FTSE 100 weighed down by Aveva while Wall Street slips ahead of tech earnings April 27, 2021 The FTSE 100 closed in the red this afternoon despite a strong day of results for heavyweights BP and HSBC, while US stocks were muted ahead of bumper tech earnings. London’s blue-chip index closed down 0.26 per cent this afternoon as Aveva slumped nearly five per cent following its CEO’s exit. The drop was limited [...]
City of London plans to convert empty office space into housing April 27, 2021 Empty office space in the City will be converted into housing as part of a wider post-Covid revamp of the Square Mile. The City of London Corporation has outlined plans to convert some of the vacant office space into at least 1,500 new units by 2030. It comes as part of an overhaul of the [...]
France threatens to block City of London from EU if UK does not open up its fishing waters April 27, 2021 France has threatened to keep the City of London out of EU markets post-Brexit if the UK does not increase access to its waters for the country’s fishermen. France’s European affairs minister Clement Beaune today hit out at the UK’s post-Brexit fishing arrangements, saying there would be “retaliation measures” taken if the UK does not [...]
Government task force to examine hybrid working post-pandemic April 27, 2021 Ministers have formed a task force to draw up advice on flexible working, as Covid-19 restrictions ease and attention turns to the role of the office post-pandemic. Twenty business groups and trade unions will meet today to begin a review of hybrid working, the Times first reported. The group will be asked to consider how [...]
Law firm Irwin Mitchell tells staff to work when and where they like April 27, 2021 Staff at Irwin Mitchell will be able to choose where and when they work in the future, after an employee and client survey suggested most wanted a hybrid approach post-pandemic. The law firm, which is rumoured to be gearing up to float on the London Stock Exchange, told its 3,000 employees that, subject to their [...]
City Corporation unveils action plan to be world’s most innovative, inclusive and sustainable centre April 27, 2021 The Square Mile must adapt to post-pandemic economic and social trends in order to remain a world-leading ecosystem, according to a new report published today by the City of London Corporation. The Square Mile: Future City, produced by the City Corporation’s Recovery Taskforce inpartnership with Oliver Wyman, sets out a vision for the next five [...]
Boris Johnson to chair Cabinet as allegations mount April 27, 2021 Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the Cabinet later today after a series of damaging claims over the Prime Minister’s conduct during the pandemic. In recent days Number 10 has been rocked by a number of allegations, including from former aide Dominic Cummings, about Johnson’s approach to the pandemic. Yesterday it was claimed that [...]
Pandemic-resilient companies employ higher-paid, higher educated staff April 26, 2021 Companies that coped better through the pandemic were more likely to employ people who were paid better, had higher education and were born in Poland or India. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that workers in industries classed as “resilient” to the pandemic were paid £628.89 per week on average, compared with [...]
The office is not dead – far from it, say City insiders April 26, 2021 As the economy starts to reopen, the City is slowly coming back to life. A range of banks and Square Mile-based firms have started to formalise work from home policies and implemented flexible working arrangements. Businesses in every sector have been debating concepts of what the post-Covid office could look like with pessimists doubting its [...]
Top UK civil servant: Leak inquiry will probably not find ‘chatty rat’ April 26, 2021 Downing Street’s so-called “chatty rat” who leaked the news of the second national Covid lockdown is unlikely to ever be identified by an ongoing leak inquiry, according to cabinet secretary Simon Case. Case told MPs today that the inquiry into the leak will likely be complete in “weeks rather than months”, but refused to answer [...]