Lorry driver shortage ‘could hit Black Friday and Christmas’ July 27, 2021 A senior executive at one of the UK’s largest logistics companies has warned that supply chains are facing six to 12 months of pressure due to the current shortage of lorry drivers. Ian Keilty, chief operating officer at FTSE firm Wincanton, said that both Black Friday and Christmas shopping could be hampered by the shortfall. [...]
Digital credentials are not the enemy – they are the next step of innovation and efficiency July 27, 2021 They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Sometimes, significant challenges force us to innovate and we find solutions not just for the current need but ones that will endure in the future. We should continually set new standards of efficiency and resilience. Today, we are used to trusting technology to make our lives [...]
Rishi Sunak: ‘Britcoin’ will not replace cash July 26, 2021 Rishi Sunak has hosed down any suggestion that the government could replace cash with a digital currency dubbed “Britcoin”. Sunak said in a LinkedIn post that the government has “not yet made a decision on whether to introduce a [Central Bank Digital Currency] in the UK”, after reports over the weekend suggested the chancellor wants [...]
Senior management redundancies spike in the wake of Brexit July 26, 2021 Structural changes to the financial services sector following Britain’s exit from the EU has led to a spike in redundancy rates for senior managers. Research from Fox & Partners indicates a nine-fold increase in senior management redundancies. Last year saw 559 senior managers in the sector lose their jobs, up from 61 the year before. [...]
The Northern Ireland Protocol was only ever a placeholder to get Brexit over the line – now the real work begins July 26, 2021 Mention Northern Ireland to a British politician and he or she will edge towards the door. With some notable exceptions such as John Major and Peter Mandelson, our leaders have tended to regard Northern Ireland as a strange land where normal rules do not apply: sectarian divisions they don’t understand and political parties which don’t [...]
Cash holdings: UK corporates’ £109bn warchest increasingly a rival to private equity in M&A July 26, 2021 UK corporates have seen their aggregate net cash holdings rise from £20bn to £109bn since March 2020 and the start of the Covid pandemic, a jump of 500 per cent. The build up in cash balances has been so dramatic that UK corporates are increasingly seen as a serious rival to private equity funds in [...]
Wine lovers to save £130m as Brexit red tape cut July 26, 2021 Ministers are set to give British wine-lovers something to celebrate with red tape adding £130m to the naion’s booze bill set to be scrapped. VI-1 certificates, a post-Brexit document importers were set to be required to fill in when shipping to the UK, will no longer be launched. Food and Drink Minister Victoria Prentis said, [...]
Vodafone returns to revenue growth despite pandemic-bruised retail levels July 23, 2021 Vodafone has reported a robust rise in revenue in its first-quarter trading as the company returned to growth in Europe despite not yet operating at pre-pandemic levels. The British telecoms giant pulled in total revenues of €11.1bn (£9.5bn) over the three-month period, up 5.6 per cent on last year. This included a surprise 3.3 per [...]
The UK and France mulling Covid ‘wallet’ app for safe foreign travel July 23, 2021 The UK and France are in talks to roll out a digital “wallet” with all necessary Covid-19 documentation needed for safe foreign travel. The travel app seeks to end paper-based bureaucracy which adds another tally to the list of things to forget at home as a holiday-goer. Transport secretary Grant Shapps met with his French [...]
Carbon capture development costs could surpass £40bn by 2035, trade body says July 22, 2021 The cost of development of clean hydrogen and greenhouse gas removals could surpass £40bn by 2035, according to a new report by the UK’s carbon capture trade body. The report by the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), found that around 85 per cent of the lofty cost is expected to be spent on onshore [...]