Thomas Cook tipped for relaunch as online-only travel agent September 7, 2020 Iconic travel agent Thomas Cook could be relaunched as early as this month, a year after the firm went bust in dramatic circumstances. Sky News reported that Chinese conglomerate Fosun, which bought the company’s name and intellectual property assets for just £11m, is drawing up plans to reinvent the 178-year-old firm as an online travel [...]
Samsung wins $6.6bn US 5G tech deal as Huawei tensions simmer September 7, 2020 Samsung Electronics today said it has won a $6.6bn deal with telecoms giant Verizon to provide wireless communications equipment for 5G in the US. The South Korean electronics magnate is benefiting from a gap in the market left by Chinese rival Huawei, analysts have said, which is banned from working with US companies by the [...]
Rolls-Royce sales rebound as luxury car firm commits to UK September 2, 2020 The boss of luxury car maker Rolls-Royce today said that the company was committed to a future in the UK, adding that demand for the firm’s vehicles has come back after the coronavirus lockdown. Speaking with Reuters as Rolls-Royce launched a new £250,000 car, Torsten Muller-Otvos described the firm as one of the “crown jewels” [...]
FTSE 100 slides as pound surges but US stocks continue to rise September 1, 2020 The FTSE 100 slumped as the pound soared, but the relentless rise of the big US tech companies continued on a choppy day’s trading. London’s blue-chip stock index slid 1.8 per cent to stand at 5,859 points in afternoon trading. The FTSE 250 index of mid-cap firms shed one per cent. Read more: Asian markets [...]
Asian markets rise after strong Chinese manufacturing data September 1, 2020 Asian markets rose today after strong readings on China’s vast manufacturing sector offset the weak lead from a softer Wall Street session. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent, to regain some ground it had lost on Monday. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong traded 0.18 per cent higher [...]
EDF to shut Hunterston nuclear plant in January 2022 August 27, 2020 EDF today announced that the Hunterston B nuclear power station in Scotland would begin decommissioning in January 2022 at the latest. The plant, which began generating electricity in 1976, provides enough power to run 1.7m homes. It had been expected that the plant would continue to operate until March 2023, but EDF said it had [...]
Tiktok ‘nears deal’ for sale of US operations after chief exec quits August 27, 2020 Short-form video app Tiktok is nearing a deal for its US operations, CNBC reported today, ahead of a potential ban in the country. The reports come just hours after chief executive Kevin Mayer quit his role at the firm, citing political pressure from the White House. According to the report, Mayer was initially going to [...]
Bumper summer for IPOs with fastest start to second half since 2007 August 27, 2020 Companies are pressing on with plans to go public even amid second wave fears, with the fastest start to the second half of the year since 2007. A global total of 241 initial public offerings (IPOs) have been recorded during the second half of the year so far, according to data from Refinitiv. Listings inevitably [...]
European electric vehicle sales surpass China for first time since 2015 August 26, 2020 Sales of European passenger electric vehicles in the first half of 2020 exceeded those in China for the first time in five years. According to a report from Bloomberg, around 380,000 electric vehicles were sold over the 16 main European markets in the first six months of the year. Meanwhile, in China, which is widely [...]
FTSE 100 swings into the red as pound surges with US stocks mixed August 25, 2020 The FTSE 100 stumbled as traders shrugged off Brexit worries to bid up the pound, while US stocks were mixed after the US and China signalled progress on trade. London’s main stock index was 0.3 per cent lower at 6,088 points in afternoon trading, having dropped back after climbing more than one per cent. The [...]