UK unemployment rate unexpectedly falls to 4.8 per cent May 18, 2021 Britain’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.8 per cent between January and March, official figures showed this morning. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to hold at 4.9 per cent during the first quarter of the year, given that the country was in lockdown. The rate of employment in the UK increased for the fifth [...]
BDO becomes latest auditor to tell staff to work where they like May 17, 2021 BDO has told staff to decide where they would like to work post-pandemic, in a move that adopts a more flexible model than some of its rivals. The challenger audit firm will ask staff to work wherever is most productive, depending upon the task they are doing. For most people this will likely mean a [...]
Miner Petropavlovsk strikes gold despite challenges at the top May 17, 2021 Petropavlovsk produced 548.1koz of gold last year, a six per cent increase on the previous year, despite a difficult period that saw a bloody boardroom battle and new CEO. The miner saw an 18 per cent decline to 385.6koz of own gold produced, but a 256 per cent increase to 162.5koz of gold produced from [...]
Pendragon facing massive shareholder revolt over pay at AGM – report May 14, 2021 Car dealer Pendragon is facing a huge shareholder revolt over its chief executive’s bonus package at next week’s annual general meeting (AGM). According to Sky News, several of the firm’s directors could be voted off the board in protest over the renumeration of its executives. It reported that remuneration committee chair Mike Wright was looking [...]
High Court gives Virgin Active CVA green light in further blow for landlords May 12, 2021 Landlords have lost their legal challenge against Virgin Active’s restructuring plan, in the second high profile defeat for commercial property owners this week. Today’s High Court judgement will come as a further blow to landlords hoping to challenge tenants over Company Voluntary Arrangements. It comes after the court gave New Look the green light to [...]
Exclusive: Quarter of UK businesses to close or downsize offices as UK embraces hybrid working May 10, 2021 More than a quarter (26%) of UK businesses will either close, downsize or consolidate their offices in the coming months, as companies move to hybrid working models. More than half (53%) of businesses plan to offer more flexible or remote working policies, while 30 per cent are expecting employees in the office between one and [...]
BrewDog: Best in show May 10, 2021 BrewDog is reinventing what it means to be a modern British business. CFO Niall McCallum CA tells Laurence Eastham why purpose drives the Ellon-based beer maker’s success. This article first appeared in ICAS’ CA magazine. BrewDog is a great Scottish success story. The brewery and bar chain, founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin [...]
Queen’s cousin Prince Michael accused of using royal status to ‘sell access’ to Vladimir Putin May 9, 2021 An undercover investigation has claimed Prince Michael of Kent was willing to use his royal status for personal profit, and to seek favours from Russian president Vladimir Putin. The Queen’s cousin told undercover reporters posing as investors from South Korea in a virtual meeting that he could be hired for £10,000 a day to make [...]
Square Mile’s largest employers embrace hybrid working, the details May 8, 2021 The majority of the largest employers in the City of London have vowed to continue with some sort of hybrid approach to working, after pandemic-led restrictions forced the biggest home working experiment in history. With Covid-19 cases falling and millions of people successfully vaccinated, staff are trickling back into London’s offices, and companies are turning [...]
Ministers to start searching for new audit watchdog chair May 7, 2021 The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will shortly kick off the search for the new chair of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). BEIS will advertise for the role in the coming weeks, Sky News first reported. The FRC’s current interim chair Keith Skeoch has reportedly had his contract extended in recent weeks [...]