SIG confirms £150m raise plans as firm swings to loss May 29, 2020 Building products supplier SIG this morning confirmed plans to raise £150m from a share issue after the firm swung to a loss in 2019. The company said that investment firm Clayton, Dubilier and Rice (CDR) had agreed to invest £85m into SIG, and would take two board seats as a result. The announcement initially prompted [...]
UK car industry flatlines as just 197 cars built in April May 29, 2020 The UK car industry made just 197 cars in April as the shuttering of factories due to the coronavirus pandemic sent production flatlining. Total production dropped 99.7 per cent, with the lowest number of cars built in one month since the Second World War, according to new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and [...]
Donald Trump signs executive order to regulate social media firms May 28, 2020 US president Donald Trump has this evening signed an executive order designed to weaken the legal protections around social media companies. The move comes after the president became embroiled in a dispute with Twitter, which marked one of his tweets with a fact check warning over its inaccurate claims. The president said that the order [...]
UN confirms November 2021 date for landmark COP26 climate summit May 28, 2020 The United Nations has tonight confirmed that the so-called COP26 climate summit will be held from 1 to 12 November 2021, a year later than originally planned, due to coronavirus. The talks, which will be held in Glasgow, are widely tipped to be the most critical since 2015’s landmark Paris conference, with world leaders expected [...]
Largest solar park in the UK given planning approval May 28, 2020 Business secretary Alok Sharma has today given the go-ahead to Britain’s largest solar energy park on the north Kent coast. The Cleve Hill park, which is being built by a joint venture of specialist solar firms Hive Energy and Wirsol Energy, will consist of 800,000 panels built on 890 hectares of land in Graveney. The [...]
Oil prices push higher despite unexpected surge in crude stocks May 28, 2020 Oil prices pushed upwards today despite a larger than expected build in US crude stockpiles, holding on to the gains of the last few weeks. Global standard Brent crude rose 1.5 per cent to $35.29, whilst US benchmark West Texas Intermediate picked up 1.9 per cent to reach $33.43. The rise came despite US crude [...]
Raab: UK will increase visa rights if China goes ahead with Hong Kong law May 28, 2020 Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has told China that the UK will give greater visa rights to British nationals overseas passport holders unless it suspends plans to implement new security laws in Hong Kong. Under the current legislation, such passport holders, of which there are an estimated 300,000 in the city-state, can stay in the UK [...]
US jobless claims pass 40m as economy staggers under coronavirus May 28, 2020 A further 2.1m people in the US filed for unemployment claims last week, bringing the total to more than 40m since mid-March. Overall, 40.7m people have applied for unemployment benefits in the last 10 weeks, a quarter of the American workforce, according to new data from the US labor department. Although the new total represents [...]
GSK plans to make 1bn coronavirus vaccine booster shots May 28, 2020 Drug giant Glaxosmithkline (GSK) today announced that it would aim to produce 1bn vaccine booster shots next year in a bid to improve the efficacy of potential new coronavirus treatments. These booster shots, which are called adjuvants, are a key part of vaccine development as they help patients develop a longer lasting immunity to disease. [...]
Norwegian Air loss deepens after carrier clings on May 28, 2020 Norwegian Air today reported that it made a loss of 3.3bn Norwegian krone (£270m) in the first quarter after the low-cost carrier narrowly avoided going out of business due to the coronavirus pandemic. The loss for the period was 66 per cent deeper than that reported in the same quarter last year, when the airline [...]
