The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on a wave of bank results, Elon Musk, and a holiday read February 22, 2023 The Notebook is where interesting people say interesting things. Today it’s Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, on bank results, Elon Musk and an unputdownable holiday read Bank on it? With UK banks currently reporting earnings, key themes so far have been rising interest rates, growing credit loss provisions, share buybacks, volatile financial [...]
Last orders? Pubs ‘won’t stay afloat’ without energy bill help in Spring Budget, hospitality bosses warn February 22, 2023 The hospitality sector has urged that many businesses “wont stay afloat” if the government does not look to provide extra support with soaring energy bills in its upcoming spring budget. “The steep increase in utility costs is having a significant impact on our business, it’s now one of the largest cost to manage,” Simon King [...]
UK will become ‘innovation wasteland’ if Hunt pushes through R&D tax relief cuts, FSB warns February 22, 2023 The UK will become an “innovation wasteland” if the government pushes ahead with plans to slash research and development (R&D) tax relief, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned. The UK’s largest business group urged ministers today to reverse plans to gut the R&D tax relief scheme, announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in November, [...]
Future’s bright: Digital media giant behind Marie Claire and GoCompare names new CEO February 22, 2023 Future, the media company which owns brands including Marie Claire and GoCompare, has unveiled its new chief executive. Jon Steinberg will join Future on 3 April, following the resignation Zillah Byng-Thorne last September, following a decade at the helm. The company was founded in 1985 and has more than 220 companies, ranging from magazines and [...]
Flagship £450m green energy boiler scheme needs urgent reform to prevent it failing, Lords committee warns February 22, 2023 The government’s boiler upgrade scheme is failing to deliver on its objectives, warned the environment and climate change committee.
Partygate: High Court to hear challenge against Met over probe into Johnson’s lockdown party attendance February 22, 2023 The High Court will hear the first stage of a challenge against the Metropolitan Police over the force’s investigation into former prime minister Boris Johnson’s attendance at Number 10 parties during lockdown. Johnson received a fixed penalty notice (FPN) over a birthday party in the Cabinet Room in June 2020, but faced no further action [...]
Hundreds of jobs at risk as Chinese-owned British Steel set to announce closure of Scunthorpe plant February 22, 2023 Unions fear British Steel is set to announce the closure of coking ovens at one of its plants, with the loss of hundreds of jobs as the company warns it faces “significant challenges”. Union officials were told earlier this month the Chinese-owned company was considering closing coke ovens at its site in Scunthorpe. An announcement [...]
Rio Tinto rocked by weaker commodity prices as it reports steep downturn in profits February 22, 2023 Higher energy costs, inflation, and downward pressure on commodity prices has weighed on profits at multinational miner Rio Tinto.
Bentley to end production of 12-cylinder petrol engine as luxury car maker is latest in shift to EV February 22, 2023 Bentley will end production of its famed 12-cylinder petrol engine in April next year, the luxury car maker has announced. More than 100,000 examples of the W12 engine have been built at the company’s factory in Crewe, Cheshire over the past 20 years. The decision to halt production is part of the business’s move to [...]
Lloyds Bank: Shares fall after bumping up ‘bad loan’ recession provisions February 22, 2023 Lloyds Bank reported that higher interest rates offset the money set aside to cope with loan defaults during the final quarter of 2022, but disappointed the market with yet more conservative guidance on net interest margin for 2023. Lloyds recorded a pretax profit of £1.8bn during the quarter, in line with company-compiled consensus and over [...]
