Former City banker Richard Sharp ‘to be appointed’ as new BBC chair January 6, 2021 The government is reportedly poised to name former Goldman Sachs banker Richard Sharp as the new chair of the BBC. Ministers will this week announce that Sharp has been appointed to succeed Sir David Clementi at the helm of the broadcaster, Sky News reported. The appointment, which is made by the government rather than the [...]
London First CEO Jasmine Whitbread leaves for Travis Perkins January 6, 2021 London First announced this morning that CEO Jasmine Whitbread will step down after four years at the non-profit. Whitbread plans to succeed Stuart Chambers as non-executive chairman at building material and equipment giant Travis Perkins at the end of March. “I’ve had four exhilarating years at the helm of London First, grappling with the impact [...]
Bigamy, corruption and £202m-worth of bribes: Chinese banker sentenced to death January 6, 2021 A disgraced Chinese banker has been handed the death sentence after he admitted to accepting more than £200m in bribes. Lai Xiaomin was also found guilty of bigamy after living “as man and wife long periods” outside of his marriage. Lai confessed to the crimes in an extraordinary TV interview with a state broadcaster before [...]
UK PMIs: Services activity contracts again in December January 6, 2021 UK business activity contracted again last month despite the lifting of lockdown restrictions, new data revealed today. The IHS Markit/Cips purchasing managers (PMI) index for services scored 49.4 in December, with any score below the 50 mark indicating contraction. The reading was up on November’s score of 47.6, when much of the economy was stuck under further [...]
Bitcoin soars to over $35,000 for first time January 6, 2021 Crypto at a Glance If you thought the dip at the beginning of this week spelled the end of the bull market, you, my friends, were very much mistaken. This morning saw Bitcoin storm back to another new all-time high of over $35,000, charging through resistance like tanks through milk. This puts Bitcoin among the [...]
Striking a chord: Hipgnosis buys half of Neil Young’s song catalogue January 6, 2021 Hipgnosis has snapped up the rights to Neil Young’s catalogue of songs as it ploughs ahead with its musical acquisition spree. The London-listed firm has taken a 50 per cent stake in the Canadian rock ‘n roll star’s portfolio of 1,180 tracks. Hipgnosis did not disclose the value of the deal, but industry experts have [...]
Richard Sharp: Who is the surprise new frontrunner for the BBC top job? January 6, 2021 Speculation over the top contenders for the BBC chairmanship has been rife in recent weeks, with a string of well-known names entering (and exiting) the fray. But the race was this week thrown wide open after it emerged a relatively unknown candidate had emerged as the new frontrunner Richard Sharp, a multi-millionaire former Tory party [...]
Greggs expects £15m full-year loss as coronavirus restrictions bite January 6, 2021 Greggs will swing to a full-year loss of up to £15m due to the impact of coronavirus lockdowns on trading, the high street bakery chain announced this morning. The company, which has cut 820 jobs due to the crisis, said the drop in demand means it expects to report a loss before tax for 2020 [...]
Informa profit plunges as pandemic shutters events January 6, 2021 Events group Informa forecast a plunge in profit in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic brought the events industry to its knees. The FTSE 100 firm, which is the world’s largest exhibitions group, said it expected adjusted operating profit in the range of £250 and £270m. This is down from £933m in 2019. Revenue is set [...]
UK supermarkets secure best Christmas on record as online sales double January 6, 2021 Online share of UK grocery sales doubled in December, helping to drive supermarkets to their biggest Christmas on record. A total of 8.5m households shopped for their Christmas groceries online this year, up almost 3m compared to last year and equating to roughly a third of all UK households. This pushed total spend at UK [...]
