Coronavirus: City recruiter braced for Square Mile hiring ‘to fall off a cliff’ March 11, 2020 Top City recruiter Morgan McKinley yesterday said hiring in the Square Mile could grind to a halt if the coronavirus outbreak causes more businesses to close offices and make staff work from home. Already financial services recruiters are noticing an increase in requests to reschedule face-to-face interviews between clients and candidates to be over telephone [...]
NBCUniversal quietly offloads $500m Snapchat stake March 9, 2020 NBCUniversal has quietly offloaded its $500m (£381m) stake in Snapchat as the US media giant ramps up preparations for its new streaming service. Parent company Comcast acquired the shareholding in March 2017 when Snap completed its initial public offering. The investment was passed to NBCUniversal, which then quietly sold off the stake last year. NBCUniversal [...]
Flybe’s last flight: How Europe’s biggest regional airline met its demise March 9, 2020 At 8.30pm on Wednesday evening, passengers were still being ushered onto planes bearing the indigo livery of Flybe. Half an hour later, members of the cabin crew on one of its last ever flights, from Manchester to Belfast, were crying, having just lost their jobs. “Staff in tears. This is so grim,” tweeted Holly Hamilton, [...]
Budget 2020: Chancellor Rishi Sunak to scrap ‘tampon tax’ March 6, 2020 The so-called tampon tax is set to be abolished in next week’s Budget. A zero rate of VAT will apply to women’s sanitary products from the start of next year. The UK has been obliged to pay the EU VAT Directive since 1973 and the tampon tax is currently five per cent. MPs voted against [...]
Nissan puts £400m into Sunderland factory despite Brexit tariff fears March 6, 2020 Nissan will invest £400m into its Sunderland plant in a much needed boost for the facility, the future of which has been in doubt due to fears over possible tariffs post Brexit. The investment comes as Nissan ramps up its preparations for its new Qashqai model, including a £52m new press line, which was unveiled [...]
Government working with supermarkets to ensure self-isolating coronavirus patients can be supplied with food March 6, 2020 The government is working with supermarkets to make sure people self-isolating due to coronavirus can still be supplied with food, the health minister said yesterday. Responding to an audience member concerned about possible food shortages in a coronavirus epidemic on BBC’s Question Time Matt Hancock said there was absolutely no need” for people to buy [...]
Brexit trade talks: Michel Barnier cites ‘serious differences’ between EU and UK stances March 5, 2020 The EU’s chief negotiator has warned of “very serious divergence” between Britain and Brussels over the future relationship, following the first round of post-Brexit trade talks. Michel Barnier said he was confident a deal could be struck between the two sides, saying “an agreement is possible, even if it is difficult”. But he warned there [...]
Tenant restructurings hit shopping centre owner Capital & Regional March 5, 2020 Shopping centre owner Capital & Regional posted a drop in net rental income for last year as it was hit by retailer restructurings. Net rental income fell five per cent to £49.3m compared to £51.9m the previous year after a £3m hit from retailer company voluntary arrangements and restructuring plans. Adjusted profit fell 10.2 per [...]
Coronavirus: ITV shares fall as travel firms pull advertising March 5, 2020 Coronavirus has hurt 2020 demand for ITV advertising as travel operators stopped booking ads with the broadcaster, but it has posted better than expected earnings for 2019. MGM and Universal’s decision yesterday to delay the release of the next James Bond movie, No Time To Die, from April to November due to the coronavirus outbreak, [...]
Office Space: Take a look behind the scenes of Amazon’s sprawling, 15-storey London headquarters at Principal Place March 2, 2020 There’s always money in the banana stand. Or at least there would be, were the bananas not being handed out for free. Each morning outside Amazon’s HQ in Shoreditch a fruitmonger dispenses complimentary bananas to Amazon staff, peckish commuters and anybody who cares to take one. The tradition was started by Jeff Bezos himself on [...]