Love rats: London’s rodent population booms as lockdown silences urban areas November 24, 2020 Quietened urban areas as a result of coronavirus restrictions have helped the population of rats boom by 30 million in one year
Royal Mail awarded contract to deliver and collect Covid-19 home testing kits November 24, 2020 Royal Mail has been awarded a new contract to deliver and collect coronavirus home testing kits seven days a week. The move comes as ministers prepare to ramp up testing capacity in the coming week, part of Boris Johnson’s ‘Operation Moonshot’ that was announced several months ago. Completed tests will be collected from 35,000 postboxes [...]
Hancock says vaccine roll-out could mean a return to normality by Easter November 24, 2020 Health secretary Matt Hancock hopes the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine would signal that life could go back to “normal” by Easter. Speaking today Hancock told a joint session of the Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee: “After Easter, we think we will be getting back to normal.” At a press [...]
JD Sports in exclusive talks with Debenhams to buy department store November 24, 2020 JD Sports is in exclusive talks with Debenhams that would see the troubled department chain acquired by the sportswear business, according to reports. Debenhams fell into administration in April for the second time. The coronavirus has hit the destitute department store hard, with stores closed and thousands of jobs axed due to the virus. According [...]
Meat producer Cranswick’s profits sizzle thanks to at-home cooking November 24, 2020 Cranswick’s first-half profits were up 31 per cent today as stuck-at-home consumers bought more of its pork and chicken products. Cranswick, which owns farms and supplies pork and chicken to British supermarkets, reported adjusted group operating profit of £62m for the six months ended September 26, compared with £47.4m a year ago. The firm supplied sandwiches [...]
Covid-19 leaves bad taste at Greencore as firm seeks £90m to shore up against virus costs November 24, 2020 Food producer Greencore is targeting a £90m equity placing to mitigate the cost of Covid-19 to the business, after the group’s pre-tax profits stood at £17.3m - down 81 per cent on 2019.
Compass Group returns to profit in Q4 following ‘challenging year’ November 24, 2020 Compass Group has made an operating profit of £561m in 2020 after a difficult year that saw parts of the business closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The catering giant 2020 operating profit was down on last year’s £1,852m. Nearly two-thirds of Compass Group’s revenue came from north America. The group was able to return [...]
Sterling hits 10-week high on vaccine and Brexit deal optimism November 23, 2020 Sterling rallied to a two and a half month high today, as more positive news about a potential Covid-19 vaccine propelled investors to buy riskier currencies and offset concerns about whether Britain and the EU can clinch a Brexit trade deal. Tonight the pound is up 0.3 per cent to $1.332, while against the euro [...]
Vaccine hopes boost Wall Street open November 23, 2020 Wall Street’s main indexes rose today as hopes that the first Covid-19 vaccine could be available within weeks renewed bets of a swift economic recovery next year. The Dow Jones index was up 0.57 per cent, a rise mirrored by the S&P 500, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index gained 0.87 per cent. The US [...]
Petropavlovsk appoints KPMG as independent forensic investigator November 23, 2020 Russian gold mining company Petropavlovsk has appointed KPMG to undertake a forensic investigation into certain business deals made in the last three years. The investigation will examine deals between Petropavlovsk and its subsidiaries, and fellow mining company IRC and its subsidiaries in the three years to August 2020. The investigation was proposed at Petropavlovsk’s general [...]
