Recruiter Page Group says profit dropped 26 per cent last month after coronavirus lockdown April 8, 2020 Recruiter Page Group said its gross profit in March fell 26 per cent after the impact of coronavirus. The company said gross profit for the first quarter overall was down 11.7 per cent. Page Group said it was cutting jobs to keep costs low. It said it had cut 104 fee earners and 28 operational [...]
Coronavirus loan scheme risks ‘wall of redundancies and defaults’ say critics April 7, 2020 The failure of the coronavirus loan programme to help struggling small and medium-sized businesses risks triggering a “wall of redundancies and defaults” say critics.
US prosecutors say FIFA execs were bribed to award World Cup to Qatar and Russia April 7, 2020 US prosecutors yesterday said FIFA officials took bribes in connection with the award of the 2018 and 2022 men’s football World Cups to Russia and Qatar. The accusations were contained in the indictment of two former 21st Century Fox executives accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to secure lucrative media and marketing rights [...]
Lloyds staff complain their offices are not clean enough amid covid-19 crisis April 7, 2020 Lloyds Banking Group staff have reportedly complained their bank branches are not clean enough as the banking industry struggles with a rush of businesses looking for funding amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Telegraph cited a survey by trade union BTU which found 56 per cent of Lloyds staff not working from home thought their office [...]
Donald Trump says he has asked ‘genius’ drug companies to help with Boris Johnson’s covid-19 treatment April 7, 2020 US President Donald Trump said last night that he had asked “genius” drug companies to help Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was admitted to intensive care last night after his struggle with covid-19 took a turn for the worst. “We’re very saddened to hear that he was taken into intensive care this afternoon, a little [...]
Debenhams administration could provide blueprint for ‘freezing’ companies during coronavirus crisis April 6, 2020 Debenhams today gave notice to appoint administrators for what it said would be a “light touch” administration with the management remaining on board. This approach accords with ideas being floated by City insolvency lawyers who have proposed using the administration regime to mothball companies during the crisis and reviving them when economic conditions improve. Luke [...]
Freshfields suspends partner profit distribution and freezes pay April 6, 2020 Magic Circle law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has suspended partner profit share for the fourth quarter and frozen pay across the firm to help weather the economic crisis triggered by coronavirus. The firm has also deferred decisions on staff bonuses until later in the year. A Freshfields spokesperson said: “We are focused on supporting our [...]
HSBC Hong Kong shareholders mull legal action after dividend halted April 6, 2020 HSBC shareholders in Hong Kong are considering legal action and calling for a meeting with the bank’s management after it scrapped its dividend last week. HSBC and the UK’s other leading banks announced last Wednesday that they were cancelling their dividends after pressure from the Bank of England to conserve cash. Some of HSBC’s Hong [...]
Sage cancels £250m share buyback and scraps guidance April 6, 2020 Software company Sage Group today said it was cancelling a £250m share buyback and withdrawing its financial guidance after coronavirus hit its revenue, The company said it thinks organic recurring revenue growth will be below its guided range of eight-to-nine per cent and decline in other revenues will “accelerate significantly” in the second half, with [...]
NMC Health strives to avoid administration after being hit by creditor court action April 6, 2020 Scandal-hit NMC Health is working to avoid going into administration after being hit by a court action brought by one of its creditors. The London-listed company said today that lawyers acting for Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) filed an application on 2 April in the High Court to appoint administrators to NMC with a hearing [...]