Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal faces first of three crucial days October 22, 2019 Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal will face its first parliamentary hurdle today with the PM facing a tough battle to deliver his promise to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October. Johnson is attempting to push through the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which was published last night, in just three days. Read [...]
Travis Perkins halts sale of plumbing and heating unit amid ‘unprecedented’ uncertainty October 22, 2019 Travis Perkins has put the sale of its plumbing and heating business on hold due to an “unprecedented level of uncertainty” in the market. The building materials distributor had decided to tell the unit last December in a bid to simplify and cut costs. Read more: Travis Perkins confirms plans to demerge Wickes But the [...]
On the Beach swoops in for Thomas Cook market share after collapse October 22, 2019 Package holiday firm On the Beach has jumped at the opportunity created by the collapse of Thomas Cook, it said today, nudging shares up in early trading. The London-listed firm said the failure of the 178-year-old travel giant has “created an unprecedented opportunity to take additional market share at an increased rate”. Read more: Thomas [...]
Shard Times at the Shangri-La October 22, 2019 The Shangri-La hotel at the top of the Shard has revealed it booked a £56.2m pre-tax loss last year, driven by an impairment charge from writing down the value of its assets following years of weak results. Occupying floors 34 to 52 of the Shard, it is the tallest hotel in western Europe and swung [...]
Stop taking Britain’s glittering fintech status for granted October 22, 2019 The preaviling narrative in the UK is that the Europeans were deeply disappointed by the 2016 Brexit referendum result, and have been imploring Britain to think again. And, indeed, some have. But, just like British Leave voters in 2016, many Europeans regard Brexit as a unique opportunity for their own countries. Over recent months, I [...]
Bottom third of banks facing ‘do or die’ moment, report warns October 22, 2019 More than a third of banks across the world must merge with rivals or radically restructure in order to survive any future downturn, according to a new report out this morning. Flattening yield curves, weakening consumer confidence and slowing growth in volumes and top-line revenues all pose a “do or die” moment for a large [...]
MPs demand parliament’s pension fund divests from fossil fuels October 22, 2019 Three hundred MPs are calling on the trustees of the £700m Parliamentary Pension Fund to end their investments in fossil fuel companies. The cross-party initiative has the support of the leaders of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP as well as senior Conservatives. It comes as the fund’s trustees are preparing to announce a [...]
Timetable vote threatens to derail PM’s Halloween Brexit pledge October 21, 2019 A normally run-of-the-mill vote on parliamentary business today threatens to derail Boris Johnson’s last chance to get Brexit done by 31 October. A programme motion, setting out the timetable for debating the crucial Withdrawal Agreement bill (WAB), could be rejected by the alliance of opposition MPs and Tory Remainers who argue that it does not [...]
BHP to switch Chilean copper operations to renewables by 2021 October 21, 2019 Mining giant BHP has announced today that it will supply all its Chilean copper operations through renewable energy from 2021. Daniel Malchuck, president of BHP Minerals Americas, said that it had signed four energy contracts, covering projects such as Escondida, the world’s biggest copper mine. Read more: Temasek makes 3bn offer to take control of [...]
GSK continues pharmaceuticals push with $1.1bn vaccines sale October 21, 2019 Glaxosmithkline (GSK) has today announced the sale of two travel vaccines worth up to $1.1bn (£846.9m) to Bavarian Nordic, continuing its push into the cancer drug market. The sales of Rabipur, an anti-rabies drug, and Encipur, which is used to prevent encephalitis, to the Denmark-based biotech firm, will include an upfront payment of €301m (£258.5m), [...]