UK to start talks with Switzerland on post-Brexit financial services deal January 27, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak will today start formal talks with his Swiss counterpart in a bid to broker a new post-Brexit financial services agreement for the UK. The Treasury said the talks would see the two sides try to deliver “a comprehensive mutual recognition agreement that would reduce costs and barriers for UK firms accessing the Swiss [...]
Poundland sales grow as discount store chain introduces new price points and product lines January 27, 2021 Poundland owner Pepco reported a jump in revenue in the first quarter due to its status as an essential retailer and its introduction of new price points and product lines including clothing and homeware. The discount store chain, which trades as Pepco and Dealz in Europe and Poundland in the UK, said group like-for-like sales [...]
Homeserve appoints ex-DCC boss as chairman January 27, 2021 Homeserve has this morning appointed Tommy Breen as its new chairman, the home improvements firm announced. Breen will replace long-serving Barry Gibson, who has held the role of chairman since 2010. He will step down in May, when Homeserve presents its full year results. Breen, a chartered accountant by training, joins the FTSE 250 firm [...]
Exclusive: Sadiq Khan to bang the drum for City of London at World Economic Forum January 27, 2021 Exclusive: Sadiq Khan to bang drum for EU-City deal at World Economic Forum
Difficult headlines shouldn’t scare firms off admitting they’ve got work to do on equality January 27, 2021 When it comes to equality in business, it’s fair to say that very few companies are truly where they want to be yet – being honest about this is uncomfortable but important. In November 2014 we first published our gender pay gap, and four years ago we published our ethnicity pay gap. While I was [...]
Goldman Sachs boss hit with $10m pay cut due to 1MDB scandal January 27, 2021 Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon took a $10m pay cut last year due to the bank’s role in Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal. Soloman’s pay was reduced 36 per cent, from $27.5m in 2019 down to £17.5m last year, the investment bank said. It had previously confirmed that Soloman’s pay would be cut, along with finance chief [...]
Cash for Covid? Cash for jabs makes far more sense January 27, 2021 As the snow fell on Sunday, I almost expected a Cabinet minister to address the nation that very evening: “Don’t go out in the snow. Don’t slip and sprain an ankle. Save the NHS!” It could have been backed up by a scientist brandishing a chart and a “model” to demonstrate that icy weather led to [...]
Revealed: How have audit industry rankings changed in 15 years? January 27, 2021 From success stories to hours of struggle, the audit market and its key players have changed considerably in the last decade and half. Challenger firm BDO has been the standout success story of the past 15 years, doubling its client count to 314 and snatching first place for number of clients away from Big Four [...]
Covid-19 drives growth at Microsoft as cloud business benefits from home working January 26, 2021 Revenue was up at Microsoft in its second quarter, with the pandemic accelerating the company’s switch to cloud-based computing. Microsoft beat Wall Street estimates for revenue growth from Azure, it’s cloud computing service, as the software giant continued to benefit from a global shift to working and learning from home. The company’s shares, which gained about [...]
UK airline bosses warn PM against making all arrivals subject to hotel quarantine January 26, 2021 The bosses of British Airways, Easyjet, Virgin Atlantic, Jet2 and others have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to warn him off a blanket policy forcing all UK arrivals into hotel quarantine.