Compass Group’s shares slump as coronavirus closures dent profits March 17, 2020 Compass Group is the FTSE 100’s biggest faller as it warned interim profits will be lower than expected because of closures in its sport, leisure and education businesses. The catering company said the acceleration of containment measures adopted by governments and clients in Europe and North America, notably the closure of schools and cancellation of [...]
Microsoft Teams goes down as people start to work remotely March 16, 2020 Microsoft’s chat and communications tool, Microsoft Teams, went down across Europe as people started to work from home amid the coronavirus outbreak. This morning the tool went down for more than two hours. The company said: “We’re investigating messaging-related functionality problems within Microsoft Teams. If you are a system administrator, please refer to TM206544 in [...]
Investment companies increase dividends in falling markets March 16, 2020 Global markets have been spooked by the coronavirus outbreak in recent weeks, but 21 investment companies have increased their dividends for more than two decades. The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has today published a list of its 21 “dividend heroes” which have consistently increased their dividends for 20 or more years. City of London [...]
Plus500 raises outlook as coronavirus panic sends traders into a frenzy March 16, 2020 Plus500 is one of the few winners from the coronavirus outbreak as it raised its outlook after a boom in trading activity. Last week the FTSE 100 suffered its biggest one-day fall since the 1987 crash after President Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on Europe. The spreadbetting firm said it “has continued to see [...]
O2 pairs up with Disney Plus to be its UK mobile network distributor March 16, 2020 O2 has agreed a deal with Disney to be the exclusive mobile network distributor for Disney Plus, a week ahead of its launch. New and upgrading pay monthly customers will be able to get six months of Disney Plus, on O2. Mark Evans, CEO of O2, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Disney to bring [...]
Ryanair to ground the majority of its fleet amid European travel bans March 16, 2020 Ryanair will ground the majority of its fleet in the next week as travel bans across Europe take effect. The low-cost airline said that even in countries where the fleet had not been grounded, social distancing restrictions would make flying impractical, if not, impossible. For April and May, Ryanair expects to reduce its seat capacity [...]
Halfords closes its cycling businesses as it pivots to online March 16, 2020 Halfords has announced the closure of two of its cycling businesses as it focuses its attention on its online operations. The retailer is closing the operations of Cycle Republic and the Boardman Performance Centre following a strategic review of the group’s cycling businesses. Halfords said it was closing the low-returning and stock intensive business next [...]
CMA says Future’s acquisition of TI Media does not raise competition concerns March 16, 2020 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Future’s acquisition of TI Media, saying it “does not raise competition concerns”. In October 2019, the publisher said it planned to acquire magazine printer TI Media, which owns popular titles Country Life and Marie Claire, for £140m in cash. After completing its initial investigation, the CMA found that [...]
Airline stocks in freefall as travel restrictions take hold March 16, 2020 Virgin Atlantic, Easyjet and British Airways owner are scaling back flights after a number of countries imposed travel restrictions amid the coronavirus outbreak. British Airways owner, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) and Easyjet will ground aircraft on an unprecedented scale in an attempt to mitigate the effect of the travel restrictions. Virgin Atlantic said it [...]
Regulators to review financial sector levy in the wake of “unacceptable” IT failures March 13, 2020 Regulators have welcomed a number of reforms to the financial services sector after the Treasury Committee called its IT failures “unacceptable”. The Treasury Committee’s report, which was published last October, called on the regulators to address the growing number of tech issues in the financial services sector. As part of the proposed reforms, the committee [...]
