Net fees slip at recruitment giant Hays as Covid rocked business confidence August 26, 2021 Net fees at recruitment giant Hays have dropped eight per cent as the firm grappled with the Covid-19 impacts of rocky business and candidate confidence. The group’s total fees fell from £996.2m to £918.1m in the year to 30 June. Meanwhile, the firm’s operating profit also dropped 30 per cent from £135m to £95m. Shares [...]
Forbes to go public through $630m Spac deal August 26, 2021 The publisher behind Forbes magazine has unveiled plans to go public through a blank-cheque deal that will value the company at $630m (£460m). The merger with Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited will raise around $600m for the business information brand. The deal also includes $400m in Pipe [private investment in public equity] funding that includes funds [...]
End of the road: Soho’s al fresco festival to end in September August 26, 2021 It has been one of the few positives to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic, but as the virus recedes it appears so will Soho’s al fresco revival. Westminster City Council has informed businesses that traffic will be re-introduced to Soho’s streets at the end of September, bringing to an end the weekend and evening [...]
Space race: The ambitions, plans and delays of launching superpowers August 26, 2021 Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, following its landmark human flight last month, has launched an uncrewed mission of NASAs future moon landing technology today. The flight, known as NS-17 or New Shepard 17, set off from a Blue Origin site in West Texas. The NASA payload on board is to test technologies including a Doppler Lidar [...]
City watchdog orders peer-to-peer lenders to step up preparations for orderly wind-downs August 26, 2021 The City watchdog has urged peer-to-peer lenders to improve their internal governance controls to prevent a wave of disorderly wind-downs in the sector. The Financial Conduct Authority published a letter today that it distributed to the boards of online lending platforms showing it has ordered peer-to-peer lenders to improve contingency plans for being ordered to [...]
Afghanistan evacuation: Campaigns for Pen Farthing’s dogs expose a complete misalignment of priorities August 26, 2021 “Music is forbidden in Islam,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the New York Times, “but we’re hoping that we can persuade people not to do such things, instead of pressuring them.” Under Taliban rule, women have been beaten for showing their ankles in public. A light punishment, in the context. Where the Taliban draws the [...]
London based start up to employ 500 Afghan refugees August 26, 2021 Cera, a London based start up, has announced an initiative to recruit, train and employ 500 Afghan refugees. The company, which provides healthcare visits in homes across the UK, will be working with local councils and the government to train arrivals from Afghanistan as professional carers. The scheme is part of the government’s resettlement programme [...]
Travel traffic light update: Which countries could change status today? August 26, 2021 Holidaymakers are waiting to see whether the government will make any changes to its travel traffic lights when it updates the scheme later today. According to travel experts, key European holiday destinations are unlikely to be removed from the “green list”, but there could be changes elsewhere. Morocco, Jamaica, and St Lucia are all at [...]
US second quarter economic growth revision undershoots expectations August 26, 2021 The US economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the second quarter of this year as Americans reined in spending despite Covid restrictions easing in many states over the period, according to official figures published today. The Bureau of Economic Analysis revised the US economy second quarter annualised growth rate up to 6.6 [...]
Afghanistan: Shots fired at airport were to disperse crowd, not at Italian plane August 26, 2021 Shots earlier reported to have been fired at an Italian military plane evacuating Afghans from Kabul are now thought to have been used to disperse a crowd on the ground. Military sources had told Italian news agency ANSA that a C-130 transport carrying Afghan ex-Nato workers out of Kabul was fired on as it left [...]
