TfL unveils design of new Piccadilly Line Tube trains March 4, 2021 Transport for London and German engineering firm Siemens have today unveiled the design for the new Piccadilly Line underground trains. The trains, which will begin operating on the line in 2025, have 10 per cent more capacity than the old models and use 20 per cent less energy. They are the first air-conditioned models to [...]
Government axes Industrial Strategy Committee in ‘build back better’ push March 4, 2021 Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has scrapped the government’s Industrial Strategy Committee as part of the government’s new “Build Back Better” plans. The 16-strong group of industry leaders, which was set up just two and half years ago, were yesterday told their services were no longer required, Sky News first reported. Members include Bank of England [...]
UK PMIs: Construction activity bounces back as paused projects get green light March 4, 2021 UK construction activity bounced back in February as businesses gave the go ahead to projects that had been forced to be suspended due to the pandemic. The IHS Markit/Cips purchasing managers (PMI) index for construction scored 53.2 in February, with any score above the 50-mark indicating growth. That’s markedly ahead of analyst expectations of a score of [...]
Hygiene surge boosts ratcatchers Rentokil March 4, 2021 Rentokil said that it had boosted profit 5.4 per cent across the full year thanks to huge growth in its hygiene business amid the coronavirus pandemic. Across the year, ongoing operating profit rose to £383.8m, up from £365.5m the year before. Revenue also increased 5.0 per cent to £2.8bn. Despite the impressive performance, shares in [...]
Ladbrokes owner Entain back in black on rapid US growth March 4, 2021 Ladbrokes owner Entain today swung back into the black as rapid growth from its US joint venture pushed revenue higher. The FTSE 100 firm posted profit of £113.8m in 2020, compared with a loss of £131.2m the year before. Revenue and gross profit were both flat at £3.5bn and £2.3bn respectively, while earnings rose 10 [...]
Housebuilder Vistry to double profit in 2021 as Sunak extends property tax cuts March 4, 2021 Housebuilder Vistry Group predicted that it would at least double its profit before tax over the coming financial year after a strong start to the year. As a result of the positive outlook, the firm said that it was reinstating a final dividend of 20p per share. It follows fellow builder Taylor Wimpey in reintroducing [...]
British Airways dives to £4bn loss as flights reduced by two-thirds March 3, 2021 British Airways (BA) fell to a £3.9bn operating loss in 2020, owner IAG revealed today, more than half of the airlines group’s total loss for the year. According to the FTSE 100 firm’s annual reports, BA’s loss dwarved that of its stablemates Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling. These fell to losses of €563m, €1.4bn, and [...]
Budget 2021: Aviation firms accuse Sunak of ignoring sector March 3, 2021 The aviation industry has reacted furiously to today’s Budget, accusing Chancellor Rishi Sunak of ignoring the sector, which has been battered by the pandemic. Aviation firms had been lobbying hard for sector-specific relief for the industry, which has been in a tailspin for an entire year due to wide-ranging travel restrictions. Although the sector will [...]
Budget 2021: How does the new tax ‘super-deduction’ work? March 3, 2021 This afternoon Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a new tax “super-deduction” policy to encourage investment into the UK and boost its recovery from the pandemic. The new form of relief will come into effect next month and last until the end of March 2023, and should be especially popular with manufacturing, construction and utilities firms. Shares [...]
FTSE 100 pares gains as investors split on Sunak’s Budget March 3, 2021 The FTSE 100 pared some of its gains after today’s Budget, as investors reacted to a combination of further business support and future tax hikes. Having been up 1.2 per cent by the mid-morning, London’s blue chip bourse fell back to 6,639 points, up 0.4 per cent. Read more: Budget 2021: Live news and updates [...]
