Switzerland heads for Brexit-like EU clash with €227bn at stake from today May 26, 2021 From today, Swiss medical-technology companies will no longer be allowed to export duty-free to the European Union as Bern and Brussels failed to agree to a long-anticipated political treaty that would cover trade between the two countries. The goods-trading relationship at risk is worth $278bn, with medical-technology companies being the latest casualty of a deteriorating [...]
Labour hammered in Hartlepool by-election as Starmer comes under pressure May 7, 2021 Labour has suffered an historic defeat in yesterday’s Hartlepool by-election, with Boris Johnson’s Conservatives winning the constituency for the first ever time. The Tories blitzed Labour in the by-election, winning by a staggering 23 points after losing the seat in the 2019 General Election. The loss has already led to recriminations within the Labour party [...]
British gunboats will continue to patrol Jersey as French fishing boats leave May 6, 2021 Two British naval ships will remain off the coast of Jersey and patrol the waters, after a flotilla of 60 French fishing boats ended their protest this afternoon. Two armed Royal Navy boats, the HMS Tamar and HMS Severn, were sent by Boris Johnson last night to patrol waters around Jersey amid a protest by French [...]
Defence giant Babcock to cut 1,000 jobs amid £1.7bn writedown April 13, 2021 Around 1,000 jobs are being axed at Babcock International as the defence giant revealed mammoth writedowns of £1.7bn and plans to sell off a raft of its businesses. The group – which is the Ministry of Defence’s second largest contractor – said about 850 of the job cuts would be made across its UK operations, [...]
Historic Texas freeze cost Shell £145m April 7, 2021 Oil giant Shell has said that a storm that blanketed Texas in February, killing more than 100 people, will cost it around $200m (£145m) in adjusted earnings. The London-listed company said it expects to produce between 2.4m and 2.48m barrels of oil or equivalents per day from its upstream business unit in the first three [...]
Suez Canal: Rescue mission to recover ‘beached whale’ ship could take weeks March 25, 2021 Suez Canal latest: Ever Given rescue efforts restart with traffic still blocked
‘Electric or bust’ for National Grid as it snaps up Western Power Distribution for £8bn March 18, 2021 National Grid shocked the system this morning when it announced it would buy Western Power Distribution (WPD), the holding company of Britain’s largest electricity distribution business, from US-based company PPL in a £7.8bn deal. Moreover, National Grid agreed to sell The Narragansett Electric Company (NECO) to PPL Energy Holdings, also a subsidiary of PPL, for an [...]
Property chiefs: Lockdown and end of stamp duty holiday push down house prices February 2, 2021 The most recent drop in house prices is primarily caused by the soon-to-end stamp duty holiday, combined with the UK’s third national lockdown, property professionals told City A.M. this morning. According to new figures, published by Nationwide earlier this morning, January saw property prices fall for the first time in six months as the end [...]
Cancer drug may reduce Covid load in lungs by 99 per cent January 27, 2021 Spanish pharmaceutical company PharmaMar claims its cancer drug Aplidin has the potential to reduce any Covid-19 load in lungs by 99 per cent. Already authorised to treat tumours in some markets, Aplidin blocks a protein associated with the virus and prevents viral replication, leading to the near-complete eradication of Covid viral loads in the lungs [...]
City analysts discuss what a Biden administration may hold for financial markets January 20, 2021 In the final hours of Donald Trump’s presidency, investors are turning the spotlight on Joe Biden. As Biden is about to enter the White House, several City-based analysts discuss what the new administration may have in store for different markets and parts of the economy. US Dollar US Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen reaffirmed her [...]
