Happy returns: Can employees refuse to go back to work? June 18, 2020 As London comes out of hibernation and employees begin to return to work, companies are being confronted with the true scale of the challenge of running a business in the middle of a pandemic. Employees, meanwhile, are feeling anxious that their workplace might remain unsafe. But is turning to the law the best way to [...]
Tiktok owner Bytedance sees revenue surge to £4.4bn, according to sources June 17, 2020 Bytedance, the Chinese company behind social media platform Tiktok, has seen a surge in first-quarter revenue to 40bn yuan (£4.4bn), according to two people familiar with the matter. The revenue boost marks a 130 per cent year-on-year increase, according to Reuters, citing two sources with knowledge on the matter who declined to be identified. Bytedance [...]
Covid changes could electrify entrepreneurial Britain, so let’s give SMEs the support they deserve June 16, 2020 We have always been a nation of small businesses. The UK’s 5.9m SMEs account for 99 per cent of all our businesses. They give us jobs, they’re a familiar neighbourhood face — and in the age of coronavirus, new Barclaycard and Enterprise Nation research has found that some are not only surviving, but getting ready [...]
Why Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is Revolutionary June 16, 2020 Decentralized finance (DeFi) is one of the areas in crypto that has received notable traction. At a high level, DeFi aims to re-create the financial system that we use today but in a way that removes the need for intermediaries like banks. Bitcoin, which most readers will probably be familiar with, laid the foundation for [...]
Coronavirus: Plans for Portugal-UK ‘air bridge’ going well June 15, 2020 Portugal’s prime minister Antonio Costa has said that negotiations over an “air bridge” with the UK were still in progress and going well. Speaking to foreign media, Costa said: “We are working towards an agreement and will wait for it to happen”. If the measure is agreed, people in England will be able to travel [...]
Germany to take stake in coronavirus vaccine firm June 15, 2020 Germany will take a 23 per cent stake in unlisted biotech firm Curevac, which is working on a coronavirus vaccine, finance minister Peter Altmaier confirmed today. The state will pay €300m for the stake, which gives the firm a valuation of €1.3bn. The move, which Reuters first reported earlier today, came after attempts by the [...]
Taxation post COVID19 June 15, 2020 Following global lockdown the UK went into defensive and offensive mode with the furlough scheme, loans and other government support for almost every business and sole trader. But that has seen a reasonably strong economic outlook disappear almost entirely for some businesses in the short space of 3 months. In turn this has resulted in [...]
HSBC’s head of public affairs leads pro-China lobbying push June 14, 2020 A pro-China business group is urging FTSE100 companies to lobby the UK government to act more pro-Beijing as relations between the two countries begin to flounder. The China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) – whose members include HSBC, BP and Standard Chartered – has spoken to a number of high-profile companies, that have connections to China, to back [...]
HPE boss warns of Huawei cyberattacks June 11, 2020 Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) managing director has warned of “data loss, privacy breaches and cyberattacks” if the government proceeds with Huawei technology in its 5G rollout. Speaking to City AM, Marc Waters said: “Securing the future of the UK’s mobile networks is a vital issue. Data loss, privacy breaches, and cyberattacks on individuals, organizations and [...]
WPP appoints former Burberry chief June 11, 2020 Media giant WPP has appointed the former chief executive of Burberry and ex-head of retail at Apple to its board. Angela Ahrendts will become a non-executive board member at WPP after ending a five-year run as one of the most senior figures at Apple. Ahrendts led British fashion brand Burberry from 2006 to 2013, during [...]