Veolia lures HGV drivers with £1,500 sign-on bonus as shortage swells to 100,000 August 19, 2021 French multinational Veolia told City A.M. this afternoon it is offering a £1,500 bonus for HGV drivers to join its waste collection operations across London. The move comes as businesses across the country are experiencing a drop in trained HGV drivers due to a combination of factors from Brexit, Covid-19 and a testing backlog. The [...]
Royal London insurance moves head office to EightyFen in heart of the City August 19, 2021 Mutual life insurance company Royal London has this morning announced it has taken up 55,000 sq ft of office space at 80 Fenchurch Street for its new headquarters in the City. The largest mutual life insurance company in the UK, with assets under management of £153bn, will enjoy panoramic views across London from the top [...]
‘Pingdemic’ suffocates pubs and restaurants as growth slows for first time since March August 19, 2021 Worker shortages triggered by the “pingdemic” are hitting pubs, bars and restaurants’ trading, according to fresh figures released today. According to Lloyds Bank’s UK recovery tracker, output at food and drink businesses dropped in July as a result these firms struggling to scale supply amid staff shortages and high rates of self-isolation. Output at food [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? August 18, 2021 City A.M.’s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. London First completes leadership shuffle Business lobby organisation London First has strengthened its leadership team this week as it channels its focus on the capital’s return to growth, emerging from the pandemic. Former director of corporate [...]
Persimmon forward sales up 9 per cent from pre-pandemic levels August 18, 2021 Housebuilding business Persimmon reported a 64 per cent leap in profits in the six months to June 30th, posting £480.1m in earnings up from £292.4m in the same period last year. The company expects a “good” forward sales of £2.23bn, up 9 per cent compared to £2.05bn from the same period in 2019. Forward sales [...]
Weaker than expected retail sales drags Wall Street down August 17, 2021 US stocks edged down during the open today after official figures showed US retail sales were much weaker than expected in July. The blue-chip S&P 500 dropped 0.55 per cent to 4,455.46 points and the Dow Jones lost 0.83 per cent to fall to 35,328.87 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq extended the traditional benchmark’s losses to [...]
Britain 2030: Reviving the industrial spirit along the River Thames August 17, 2021 Snaking inland from the dark of the North Sea, the River Thames has for centuries been the very lifeblood of London. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was the Thames that put the capital right at the heart of Britain’s global empire, turning it into the modern, thriving metropolis it is today. Travel just [...]
Just Eat posts revenue surge of 52 per cent but struggles to turn a profit in fight for market share August 17, 2021 Strong demand for food delivery amid the last of the Covid restrictions persisted in the first half of the year and boosted Just Eat Takeaway’s revenue, but efforts to increase its share of the crowded market impacted profitability. Revenue in the first six months of the year grew to €2.6 bn (£2.2bn) – a 52 [...]
HMRC releases excuses for not paying minimum wage: ‘I only pay them when they are actually serving someone’ August 17, 2021 The taxman has revealed the most absurd excuses it has received from businesses explaining why they are not paying staff the national minimum wage. Some of the excuses included one business owner justifying not paying their staff the national minimum wage due to their workers often being “on standby when there are no customers in [...]
Exclusive: Brexit and Covid spark UK workforce rethink as war on talent heats up August 17, 2021 Nearly half of British business leaders fear losing the UK’s best talent abroad following the pandemic and Brexit, according to new research shared exclusively with City A.M. this morning. The complexity of the decisions facing leadership as they define the next era of the workplace is illustrated in the research’s findings. For a starter, 29 [...]