Tech boss outlines £300m plan to reclaim UK chip plant if China deal blocked August 11, 2021 The former boss of tech firm Imagination Technologies has reportedly pledged to spend £300m on Britain’s biggest microchip factory should a Chinese-led takeover fall through. Six companies, led by Ron Black, are ready to make a bid for Newport Wafer Fab if the government blocks its sale to Shanghai-owned firm Nexperia, the Telegraph reported. Last [...]
Vectura auction scrapped as Carlyle refuses to match Philip Morris bid August 10, 2021 Plans for an auction to decide the buyer of respiratory drugmaker Vectura have been scrapped after US private equity firm Carlyle said its 155p per share offer was “full and final”. Cigarette maker Philip Morris and private equity firm Carlyle both hiked their offers for the business over the weekend, leading the Takeover Panel to [...]
Norse Atlantic pushes first UK-US flights back to 2022 August 10, 2021 Norse Atlantic Airways has pushed back the date of its first flights to the first quarter of 2022, the new carrier said today, due to ongoing travel restrictions covering transatlantic routes. The airline, which launched earlier this year, said that it thought all 15 of its planes would be in service by summer 2022. Although [...]
Used car sales double as chip shortages deplete new model stocks August 10, 2021 The number of used cars changing hands doubled in the second quarter as stock shortages forced some people to turn to second hand models. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), 2,167,504 used models were bought in the last period, up 108 per cent on 2020. The number sold was also up [...]
FCA fines ‘seriously incompetent’ pension adviser £1.3m over steel scandal August 10, 2021 The UK’s financial regulator has issued a £1.3m fine to a pensions adviser it described as “seriously incompetent” for his work advising members of the British Steel Pension Scheme. Geoffrey Armin, who worked for Retirement and Pension Planning Services Limited (RPPS), advised a 422 customers including 183 BSPS steelworkers. In total, he advised on £125m [...]
Etihad slashes losses in first half but still $400m in red August 10, 2021 Gulf carrier Etihad Airways today announced that it had posted a $400m loss for the first six months of the year, half of the $800m it booked last year. The airline said that it had carried just 1m passengers in the period, down 71.5 per cent on a year ago. Passenger revenue came in at [...]
Macquarie takes £1bn stake in Southern Water August 9, 2021 Australian asset manager Macquarie today announced that it had bought a majority stake in utility firm Southern Water for more than £1bn. The firm said that its investment would help transform the company and put it “back on a stable footing”. It comes a month after Southern Water was fined £90m after bosses admitted dumping [...]
Britain 2030: High-tech manufacturing set to become a quiet British success story August 9, 2021 When it was first announced that this year’s G7 summit would be held in Cornwall, the decision was met with some raised eyebrows. But for a government which has made the combination of “levelling-up” the UK’s regional inequalities and tackling climate change its foremost priorities, it made perfect sense. In the last few years a [...]
New climate report is ‘code red for humanity’ August 9, 2021 A landmark new climate report from the UN is ‘code red’ for humanity, secretary-general Antonio Guterres said today. The study found that the scale of recent changes to the world’s climate system were “unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years”. It also said that it was “unequivocal” that “human influence” had contributed to [...]
Gold prices slide to four-month lows on fears of rates hike August 9, 2021 Gold prices dropped to a four-month low this morning amid growing concerns that the Federal Reserve could hike interest rates sooner than expected. As of 8:30, the yellow metal was hovering at $1,747.93 an ounce, just below the crucial $1,750 level, having staged a slight rally today. At one point, it fell as low as [...]
