Now Christmas travel hit by virus-related staff shortages December 25, 2021 Thousands of flights have been cancelled over the Christmas weekend as Omicron’s spread leads to staff shortages. According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, some 1,779 flights have been cancelled on Christmas Day and a further 402 for Boxing Day. Airlines are struggling to staff their full roster of flights as the new variant spreads [...]
China demands more from firms plotting overseas listings December 25, 2021 China’s financial watchdog laid out a raft of new oversight provisions yesterday, tightening rules on firms plotting overseas listings. The China Security Regulatory Commission (CSRC) plans to expand its oversight of offshore listings to those firms using variable interest entity structures, popular with firms who have undertaken recent overseas listings. The CSRC said it was [...]
Government set to launch new care home visa scheme December 25, 2021 Care staff will be added to the Government’s official shortages list in order to allow foreign workers easier access to the UK. There has been a widely reported shortage of care home staff in recent years as the UK deals with an ageing population. As a result of the move, care workers, care assistants and [...]
Travel sector and real estate lead FTSE firms through second year of bumper capital raises December 14, 2021 UK listed companies have raised £24.7bn new capital from investors in a strong second year of cash calls, as firms spent another twelve months prioritising their Covid recovery. FTSE companies raised more than £12bn of that in the second half of the year to November, as record low interest rates saw investors more willing to [...]
Travel data: Londoners shrug off work from home order with bus and tube usage falling less than expected December 13, 2021 The number of Londoners still travelling into work appears to have fallen less than expected according to new Transport for London data. Today represents the first day that the Government’s re-instituted work from home order comes into force. Bus usage before 10am this morning fell just six per cent week on week, whilst tube usage [...]
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct and House of Fraser empire kicks off £70m share buyback plan December 13, 2021 Retail baron Miek Ashley has announced the start of a £70m share buyback plan for Frasers in an attempt to boost the company’s share price. Bosses at the group, which includes department store House of Fraser and retail chains Sports Direct and Game, said the plan is to reduce the number of shares in circulation. [...]
Klarna float inevitable says boss – but don’t worry about the financials December 2, 2021 Klarna’s boss confirmed yesterday that the buy now pay later giant will eventually head for public markets – but that he hopes investors don’t pay too much attention to financial updates. Boss Sebastian Siemiatkowski said that he wanted the firm to have “a strong enough reputation… as you have been able to see with (Tesla [...]
Kwarteng: No grants to energy big boys to take on more customers September 24, 2021 GRANTS to larger energy firms to absorb new customers are “categorically” off the table, the business secretary told MPs yesterday. Speaking in the House of Commons, Kwasi Kwarteng said that there was an existing process to deal with customers of energy firms that collapsed, the supplier of last resort. When a firm fails, customers are [...]
Exclusive: Young professionals back the office over the living room September 9, 2021 London’s young professionals would rather work full time in an office than either permanently from home or in a “hybrid” arrangement, new data has found. According to new data from LinkedIn, shared exclusively with City A.M., 44 per cent of those aged 16 to 34 would choose to be in their actual offices for all [...]
UK PMIs: Economy slows more than expected in January January 22, 2021 The UK economy has slowed further than many expected in January, according to the leading economic index. Newly released UK PMI figures show the slowdown has been driven by a collapse in the services side of the economy. The overall PMI figure for January is 40.4, and 38.8 for services – the lowest reading for [...]