UK competitiveness as base for big airlines key to unlocking £111bn by 2050, report says August 8, 2023 The UK could benefit to the tune of £111bn and create over 629,000 local jobs by 2050 if it stays competitive as a hub for airlines to be based. Transport consultancy Steer’s report, commissioned by industry body Airlines UK, said propping up British-based carriers boosts local employment and supply chains, whilst financing public services through [...]
City minister slams British investors ‘defunding’ UK defence giants like BAE August 7, 2023 City minister Andrew Griffith has slammed UK investors’ decision to move away from the country’s top defence firms such as BAE Systems. According to data from the London Stock Exchange, reported by the Financial Times, fund managers based in the UK have cut their holdings in defence firms, including BAE Systems and Qinetiq, by around [...]
Virgin Galactic is set to fly tourists to the stars – but can space tourism become more than a hobby for the super rich? August 7, 2023 Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is set to launch its first tourists to space on Thursday this week. The Galactic 02 mission, which follows the successful launch of the companies’ first commercial flight in June, will carry three paying customers – an 80-year old Olympian and a Caribbean mother-daughter duo. Launching from Spaceport America in New [...]
Deliveroo boss: London founders are still the best in the business August 4, 2023 London as a location to both conduct business and start a business is increasingly a hot topic. Having started Deliveroo in London a decade ago and listing the business on the London Stock Exchange eight years later, I’ve seen firsthand how the start-up scene here works. I still firmly believe that London is brilliant for [...]
Bank of England interest rate decision today on a knife edge, City economists predict August 3, 2023 As the City gears up for what everyone expects to be the Bank of England’s 14th straight interest rate rise at midday today, economists are split over how much more pain they think the group of rate setters will heap on the UK economy. Are the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) poised to meet market expectations [...]
Robert Walters posts 60 per cent profit slump as economic woes clobber recruitment August 1, 2023 A recruiter that is often viewed by analysts as a bellwether for the UK jobs market has posted a 60 per cent drop in profits as a result of firms trimming hiring amid the economic slowdown. Robert Walters, which specialises in sourcing talent for the City’s biggest banks, brokers and insurers, said today operating profits [...]
The Global Ecosystem of Insurance August 1, 2023 “Insurance is a three hundred, four hundred, year old industry,” Richard Wheeler, Aon’s co-leader of Global Re Specialty reflects. “But the opportunities ahead still significantly outweigh the journey that the market has been on. Because everything requires insurance.” Wheeler would know. In his role he ranges across global challenges, in the world’s richest and poorest [...]
BT appoints first woman boss in 170-year history as Allison Kirkby to continue long-term fibre strategy July 31, 2023 BT has announced a successor for outgoing boss Philip Jansen, as Allison Kirkby, a former chief of Nordic telecoms giant Telia. The ailing British telecoms group appointed its first female boss in its 170 year history, who will take the reins from Jansen starting January 2024 “at the latest”. Jansen will continue to serve until [...]
Move faster on data sharing or watch rivals ‘leapfrog’ the UK, competition tsar warns July 31, 2023 John Penrose, the government’s competition tsar, has urged the government to move faster in enabling the safe sharing of customer data or watch global competitors “leapfrog” the UK. Alongside a coalition of business groups – including the Payments Association and Open Banking Excellence – Penrose argued that the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill needs [...]
Can the supermarkets ever overcome accusations of profiteering? July 28, 2023 Food producers are unwilling to pass on price drops as they battle oscillating and chaotic costs for supplies that they have little control over.