Shareholders move in on Johnston Press CEO January 22, 2017 Investors in the publisher behind the i newspaper, The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post are expected to call for Ashley Highfield to step down from the firm in a meeting this week. The company’s biggest single shareholder, activist fund Crystal Amber, is believed to be meeting with Johnston’s interim chair, Camilla Rhodes to discuss ways [...]
640,000 jobs in the sciences to be filled by 2023 January 18, 2017 The number of jobs in science, research, engineering and technology (STEM) will grow at double the rate of other careers, providing an additional 142,000 new jobs in the UK between now and 2023. In a report by the Social Market Foundation and EDF, researchers estimate that a total of 640,000 STEM jobs will need to [...]
More than hot air: hydrogen on the agenda at Davos January 17, 2017 A new initiative to place hydrogen at the top of the global energy agenda was launched yesterday by thirteen international businesses, including Toyota, BMW, Shell, Anglo American and Hyundai. Together the companies represent 1.72m employees globally and around €1.07 trillion in revenue. Plug-in battery powered hybrid and electric cars might be getting all the attention [...]
£4 million for England’s museums January 17, 2017 The Government and the Wolfson Foundation have awarded grants worth £4 million to 39 museums and galleries in England. The foundation put up half the funding for these improvements, which are aimed at increasing access, upgrading public spaces and updating displays. In London, the Natural History Museum is receiving £100,000 for improvements to their iconic [...]
Xi Jinping in Davos: “No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.” January 17, 2017 Chinese president Xi Jinping used his first appearance at the World Economic Forum to mount a robust defence of globalisation. “It is the result of growing social productivity and is the natural outcome of scientific and technological advances”, Xi said in the forum’s Opening Plenary. “It is not something created by any individuals or any [...]
Growth in London’s business activity at 11-month high January 15, 2017 December saw the fastest period of growth in London’s business activity since January last year, according to a report by Lloyds Bank. London’s showing on the Lloyds Bank purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was up 56.1 points in December, from 55.3 in November. Despite the strong figures, London was behind most other UK regions for business [...]
Guy Hands’s private equity firm resumes dividend January 15, 2017 Terra Firma Capital Partners saw pre-tax profits in the year to March 2016 fall to £2.4 million while revenue dropped to its lowest since 2012. The private equity firm, which had previously ended its dividend payouts, provided £3.5 million in dividends to Guy Hands, who acts as the fund’s chairman. The fund includes one of [...]
Davos gathering looks to address Trump and Brexit January 15, 2017 Prime minister Theresa May, Chinese president Xi Jinping, US vice president Joe Biden and US secretary of state John Kerry will be among the 3,000 businessmen, politicians and celebrities at the annual World Economic Forum this week. This year, the organisers of the four day event in Switzerland have chosen “responsive and responsible leadership” as the theme [...]
Latest ONS data expected to show inflation at 1.5 per cent January 15, 2017 Data released by the Office for National Statistics this week is likely to show an uptick in inflation, a sign that the fall in the value of the pound is having an impact on prices. An inflation rate of 1.5 per cent in the consumer prices index for December would be a significant increase on [...]
Liam Fox hints at Turkey-style relationship with the EU December 18, 2016 The UK could retain access to specific areas of the European Union’s customs union after Brexit, according to the International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox. Speaking to the Andrew Marr Show, Fox suggested that the UK could follow a similar arrangement to Turkey, which broadly allows the country to engage in forms of free trade with [...]
