AA: More customers helps profit surge at breakdown giant October 16, 2024 A growing customer base has helped boost profit at the AA after a US investor took a £450m stake in the motoring group. The breakdown giant has posted a pre-tax profit of £39m for the six months to the end of July 2024, up 70 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. The [...]
Klarna grows UK network by a third in buy-now pay-later boom October 15, 2024 Klarna said its network of UK merchants has grown by roughly a third over the last year in a sign of booming demand for buy-now pay-later services among British consumers.
Bosses at world’s biggest banks: Britain is ‘ready for investment’ October 14, 2024 Bosses at five of the world’s biggest banks, along with a host of insurers, private equity firms and tech giants, have backed a push to invest in the UK ahead of the government’s flagship investment summit today. More than a dozen executives signed a letter stating that they were optimistic about the future of the [...]
Starmer vows to rip up the red tape at investment summit October 14, 2024 Prime Minister Keir Starmer will today promise to rip up the red tape that is needlessly holding back investment in a bid to galvanise economic growth. Starmer is set to make the pledge in a speech at the government’s inaugural International Investment Summit, which kicks off today at the Guildhall in the heart of the [...]
We can teach you how to disagree October 14, 2024 When businesses suffer from groupthink they miss out on opportunities for growth, innovation and profits. Enter The Provocation People, a left-leaning LSE professor and pro-Brexit, free market former MP, to help you embrace disagreement Businesses suffer from groupthink – even when they claim to embrace disagreement and dissent. And individuals are frequently hostile towards different [...]
Polar Capital shakes off August’s market meltdown October 10, 2024 Polar Capital has reported an uptick in assets under management after the specialist fund manager shook off a hit from August's market meltdown.
Amazon announces raft of new AI gambits as it battles rise of Temu and Shein October 9, 2024 Amazon has announced a raft of new artificial intelligence (AI) features and technologies to speed up deliveries and reduce costs across its business. The logistics giant plans to deploy a fleet of 1,000 electric delivery vans with a new AI-powered ‘vision-assisted package retrieval’ (VAPR) technology that allows drivers to find packages faster and more easily. [...]
British ‘godfather of AI’ awarded Nobel prize but warns tech could ‘get out of control’ October 8, 2024 A British scientist dubbed the ‘godfather of AI’ has been honoured with a Nobel Prize in Physics, but warned of the “existential risk” it posed if technology gets “out of control”. Professor Geoffrey Hinton, born in the UK and a professor at the University of Toronto in Canada, said he was extremely surprised to be [...]
The Ada Lovelace day, let’s call time on ‘tech bro’ culture October 8, 2024 Only 21 per cent of tech sector specialists in the UK are female and Black women comprise less than one per cent. This Ada Lovelace Day, let’s not just celebrate the achievements of female tech pioneers, but inspire the next generation too, says Julia Adamson As we celebrate Ada Lovelace day, we must reflect on [...]
How Labour can deliver an industrial renaissance October 7, 2024 Energy transition can be economic transition, writes Aniruddha Sharma, Chair & CEO of Carbon Clean Blink and you could have missed it, yet a brief sentence in the King’s Speech in July signalleda huge statement of intent in generating economic growth. The new government’scommitment to establishing an Industrial Strategy Council sent an encouraging signal tobusiness. [...]