Bottoms up: Naked Wines sales surge even as lockdown ends July 24, 2020 Online wine seller Naked Wines today said its sales surged 67 per cent in June compared with last year as orders continued to rise even after the easing of the coronavirus-triggered lockdown in Britain. The company also announced the departure of chairman John Walden, who has led the group through the sale of the Majestic [...]
Barclays’ bailout talks peppered with sexist language, court hears July 23, 2020 Barclays bankers seeking credit crisis-era emergency funding used sexist and disparaging language when discussing the businesswoman whose firm led a £3.25bn investment in the bank in 2008, according to court documents. Stephen Jones, a former Barclays banker who resigned as CEO of British bank lobby group UK Finance in June over historic remarks about Amanda [...]
High standards will keep London competitive, incoming FCA chief says July 22, 2020 Maintaining high regulatory standards rather than having a “competitiveness” mandate is the best way to preserve the City of London’s status as a dynamic financial centre, the Financial Conduct Authority’s incoming chief said today. Britain will no longer have to comply with European Union rules after December when transition arrangements that followed Brexit in January [...]
Trump offers message of support to Ghislaine Maxwell July 22, 2020 President Donald Trump has said that he wished alleged sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell well, noting that he had met her multiple times in the past, but he had little else to say on the case involving the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Trump, speaking at his first coronavirus briefing in weeks yesterday, was asked if he [...]
Lockdown drinking boosts Remy Cointreau’s outlook July 21, 2020 Premium spirits maker Remy Cointreau said on Tuesday it expected mid-year core profit to fall between 35 per cent and 40 per cent, an improvement on previous guidance, as it posted better-than-expected sales, thanks to resilient consumption in the United States and Britain. The maker of Cointreau liqueur said it had performed remarkably well in [...]
IBM earnings beat estimates on cloud strength July 20, 2020 IBM posted quarterly revenue and profit above analysts’ estimates today, riding on the strength of its high-margin cloud computing business. IBM has jettisoned some of its legacy business to focus on cloud computing, an area that has seen a lot of action in recent years as companies ramp up their digital shift to control costs [...]
Ebay to sell classified ads unit to Adevinta for nearly $9bn July 20, 2020 Norwegian group Adevinta has won the auction to buy US e-commerce firm Ebay’s classified-ads unit for nearly $9bn, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters today. Ebay intends to keep a minority stake in the business following the close of the deal, the source said. Activist investors Elliott Management and Starboard Value had been pushing Ebay to sell [...]
Global banks ‘scrutinise Hong Kong clients for pro-democracy ties’ July 20, 2020 Global banks are examining whether their clients in Hong Kong have ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement, sources have warned Six people with knowledge of the matter said banks are scrutinising clients in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crosshairs of China’s new national security law. Bankers at Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S), [...]
UK set to suspend Hong Kong extradition treaty July 20, 2020 The UK will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong today in a further escalation of its dispute with China over the introduction of a security law in the former colony, British newspapers reported. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who on Sunday accused China of “gross” human rights violations, will announce the suspension of the treaty [...]
Deloitte: Big UK businesses fear late 2021 recovery July 20, 2020 Nearly half of Britain’s biggest companies think it will take until the second half of 2021 to post a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey that cast doubt on hopes for a speedier rebound. Accountants Deloitte said 49 per cent of chief financial officers from large and mostly listed companies forecast a [...]
