Virgin Australia to cut 3,000 jobs as carrier slims down under new owners August 5, 2020 Embattled airline Virgin Australia is set to cut 3,000 staff as it seeks to streamline its business under prospective new owner Bain Capital. Back in June Bain bought the carrier out of administration, with creditors due to vote on the sale on 4 September. If the deal is approved, the airline will focus on the [...]
UGC owner denies trying to takeover Petropavlovsk ahead of crunch vote August 5, 2020 The Russian billionaire who owns a 22 per cent stake in FTSE 250 gold miner Petropavlovsk has denied that he is seeking to take over the firm ahead of a crunch shareholder meeting on Monday. In an interview with the FT, Konstantin Strukov, who owns rival miner UGC, insisted that he wanted to see Petropavlovsk [...]
SMMT: New UK car sales rise 11 per cent post-lockdown August 5, 2020 New UK car sales rose for the first time this year in July as dealerships enjoyed their first full month of trading since reopening after lockdown. According to new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), registrations rose 11.3 per cent last month as pent-up demand and special offers tempted consumers to [...]
Honda and BMW see profits slump in second quarter as lockdown hit sales August 5, 2020 Car giants Honda and BMW saw their profits hammered in the last quarter as the coronavirus pandemic hammered car sales amid widespread lockdowns. Japan’s Honda fell to an 113.7bn yen (£820m) loss in the last quarter, as sales of its vehicles plunged 40 per cent around the world. As a result of the dire quarterly [...]
BP looks to a low carbon future after coronavirus oil carnage August 4, 2020 It’s not every day that an oil giant gets a slap on the back from Greenpeace. But that’s exactly what BP achieved this morning when it slipped out plans to produce 40 per cent less oil by the end of this decade. Alongside its second quarter results – which made ugly reading for investors, as [...]
Coronavirus: How safe is the post-lockdown commute to work? August 4, 2020 After more than four months of lockdown Londoners are beginning to return to the office as public transport operators take measures to make the once-daily commute as safe as possible from coronavirus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave employers “more discretion” from 1 August to bring back their staff if it was safe to do so. [...]
Oil prices sink as fears of second wave dent rising fuel demand August 4, 2020 Global oil prices slipped back today amid rising fears that a second wave of coronavirus cases will strike just as oil producers begin to bring more output back onstream. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 1.6 per cent to $40.60, while global standard Brent crude dropped back 1.1 per cent to $43.66. Numbers of cases [...]
Booking.com to axe a quarter of workforce August 4, 2020 The owner of holiday firm Booking.com has today confirmed that it will cut its 17,000 strong workforce by a quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic. A spokeswoman for Booking Holding confirmed reports of the cuts, which had been announced internally in a video from chief executive Glenn Fogel. “Unfortunately, as a result of the crisis, [...]
Easyjet chief: We will keep flying to quarantined countries if there is demand August 4, 2020 Easyjet’s chief executive Johan Lundgren has said that the airline will not stop flying to destinations if the government chooses to reimpose quarantine restrictions on them while demand to travel to them remains. Speaking to City A.M., he said: “People, as we have seen with Portugal for example, are willing to take the sacrifice of [...]
Babcock shares slump after firm cuts dividend and profit slips 40 per cent August 4, 2020 Shares in Babcock fell over 12.5 per cent this morning after the defence giant warned that the coronavirus pandemic had had a “significant impact” on its finances. In a trading update, the FTSE 250 firm said that operating profit for the first quarter had fallen 40 per cent year-on-year. In addition, Babcock has elected to [...]
