BT steps up takeover defence after share price halves August 23, 2020 Bosses at telecoms giant BT have taken steps to bolster its defences against a potential takeover after a plunge in its share price. According to Sky News, the firm, which is now valued at £10.1bn, has told Goldman Sachs to update its strategy for defending BT from such a move. The plans may also involve [...]
Easyjet offers pilots ‘seasonal’ contracts to stave off job cuts August 23, 2020 Pilots at budget carrier Easyjet have been offered six-month long “seasonal” contracts in a bid to stave off sweeping job cuts amid the downturn in air travel. Up to 727 pilots’ jobs are at risk at the low-cost airline, which has seen passenger demand collapse due to the coronavirus pandemic. Under the new offer, pilots [...]
Former bosses of Finablr and NMC Health face fraud accusations August 23, 2020 The former chief executives of Finablr and NMC Health are among a group of 17 people who are claimed to have embezzled millions of UAE dirhams from the firms, the Sunday Telegraph reported today. According to a report prepared for billionaire tycoon Bavaguthu Shetty, who founded the companies, brothers Prasanth and Promoth Manghat, who led [...]
Offices should be a ‘safe haven’ for suffering staff August 21, 2020 Offices across London are slowly beginning to reopen again after Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave firms “more discretion” from August to bring staff back in after lockdown. One such company is engineering consultancy Arup, which houses half of its 6,000 UK staff in its headquarters on Fitzroy Street in Bloomsbury. Tim Chapman, the firm’s London [...]
Square Mile builder: It’s time to get London back up and running August 20, 2020 “I’ve been getting on trains for six weeks and not once have I felt uncomfortable because I wasn’t able to socially distance,” says Square Mile construction firm Mace’s chief executive Mark Reynolds. The company, which is headquartered in Moorgate in the heart of the City, is slowly encouraging staff to return to work at the [...]
UK firms cut more than 106,000 jobs amid coronavirus pandemic August 19, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has battered the UK economy since it arrived in early 2020 – and no sector has remained unscathed, with more than 100,000 job cuts planned during the pandemic. The government’s furlough scheme has allowed millions of people to keep getting a paycheck, but fears are growing that when this is phased out [...]
Brits dash for the Channel in bid to beat France quarantine August 14, 2020 British holidaymakers are scrambling to get home before they are forced to quarantine for 14 days after the government last night announced that it was removing France from its travel corridors list. According to transport secretary Grant Shapps, there are roughly 160,000 UK holidaymakers currently in France who have been caught out by the ministers’ [...]
Grant Shapps: ‘No choice’ but to impose quarantine rules on France August 14, 2020 Transport secretary Grant Shapps has said that ministers had no choice but to remove France from the list of countries exempt from quarantine rules after a spike in coronavirus cases. The restrictions, which were announced late last night, come into effect tomorrow morning at 4 o’clock. Speaking to Sky News, Shapps said: “It’s a dynamic [...]
Liberty Steel snaps up British Steel’s former French rail assets August 14, 2020 Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel has acquired the French plant that had threatened to derail Chinese firm Jingye’s £50m rescue deal for embattled British Steel back in March. Hayange, in northern France, used to be owned by British Steel is considered a strategic asset by the French government because it manufactures steel rails for high speed [...]
Easyjet shares sink on France quarantine despite £203m aircraft sale August 14, 2020 Shares in low cost carrier Easyjet fell 5.5 per cent this morning as the government announced travellers from France would have to quarantine on return to the UK. The news came as the airline siad that it had completed the sale and leaseback of 23 aircraft, raising an extra £608m to bolster its liquidity amid [...]
