City office floorspace surges as developers back the Square Mile’s future March 9, 2021 The City of London Corporation has today (9 March) revealed that, so far this year, it has given planning consent for the equivalent of almost 80% of the total office floorspace it approved for the whole of last year; demonstrating the City office market remains resilient despite new ways of working being adopted throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The City [...]
ITV warns on ‘challenging’ ad market as pandemic hits profit March 9, 2021 ITV today warned that the advertising market remained “challenging” as it reported sharp falls in revenue and profit due to the impact of the pandemic. The London-listed firm, which last night aired Oprah Winfrey’s eagerly-awaited interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, posted a 16 per cent drop in total revenue to £2.8bn in 2020. [...]
IWG swings to £650m loss but sounds optimistic note on future of offices March 9, 2021 Office space provider IWG swung to a £650.2m loss last year due to the impact of coronavirus on working habits, it announced this morning. Revenue fell from £2.65bn to £2.48bn and the company posted a loss of more than half a billion pounds, down from profit after tax of £77.3m in 2019. It reported a [...]
BP to keep partial work-from-home policy as oil major seeks to cut office costs March 8, 2021 BP plans to extend remote working as a further cost saving measure affecting 25,000 staff
Britons will not splurge Covid-19 savings on post-lockdown spending spree, says OBR March 8, 2021 Britons will not embark on a post-lockdown spending spree with funds saved during the Covid crisis, according to a senior member of the UK’s budgetary watchdog. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) committee member Sir Charlie Bean told MPs today that of the £180bn in excess savings Britons have accumulated during Covid-19, only “a relatively [...]
Pearson maintains dividend as it unveils plans to slash office space March 8, 2021 Education giant Pearson today said it will maintain its dividend for the full year as the firm unveiled plans to “significantly” reduce its office space. The publisher proposed a final dividend of 13.5p, bringing its full-year payout to 19.5p — in line with 2019. It came as Pearson announced plans to slim down its property [...]
Fight for the high street: Sunak’s Budget will stop the bleeding, but we must look long-term March 5, 2021 For London’s struggling retailers and leisure operators, Rishi Sunak’s budget provided some welcome respite. The three month extension to the business rates holiday, the £5 billion Restart Grant scheme and the extension to the furlough initiative should enable some of the brands on the high street to survive, at least until they have the opportunity [...]
Test and Trace to receive extra £15bn, bringing total funding to £37bn March 4, 2021 The Test and Trace scheme is set to receive an extra £15bn, bringing its total funding over two years to £37bn. The contact tracing scheme, which has been awarded £22bn so far, will receive a further £15bn over the next financial year. The new figures were first revealed by the Huffington Post. It also revealed [...]
Brexit disruption to shave 0.5 per cent off GDP as UK starts its recovery March 3, 2021 Post-Brexit disruption to UK-EU trade will reduce the UK’s first quarter GDP growth by 0.5 per cent, according to the government’s budgetary watchdog. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said in its forecast today that customs disruptions at the EU border and a drop in the number of lorries travelling between the UK and EU [...]
Budget 2021: As it happened March 3, 2021 Live updates and links to all our coverage, reactions and analyses as the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivers the government’s Budget later today – at 12.30pm. Please also visit our dedicated Budget 2021 Hub. Wrap-up of the main Budget announcements Here’s a wrap-up of the main announcements made by the chancellor in his spring Budget: [...]