Former Amazon vice president poached for Ocado board August 24, 2021 Online retailer Ocado has poached a former Amazon vice president and robotics expert for its board, as the supermarket looks to broaden its market share. Incoming independent non-executive director and board veteran, Nadia Shouraboura, is set to join Ocado at the turn of September. Shares lifted 2.43 per cent by the afternoon, taking the group’s [...]
DEBATE: Are overseas private equity bids good news for the UK? August 24, 2021 Morrisons has accepted a £7bn bid from US private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice. The fierce competition from US investors to buy the British supermarket giant has prompted concerns over what an injection of foreign money would mean for the high street stalwart. Ewan MacKinnon and Fraser Thorne take on the debate: Ewan MacKinnon, [...]
Wood boss hails ‘momentum’ despite revenue dive as order book swells to $7.7bn August 24, 2021 Energy infrastructure group Wood has seen its orderbook swell to $7.7bn in the past six months, while revenue has taken a tumble. Shares had slipped 0.64 per cent to 232.1p per share, following the announcement. Revenue sank 22.9 per cent in its interim results for the six months to 30 June, which the group put [...]
Lloyd’s losses set to swell to £2bn as surge in business interruption claims squeezes bottom line August 24, 2021 Insurance market Lloyd’s is set to swing to a £2bn loss, triggered by a surge in claims on business interruption policies, according to fresh analysis. Research from Insurance DataLab shows the London market nursed losses that were £1.6bn higher than 2019’s figure last year. Lloyd’s abysmal performance last year was driven by a poor performance [...]
Exclusive: Almost half of London SMEs planning to hire this year August 24, 2021 Just under half (42 per cent) of London SMEs plan to hire in the next 12 months. This is more than anywhere else in the country bar the North West (54 per cent), according to Barclaycard research. Firms are looking forward to a sales boost this weekend with one in 10 London businesses (11 per [...]
Baidu-backed AI voice assistant firm Xiaodu racks up $5.1bn valuation August 24, 2021 Chinese tech giant Baidu has confirmed its artificial intelligence voice assistant firm Xiaodu Technology has racked up an eyewatering $5.1bn valuation today. Following the artificial intelligence (AI) firm’s Series B fundraiser, Baidu will remain a majority shareholder. The lofty valuation comes in amid a local regulatory clampdown, spearheaded by Beijing, which has locked eyes on [...]
Retail sales soar at fastest pace in nearly seven years August 24, 2021 Retail sales in the UK surged at their fastest pace in nearly seven years this month highlighting that the wave of consumer spending unleashed since the initial Covid unlocking still has legs, according to fresh figures released today. New data from the Confederation of British Industry shows retail sales swung to their highest growth rate [...]
Hong Kong’s new censorship rules will ban some films based on ‘national security’ August 24, 2021 Hong Kong authorities have proposed a series of law changes to scrutinise previously approved films and new productions which it deems threats to national security. The city’s government announced today to amend the Film Censorship Ordinance, which requires censors to assess a product’s impact on national security before offering their endorsement. The new arrangement will [...]
Science Group turns up heat in bid to takeover TP Group August 24, 2021 Science Group has made a further share purchase in an engineering firm which has repeatedly rebuffed its acquisition attempts. As of today, Science Group holds 140,528,829 shares in TP Group giving the company 18.03 per cent of voting share capital. Science Group, a services and product development organisation, pushed for a General Meeting in a [...]
The sparkling kombucha that wants to be champagne for the moderation movement August 24, 2021 East Anglia is the county for Grand Cru kombuchas, and 2021 is a particularly exciting vintage for living tea. The kombucha wave doesn’t seem to have crested and certainly hasn’t crashed yet, with two seaside breweries collaborating to produce the first sparkling “rosé” kombucha. Suffolk-based producers Adnams and LA Brewery, have launched Suffolk Blush, made [...]
