Labour’s Anneliese Dodds paints government as too London-centric in pre-Budget speech February 25, 2021 Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds has called out the government for concentrating too much investment and too many civil service jobs in London over the past decade in a pre-Budget speech today. Dodds said the past 10 years of Conservative government has overseen a six per cent rise in London civil service jobs, while the rest [...]
Man who claims to have invented Bitcoin starts £3.5 billion legal war with crypto developers February 25, 2021 Controversial computer scientist who claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin has launched legal actions against crypto developers.
Primark owner takes £1.5bn sales hit from lockdown restrictions February 25, 2021 Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) this morning warned lockdown store closures would take £1.1bn off first half sales
Talks continue over future of Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port February 25, 2021 Talks with the government over the future of Vauxhall’s plant at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire are still ongoing, parent company Stellantis said today. The company is reportedly considering building electric cars at the plant, but no agreement has yet been reached. The head of Stellantis’ Opel and Vauxhall unit Michael Lohscheller told Bloomberg: “At this [...]
Almost 800,000 households at risk of losing homes after ban on repossessions ends February 25, 2021 Almost 800,000 households could lose their homes if they suffer a drop in income when mortgage deferrals and the ban on repossessions end, the latest research showed. A report by the Social Market Foundation found that the pandemic has reduced the savings of many mortgage-holders, with more than one in ten owner-occupiers left without enough [...]
Twitter shares take flight as it unveils plan to double revenue by 2023 February 25, 2021 Shares in Twitter pushed eight per cent higher this afternoon after the social media platform said it plans to double its annual revenue to at least $7.5bn (£5.3bn) over the next three years. Announcing a string of long-term goals ahead of its analyst day today, the company also said it aims to reach 315m monetisable [...]
Texas was a cascade failure of energy infrastructure, not renewables February 25, 2021 What we have witnessed in Texas was a cascade failure of energy infrastructure. The storms tripped an increased demand while power plants were undergoing routine maintenance, which was made worse by insufficient regulatory oversight meaning Texan authorities didn’t require energy assets to be resilient enough for winter. Suddenly, there were issues with water, food, heat [...]
GameStop trading halted 10 minutes after Wall St opens as stock gears up for volatile day February 25, 2021 Trading of GameStop stock was halted within the first 10 minutes of Wall Street’s opening bell, after the stock rocketed 104 per cent yesterday and a further 83 per cent in after-hours trading. The share price of American videogame retailer GameStop jumped 77 per cent on Wall Street’s open today, after amateur traders again [...]
Serco boss: Pandemic proves importance of private and public sector co-operation February 25, 2021 The coronavirus pandemic has shown how strong the government and private sector can be when they work together, the boss of Serco, which is running the NHS Test and Trace service, has said. Speaking to CityAM, Rupert Soames defended the much-maligned system, saying that after some initial challenges it was now a “world-beating” programme. He [...]
KPMG splits chief exec and chair roles following ‘stop moaning’ controversy February 25, 2021 KPMG will split the role of chair and chief executive, following the furore surrounding comments made by Bill Michael, its former senior partner and chair. Michael resigned earlier this month after a video surfaced online of the boss telling staff to “stop moaning” and “playing the victim”. In the video, Michael also dismissed unconscious bias [...]