cent of its 156,399 population over the age of 16. Richmond also [...]
