Robot delivery service Starship Technologies targets students in $40m raise August 20, 2019 Starship Technologies, a US tech firm headed by former Airbnb exec Lex Bayer, has raised $40m (£33.1m) in a series A funding round. The investment was led by Morpheus Ventures with participation from Shasta Ventures, Matrix Partners, Metaplanet Holdings, TDK Ventures, Qu Ventures and others. Starship’s autonomous robot delivery fleet operates in cities across the [...]
Sainsbury’s shares lifted by strong performance but hottest day fails to revive flagging grocery sales August 20, 2019 Sainsbury’s led FTSE 100 risers this morning following the news the supermarket had put in its strongest performance since November 2017. The supermarket put in the strongest performance of all the big four grocers, but still saw its market share slip 0.6 per cent over the past 12 weeks, according to Kantar data released this [...]
Cheesed off: Watchdog bans two adverts in first crackdown on harmful gender stereotypes August 14, 2019 The advertising watchdog has banned two adverts in its first crackdown on campaigns that feature harmful gender stereotypes. In landmark rulings published today, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) censured Mondelez and Volkswagen following complaints their ads portrayed male and female roles and characteristics in a way that caused offence. Read more: Advertising watchdog bans junk [...]
Squashed: Britvic looks to cut final salary pensions August 11, 2019 Drinks producer Britvic is planning to slash the money it pays out to 6,000 members of its final salary pension scheme. The FTSE 250 firm, which produces Robinsons soft drinks, is looking for court approval to stop measuring inflation according to the retail prices index (RPI), and instead switch to the consumer prices index (CPI). [...]
Recruiters warn City job hunters over old social media posts August 11, 2019 That embarrassing tweet you did and forgot all about five years ago could cost you a top job in the City, recruiters are now warning. Old social media posts could come back to haunt those that made them, with many financial employers starting to scrutinise Twitter and Facebook accounts as part of their jobs-vetting process. [...]
Watchdog tells firms to go ‘above and beyond’ law to co-operate in investigations August 6, 2019 The fraud watchdog has told firms they will need to go “above and beyond what the law requires” if they want to co-operate with its investigations. Guidance of corporate co-operation released by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) states that firms need to be willing to identify any individuals suspected of wrongdoing “regardless of their seniority [...]
Tesco Metro prepares to slash 4,500 jobs August 5, 2019 Tesco is set to slash around 4,500 jobs across all of its 153 Metro stores, the company announced today as it battles with a tough retail environment. The cutbacks will reduce processes and administrative tasks across the stores, it said. Read more: Ocado and M&S share prices drop as they complete £750m online delivery deal [...]
SFO cuts spending on lawyers as conviction rate falls July 28, 2019 The serious fraud office’s (SFO) spending on staff and external counsel fell last year, while its conviction rate crumbled to just over 53 per cent. The figures, released in the SFO’s annual report, show spending on staff fell 2.4 per cent to £30.6m last year, with spending on external counsel dropping 5.7 per cent to [...]
Burford Capital posts profit bump as it hits back at critical analyst July 25, 2019 London-listed litigation funder Burford Capital today announced that its profit after tax grew 36 per cent to $225m (£180m) in the first half of 2019. The funder said litigation investment income in the six months to 30 June hit $264m, up 36 per cent from the same period the previous year. Burford said investment returns [...]
O2 will launch 5G network in London and five other cities in October 2019 July 25, 2019 O2 has revealed it will switch on its 5G network from October, aiming to go live in 20 towns and cities by the end of the year, including London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff. Belfast and Slough will also get 5G first in O2’s first wave of launches, as it races to bring that number to [...]