IT consultant ordered to pay £50,000 after being accused of stealing Soho House members’ personal details
Table service to remain in ‘most’ pubs post-Freedom Day, Shepherd Neame boss says July 19, 2021 Table service is to remain in most Shepherd Neame pubs, with only “some sites” having bar service reintroduced after England eases most restrictions today. Pub group boss Jonathan Neame welcomed the easing of restrictions and larger groups of people regardless of households to his pub estate in a statement. “While restrictions have been lifted, and [...]
HSBC reopens all branches and offices in England from today July 19, 2021 HSBC said this morning it has reopened all of its bank branches and offices in England today as the government lifts the remainder of Covid-19 restrictions. HSBC will also increase its building capacity to around 50 per cent of staff over the next few months. “I know many colleagues will be hugely excited to get [...]
Ocado: Thousands of orders cancelled as robots cause fire July 19, 2021 A fire at an Ocado fulfillment centre in south-east London on Friday has caused the online grocer to cancel thousands of orders. The blaze occurred when three of the robots that help pick groceries collided at the Erith site. About 800 staff members had to be evacuated and firefighters worked through the night to stop [...]
Pingdemic: UK supermarkets brace themselves for chaotic Freedom Day July 19, 2021 Supermarkets warned they will shorten opening hours or close their shops amid a rising number of their workers having to self-isolate. There are fears of goods shortages in supermarkets and cuts in production at factories because of the number of workers being pinged by the NHS Test and Trace app. Last week, over 500,000 alerts [...]
US shareholders in Grenfell Tower cladding firm Arconic given go ahead to sue own company July 19, 2021 US shareholders of the Grenfell Tower cladding firm Arconic have been given the green light to proceed with a lawsuit against the company, US District court in Manhattan has ruled. According to witness statements, the company did go ahead and use the controversial cladding material even though managers were aware that the material that was [...]
Bill Ackman remixes Universal Music deal after SPAC plan questioned July 19, 2021 Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has been forced to rejig a $4bn deal to buy a 10 per cent stake in Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, after investors and regulators criticised his original SPAC plan. Pershing had agreed last month to buy 10 per cent of the world’s largest music company through a blank-cheque company called Pershing [...]
UK companies issue lowest number of profit warnings in over two decades July 19, 2021 British listed companies issued the fewest number of profit warnings in over two decades in the second quarter of this year, according to new figures released today. Research by EY shows UK listed businesses issued 32 profit warnings in the second quarter of 2021, the lowest quarterly total the firm has recorded. The low levels [...]
Zoom to buy Five9 for $15bn in largest acquisition yet July 19, 2021 Zoom announces a $14.7bn deal to buy a cloud-based call center operator in its largest-ever acquisition, as competition in the video conferencing sector intensifies. Synonymous with the pandemic, Zoom has been a clear winner since everything from business meetings, classroom lessons and even office ‘drinks’ went virtual via the video conferencing platform. The California-based company has [...]
Pubs shut and supermarkets closed: Pingdemic rips through recovery July 19, 2021 Supermarkets and pubs shut their doors today as the so-called “pingdemic” results in staff shortages across the country. Iceland boss Richard Walker said some of their 1,000 UK stores had been forced to close by the NHS app ‘pinging’ staff with orders to self-isolate. And the CEO of pub chain Greene King, Nick Mackenzie, has [...]
Tencent pushes British gaming group Sumo to hit $1.27bn valuation in bid to buy July 19, 2021 Chinese tech giant Tencent has pushed the valuation of video game group Sumo to hit $1.27bn today in its bid to buy the British firm. Sumo’s shareholders will gain 513p per share, Tencent said, at a 43 per cent premium to Sumo’s last closing price of 358p. The British video game group, behind games like [...]
