M&S sinks to a loss as store closures hammer clothing business May 26, 2021 M&S has reported an annual loss as sales in its clothing division collapsed during the pandemic. The high street stalwart reported a £201.2m pre-tax loss in the 52 weeks to 27 March 2021, down from a pre-tax profit of £67.2m in the previous year. M&S Food sales dipped 0.6 per cent across the year with [...]
Switzerland heads for Brexit-like EU clash with €227bn at stake from today May 26, 2021 From today, Swiss medical-technology companies will no longer be allowed to export duty-free to the European Union as Bern and Brussels failed to agree to a long-anticipated political treaty that would cover trade between the two countries. The goods-trading relationship at risk is worth $278bn, with medical-technology companies being the latest casualty of a deteriorating [...]
Nationwide launches £1m monthly prize draw for customers May 26, 2021 Millions of Nationwide Building Society customers will have the chance to win up to £100,000 in a new monthly prize draw, without having to do anything to take part. Those eligible will be automatically entered for the chance to win a share of a total £1 million per month prize pot. Britain’s biggest building society [...]
Put-in the diary: Biden to meet Russian President in June May 25, 2021 Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will meet in Geneva for face-to-face talks next month. The meeting will be the first since Biden took the Presidency in January 2021. The White House said the conversation would touch on “the full range of pressing issues,” with relations between the two sour. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump had a [...]
Deutsche Bank to move another 100 jobs out of London in post-Brexit overhaul May 25, 2021 Deutsche Bank is moving 100 jobs out of London and relocating the roles to the EU and Asia as the lender overhauls its corporate bank in the aftermath of Brexit. Germany’s biggest lender is making a quarter of the division’s 400 staff redundant, with their roles moved to Dublin, Berlin, Frankfurt and cities across Asia, [...]
Over half of financial services professionals claim ‘greenwashing’ is rife in the industry, study says May 25, 2021 More than half of financial services professionals believe ‘greenwashing’ is rife within the industry, according to a study released today, as employees fear competitors intentionally inflate their sustainable practices. The study by data agency iResearch Services, which polled 550 decision-makers at financial institutions, also found that 38 per cent believe every business is operating ‘unethically’ [...]
Big construction firms risk choking SMEs of key materials amid global shortages May 25, 2021 Big construction firms have today been warned that they risk choking smaller companies of essential building supplies amid the current global shortage of raw materials. The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) said that larger firms able to buy supplies in bulk were not yet feeling the pinch of the situation, which it said would get worse. [...]
UK-EU trade tumbles a quarter in first three months since end of Brexit transition period May 25, 2021 The total volume of trade between the UK and the EU plunged nearly a quarter in the first three months after the end of the Brexit transition agreement. New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today showed that total trade fell 23.1 per cent in the quarter, as compared with the same three [...]
Wave of dealmaking sees 123 UK firms taken over by private equity during pandemic May 25, 2021 The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for a wave of private equity takeovers of UK firms, with their value reaching their highest level since the financial crisis. While coronavirus initially triggered a slowdown in dealmaking, private equity houses gained momentum by the autumn with a string of high-profile and high-value deals. Some 123 UK [...]
Made.com: Online furniture seller plots London IPO May 25, 2021 Made.com has unveiled plans for an initial public offering in London after cashing in on rapid growth during the pandemic. The online furniture retailer today said it will seek to raise roughly £100m through the issue of new shares, while the float will include an offer of shares to be sold by existing shareholders. The [...]