Orange barmy army: Network Rail spends £103m on Christmas upgrades to rail infrastructure January 3, 2017 Network Rail hailed the success of its "orange army" of workers and revealed it had forked out £103m over the Christmas break upgrading Britain's rail network. The work was carried out at almost 200 locations across the UK. Meanwhile, commuters into London Waterloo will be pleased to hear that £4.5m of work scheduled at the station, or on the tracks [...]
BBA and Gama get together: UK-listed aviation rivals agree joint venture January 3, 2017 BBA Aviation will merge its aircraft management and charter operations with a rival's US subsidiary, creating one of the largest businesses of its type in the world, it said today. The tie-up with Gama Aviation, also listed on the London Stock Exchange, will create a combined business with over 200 aircraft. The new business will be called Gama Aviation Signature Aircraft [...]
Wealth manager drafts in TSB chairman to drive future business growth January 3, 2017 One of the key players who oversaw the TSB split from Lloyds Bank will take over as chairman of a City wealth manager with over 150 years of history. Will Samuel will add the role at Tilney Bestinvest to the same position he holds at TSB. Outgoing chair Mike Covell hailed the appointment after six years in the [...]
Ginsters owner to team-up with celebrity-backed Cornish pasty firm January 3, 2017 Baker Greggs' UK pasty dominance is to come under increasing pressure as two of its rivals are set to announce a tie-up as part of a multi-million pound deal. Samworth Brothers, which owns a variety of brands including Ginsters, will announce this week plans to buy West Cornwall Pasty Co – a celebrity-backed firm that was saved [...]
WhatsApp extends deadline by six months for stopping services on less popular devices January 3, 2017 Blackberry and Nokia phone users have been given a WhatsApp reprieve after previously been told the cross-platform app would stop working on phones at the end of 2016. In February last year, WhatsApp revealed plans to bin support for WhatsApp messenger on a number of devices and platforms that were either outdated or only a minority of [...]
Pension deficits hit a record year-end high as experts warn on implications January 3, 2017 Britain's pension gap almost doubled during 2016 to the highest ever year-end level, according to data released today. The aggregate deficit of defined benefit pension schemes leapt to £434bn, according to JLT Employee Benefits, up from £233bn, 12 months before. Although deficits have pared back from all-time highs of over £500bn in August, experts predicted bumper pension [...]
Retail cold snap: New Year footfall plummets at Britain’s shopping centres January 2, 2017 The UK high street experienced a sales cold snap at the weekend as new figures showed footfall fell nearly 13 per cent nationwide while in shopping centres it slumped by a massive 50 per cent. Poor weather, an early December spending spree and bank holiday trading hours deterred shoppers from venturing outdoors on New Year’s Day, [...]
Working for longer isn’t an option for those who are forced into early retirement, survey finds January 2, 2017 Many of the Britain's workers are being forced into early retirement due to illness or redundancy according to new figures released today. More than four in 10 of retired people have been forced to quit full-time positions due to circumstances outside of their control, a survey by Just Retirement has revealed. The news is a concern [...]
Grinding to a halt: Southern rail services set for the sidings next week with no talks scheduled January 2, 2017 Commuters are bracing themselves for the longest wholesale shutdown of the Southern rail network starting next week. Combined strike action by both drivers union Aslef and guards union the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will take place between 9 and 14 January, extending longer than the three-day strikes previously held. The dispute between unions, Southern [...]
Axa reveals the cost of Bluefin’s sale to Marsh & McLennan January 2, 2017 Axa will take a €82m (£70m) hit from its £295m sale of UK small business insurance broker Bluefin to US giant Marsh & McLennan. The sale, previously announced in November and referred to by Marsh's boss as "very much a post-Brexit deal", completed today. The move by the French insurer followed the £395m sale of its SunLife [...]
