National Express pulls dividend and secures £800m in new cash facilities April 14, 2020 Transport group National Express said today it was scrapping its dividend and keeping future dividends under review as it said it had secured £800m in new cash facilities. National Express said that two of its workers had died of coronavirus globally and that other members of staff were suffering from the virus. The company said [...]
Top scientists to review impact of UK coronavirus lockdown April 14, 2020 The government’s top scientific advisers will meet today to review the impact of the UK coronavirus lockdown. They will pass their findings to the government, though ministers have said it is unlikely the coronavirus lockdown will ease soon. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab yesterday ruled out any change to the UK coronavirus lockdown “until we’re confident…that [...]
Softbank warns of historic $16.7bn loss after coronavirus and bad bets April 14, 2020 Softbank expects to lose $16.7bn (£13.3bn) on tech startups it has invested in through its Vision Fund this year due to coronavirus. The Japanese company blamed the coronavirus pandemic for a “deteriorating market environment” as it booked its first loss in over 20 years. Softbank has also made some bad bets outside its $100bn Vision [...]
Asian stocks rise on Chinese trade data and easing of coronavirus measures April 14, 2020 Asian stocks rose this morning after better-than-expected trade data from China and as major economies began easing coronavirus restrictions. Data published today showing China’s exports in March fell only 6.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier – a smaller drop than the expected 14 per cent plunge – helped boost confidence. Imports [...]
Coronavirus: Optimism in financial services craters even before impact of Covid-19 fully felt April 14, 2020 A major survey of the financial services sector showed a collapse in confidence across the industry in March, even before the full force of Britain’s lockdown measures came into effect. The CBI/PwC survey saw only 12 per cent of firms say they were more optimistic about the overall business situation compared with three months ago, [...]
Coronavirus: UK job vacancies plummet in March April 14, 2020 The number of UK permanent job vacancies has been cut in half by the coronavirus outbreak, according to new figures. Jobs data, released today by growth analytics platform cube19 for the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), showed that permanent vacancies in the last week of March were down by 50 per cent year-on-year. Contract vacancies [...]
Labour chaos: Party launches investigation into leaked report April 13, 2020 Labour will launch an independent investigation into an internal report that has sparked vicious factional infighting. An 860-page dossier that was reportedly compiled to submit to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) investigation into antisemitism in the party was leaked last night. The report will now not be submitted to the EHRC, but it [...]
Government ‘does not expect’ UK social distancing measures to be eased April 13, 2020 Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has confirmed the government “does not expect” to lift its social distancing measures at this week’s review. Boris Johnson put the UK into effective lockdown last month and said it would be reviewed on a three-weekly basis. Speaking at today’s daily press briefing, Raab said: “This week Sage (the Scientific Advisory [...]
NMC Health administrators appoint new board of directors April 13, 2020 NMC Health’s administrators have replaced the board of the scandal-hit healthcare chain in a bid to improve governance. Consultancy firm Alvarez and Marshal have dismissed the previous board and replaced them with four non-executive directors to “provide more robust governance and oversee the work with the management teams”. Alvarez and Marshal were appointed as administrators [...]
