Russian boss of spy agency blamed for Novichok attack on Sergei Skripal dies November 22, 2018 The Russian spy chief who allegedly oversaw the attacks on the Skripals in the UK has died. Colonel-General Igor Korobov, 62, who has run Russian spy agency the GRU since 2016, died on Wednesday, the Russian defence ministry said today. The UK government has accused the GRU of being behind the nerve agent attacks on [...]
Money in your pocket: UK salaries set to increase in 2019 November 22, 2018 Workers in the UK are expected to receive a 0.8 per cent real-term salary increase in 2019, double the increase received in 2018. The average UK private sector worker will receive an extra £20 per month or £237.35 per year before tax. This follows a better-than-expected salary increase for UK workers in 2018 of 0.4 [...]
Footlocker shares leap on strong Nike sales November 21, 2018 Shares in trainer retailer Foot Locker jumped by as much as 20 per cent today after its third quarter results showed an increase in shoe sales, as customers flocked to buy Nike’s new Air Max range. Analysts had feared that Nike’s move to start selling shoes via Amazon and its own stores would hurt Foot [...]
Lloyd’s of London chief operating officer to leave as exec churn continues November 21, 2018 The chief operating officer of insurance market Lloyd’s of London has resigned, continuing the stream of exits from its top team. Lloyd’s said today that operations chief and executive committee member Shirine Khoury-Haq had resigned, with plans to leave the insurance market in the first half of 2019. Khoury-Haq, who had been with Lloyd’s for [...]
Waste firm Biffa blames headwinds for profit drop November 21, 2018 Waste management firm Biffa today announced a profit dip in the first half with its boss blaming “external headwinds”. Biffa's share price fell 4.8 per cent to 217p following the news. In its results for the six months to 28 September, Biffa said underlying operating profit was £40.8m, down from £43.4m in the same period last year. Statutory operating profit was [...]
Clifford Chance elect first non-London senior partner, but Magic Circle glass ceiling remains November 20, 2018 Law firm Clifford Chance today appointed its first senior partner from outside London, but the Magic Circle’s record of never having appointed a woman to a top job remained in place. Partners at the £1.6bn legal giant today elected Amsterdam office managing partner Jeroen Ouwehand as its new senior partner, a role equivalent to the [...]
Bill Browder calls for Russia to be barred from Interpol system after ‘serial abuse’ November 20, 2018 Hermitage Capital boss Bill Browder called today for Russia to be barred from the Interpol system ahead of the potential election of a Russian head of the international policing body. At a press conference in London today, Browder and exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky described Russian abuse of the Interpol system to pursue them overseas. [...]
London-listed broadband firm Kcom sees shares crash after profit warning November 20, 2018 London-listed telecoms company Kcom lost a third of its value this morning after it said its trading performance for the current financial year was “weaker than originally expected”. Shares plunged 35 per cent from 91.8p last night to 59.5p shortly before noon. Kcom is a Hull-headquartered telecoms and broadband provider which focuses on providing services [...]
No swearing! Elon Musk renames BFR rocket Starship November 20, 2018 Space X boss Elon Musk tweeted today that the BFR rocket that is costing the company roughly $5bn (£3.9bn) to develop has been renamed. Officially called the Big Falcon Rocket, it is also widely known as the Big F*****g Rocket. Musk has said the BFR name was inspired by a weapon in computer game Doom called the [...]
Deutsche Bank announces €1bn bond buyback November 19, 2018 German lender Deutsche Bank today said it would buy back €1bn (£890m) of bonds as it aims to lower its expensive liquidity reserve. The bank said in a statement that it is announcing a public tender offer with a target acceptance volume of €1bn of Euro-denominated securities. Deutsche said the deal is aimed at helping [...]
