Switch it up: Nintendo profit triples on lockdown gaming boom November 5, 2020 Nintendo’s profit tripled in the six months to the end of September as consumers splashed out on gaming during the coronavirus lockdown. The Japanese tech giant posted a first-half operating profit of 291.4bn yen (£2.1bn), up from 94bn yen in the same period last year. Nintendo has enjoyed booming demand for its Switch consoles, with [...]
BT threatened with strike action over job cuts and pay November 5, 2020 BT could be facing its first major strike action in more than 15 years after union members accused the company of “putting profit before people”. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) today asked members to vote on whether to hold a strike ballot at the company over an “increasingly aggressive” approach by management across BT, Openreach [...]
Covid19: Test and trace success rate stays near record low November 5, 2020 Of the 327,203 people identified as coming into close contact with someone who had tested positive between 22 October and 28 October, 59.9% were reached and asked to self-isolate
Bank of England to ‘look into’ suspected leak of stimulus decision November 5, 2020 The Bank of England will “look into” a suspected leak of its monetary policy decision to The Sun newspaper, which correctly reported its decision to pump £150bn into the economy before the BoE officially announced the position. There is no suggestion that The Sun acted improperly in its reporting of the story, which also said [...]
Wincanton to restart dividend payments on strong outlook November 5, 2020 Logistics firm Wincanton announced that it would restart paying dividends today on top of bullish forecasts for its financial outlook. Although profit shrunk from £26.2m to £19.1m in the first half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the FTSE 250 firm said that it expected its full year results to be “materially ahead” [...]
Sainsbury’s to slash 3,500 jobs and close Argos stores November 5, 2020 Sainsbury's will cut 3,500 jobs and close 420 Argos sites, as the firm posted a £137m loss for the first half of the year.
The polls failed again, and blindsided businesses are crying out for better corporate intelligence November 5, 2020 So Joe Biden will be the 46th President of the United States. Or Donald Trump will squeeze home (though, at the time of writing, that seems less likely). It has been a nerve-wracking 48 hours for anyone who watches US politics — and one of the reasons for that is that commentators and pollsters got [...]
Virgin Media boosts customer numbers ahead of O2 merger November 5, 2020 Virgin Media today reported its biggest quarterly increase in broadband customers since 2017 as the firm said its proposed merger with O2 was on track. The telecoms group said its fixed-line customers have surpassed 6m after an increase of 37,000 in the third quarter. This is compared to a loss of 3,000 in the same [...]
Car sales fall again in worst October in nine years November 5, 2020 Sales of new cars declined again last month in the weakest October in nine years for the UK car market. New figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said that sales dropped 1.6 per cent to 140,945. More than half of the decline came as a result of Wales’ two week “firebreak” [...]
Trainline posts £40m loss as passenger numbers evaporate November 5, 2020 Trainline this morning posted a £43m loss as the coronavirus pandemic hammered the number of passengers making rail journeys. In its first half results, the FTSE 250 firm said that sales fell 81 per cent to £358m in the period to the end of August, including the three month initial lockdown in the spring. Passenger [...]
