Businesses must step up and raise their sustainability game July 18, 2019 When it comes to making sure that our day-to-day consumption is as environmentally friendly as possible, where does responsibility lie? According to new KPMG research, believe it or not, just 15 per cent of consumers point to policymakers, and only 10 per cent think that they themselves are responsible. The majority – 53 per cent [...]
GSK eyes former Astrazeneca CFO for empty chair July 14, 2019 Drugmaker Glaxosmithkline is set to announce the former finance boss of Astrazeneca as its new chair to oversee the breakup of the business. GSK is preparing to appoint Jonathan Symonds as its new non-executive chair, Sky News reported earlier. Read more: GSK to split as it forms £9.8bn consumer health venture with Pfizer The announcement [...]
UK ploughs ahead with digital services tax despite US backlash July 11, 2019 The UK has vowed to plough ahead with a digital services tax on large tech companies, just hours after the US launched a probe into France for a similar levy. The government today published draft legislation for its next finance bill, which includes a new tax aimed tech giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Google. [...]
France passes digital services tax despite US investigation July 11, 2019 France has given final approval to a new digital services tax on tech giants, despite protests from the US that the move unfairly targets American companies. The three per cent levy will apply to digital revenue earned in France by multinational tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon. Read more: France will tax Amazon [...]
UK economic growth beats expectations but contraction worries remain July 10, 2019 The UK economy expanded by 0.3 per cent in the three months to the end of May, official statistics have shown, beating analysts’ expectations of just 0.1 per cent growth. Read more: UK service sector ‘close to stagnation’ as economy slows The better-than-predicted growth, shown in data released today by the Office for National Statistics [...]
City Moves for 10 July – Who’s switching jobs? July 10, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Waverton, Royal London Asset Management and Octopus Ventures. Waverton Waverton Investment Management has announced the appointment of Michael Allen as chief operating officer (COO). Michael joins from Lazard Asset Management, where he was COO for London, Dublin and Dubai. Michael has more than 30 years’ industry experience including roles as COO [...]
Sterling trades at two-year lows as recession worries mount July 9, 2019 The pound was trading at two-year lows against the dollar today as investors become increasingly gloomy about the UK economy’s second-quarter performance. Read more: Brexit uncertainty plagues business investment Sterling had fallen 0.5 per cent by 4.30pm UK time to buy $1.246, a price not traded at since mid-2017. Against the euro it had dropped [...]
Recruiter Robert Walters boosts profit despite Brexit hit to UK hires July 9, 2019 Listed recruiter Robert Walters has upped earnings in the second quarter of the year despite taking an eight per cent profit hit from its UK home market. Read more: Robert Walters grows profit in robust first quarter Robert Walters recorded a seven per cent rise in gross profit to £106.4m in the quarter to the [...]
June retail sales drop drags average to 20-year low July 9, 2019 Declining retail sales in June dragged the yearly average down to the lowest level in more than 20 years as this summer’s weather failed to match the 2018 heatwave. Total sales decreased by 1.3 per cent in June, compared to a rise of 2.3 per cent in the same month last year, according to research [...]
British Airways owner set for record £183m fine after 2018 data breach July 8, 2019 British Airways is gearing up to face a record £183m fine by authorities after a data breach caused it to lose more than 400,000 customers’ information. The airline’s owner, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), announced this morning it would make “any necessary appeals” in response to the penalty. Read more: British Airways data breach: How [...]