Daily Mirror owner Reach sees profit fall despite stronger second half March 1, 2021 Reach today posted a 12.8 per cent fall in profit as the newspaper publisher reported a stronger second half of the year. The firm, which owns the Mirror and the Express, said that profit fell to £133.8m, in line with expectations. An 18.9 per cent decline in print revenue over the year sent the group’s [...]
BT chair Jan du Plessis steps down to ‘focus on other interests’ March 1, 2021 BT chair Jan du Plessis will step down from the board less than four years after joining the telecoms firm. The former Rio Tinto chair joined BT as a non-executive director in June 2017 and was appointed chair that November. Prior to his role at the telecoms giant, du Plessis was chairman of SABMiller when [...]
Ladbrokes owner Entain hikes Enlabs offer after shareholder resistance March 1, 2021 Ladbrokes owner Entain has today hiked its offer for Swedish rival Enlabs to around £310m, the firm announced this morning. The FTSE 100 firm said that it was raising its bid from 40 Swedish krona per share to 53 Swedish krona per share, giving the firm a valuation of 3.7bn krona (£311m). The decision to [...]
E-commerce firm Bango appoints new finance chief March 1, 2021 Data-driven commerce company Bango has today announced the appointment of Matt Garner as its new chief financial officer. Garner will join the board of directors with immediate effect, replacing Carolyn Rand who has stepped down. Paul Labey, CEO of Bango, thanked Rand for her service after leading a strong 2020 that saw the company deliver [...]
Online share of grocery sales hits record level during third lockdown March 1, 2021 The third national lockdown pushed the share of online grocery sales to a record high in January, double the level the previous month. The pandemic has accelerated the shift to online shopping with Britain’s big four supermarkets expanding their capacity during the crisis. The online share of grocery sales hit 16 per cent in January, [...]
Rail commuters to get flexible season tickets in back to office bid March 1, 2021 Commuters are set to be offered flexible season rail tickets as a part of the government’s bid to try and get people back to offices by summer. The new flexi-tickets will reportedly be introduced by 21 June when England Covid restrictions are due to end and could save commuters hundreds of pounds a year. The [...]
US regulator approves Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine March 1, 2021 The Johnson & Johnson single-shot coronavirus jab has been given the green light by US regulators. It is the third vaccine the US Food and Drug Administration has approved, after Pfizer and Moderna, but the first to require only one shot. Before the Open newsletter: Start your day with the City View podcast and key [...]
FinTech revolution was borne out of 2008 crash, Rishi Sunak must nurture a post-crisis environment for innovation March 1, 2021 It was from the devastation of the global financial crisis the FinTech revolution emerged. The pandemic will spur a new era of innovation too, and it has the potential to be bigger and even more explosive than the past decade – if we get it right. Who knew that while we all watched on as [...]
A fifth of FTSE 100 firms changed CEO during pandemic March 1, 2021 A fifth of FTSE 100 bosses have left their roles over the past year as the pandemic ravaged corporates and triggered an overhaul of boardrooms. The outbreak of coronavirus saw a number of FTSE 100 tap shareholders for emergency funding as lockdown restrictions affected cashflow. As a result of this, there were 20 chief executive [...]
20 taxes to scrap: Britain’s growth needs a simpler tax system March 1, 2021 This week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak will present possibly the most consequential Budget in half a century. UK PLC is simultaneously struggling to cope with both the ongoing catastrophic impact of the Covid pandemic and the unanswered questions of what post-Brexit Britain will look like. According to the OBR, this year’s expected budget deficit will likely [...]
