UK green lights £1.3bn of housing and infrastructure spending August 4, 2020 Proposals to build more than 70,000 new homes and start a raft of commercial infrastructure projects were given the green light today in a £1.3bn funding announcement from the UK government. More than 300 projects in England – including a £23m commercial development in Manchester and a £14.88m investment in building residential homes on Brownfield [...]
Oil prices sink as fears of second wave dent rising fuel demand August 4, 2020 Global oil prices slipped back today amid rising fears that a second wave of coronavirus cases will strike just as oil producers begin to bring more output back onstream. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 1.6 per cent to $40.60, while global standard Brent crude dropped back 1.1 per cent to $43.66. Numbers of cases [...]
Booking.com to axe a quarter of workforce August 4, 2020 The owner of holiday firm Booking.com has today confirmed that it will cut its 17,000 strong workforce by a quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic. A spokeswoman for Booking Holding confirmed reports of the cuts, which had been announced internally in a video from chief executive Glenn Fogel. “Unfortunately, as a result of the crisis, [...]
EU launches full-scale probe of Google-Fitbit merger August 4, 2020 The EU has decided to launch a full-scale investigation of Google’s proposed $2.1bn takeover of Fitbit, after an initial probe prompted concerns. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, closed a preliminary review today that determined further investigation of the deal was needed to ensure Google would not use Fitbit’s data to benefit its online [...]
Office space provider IWG takes £156m hit on coronavirus crisis August 4, 2020 Office space provider IWG announced it will take a £156m hit due to the coronavirus pandemic as it shrinks its portfolio by four per cent amid a home-working boom. IWG’s share price dropped more than five per cent today after it announced it will accelerate its office closure plans due to the Covid-19 crisis, with [...]
Easyjet chief: We will keep flying to quarantined countries if there is demand August 4, 2020 Easyjet’s chief executive Johan Lundgren has said that the airline will not stop flying to destinations if the government chooses to reimpose quarantine restrictions on them while demand to travel to them remains. Speaking to City A.M., he said: “People, as we have seen with Portugal for example, are willing to take the sacrifice of [...]
CMA gives Amazon’s Deliveroo investment the all-clear August 4, 2020 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially cleared Amazon’s 16 per cent stake in food delivery startup Deliveroo, after a lengthy investigation process. The watchdog awarded the deal initial clearance in April on the basis that Deliveroo could go out of business without the Amazon investment, but later changed its methodology to just focus [...]
Dixons Carphone cuts 800 jobs in store management restructure August 4, 2020 Dixons Carphone has announced it will slash 800 roles as part of a store management restructuring plan. The retailer, which owns Carphone Warehouse and Currys PC World, said the job cuts were part of a plan to create “one joined up business”. The announcement brings the number of job losses announced this week to 3,600, [...]
WHO warns UK about need to implement coronavirus test and trace ‘properly’ August 4, 2020 The UK is at risk of a having significant surges of coronavirus cases if the NHS Test and Trace programme is not up to scratch, according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Covid envoy. Dr David Nabarro said today that if “testing and tracing and isolation just is not done properly” then it would lead [...]
Argentina strikes deal with creditors over $65bn debt in major breakthrough August 4, 2020 Argentina has reached a deal with its largest creditors to restructure $65bn (£50bn) in defaulted sovereign debt, in a major step forward in long-running talks. The South American country’s government hailed the breakthrough, saying in a statement that it will “grant Argentina significant debt relief”. Argentina’s economy has been battered in recent years by high [...]
