Badenoch plays down hopes of greater access to India for UK services in trade deal October 4, 2022 New trade secretary Kemi Badenoch has warned that any UK-India trade deal is unlikely to vastly increase access to the Indian market for City services firms. Badenoch today confirmed she was sticking to Boris Johnson’s deadline of striking a deal with India by Diwali, 24 October, but watered down expectations about how comprehensive it will [...]
Made.com begins talks with suitors over sale as cash injection of £70m needed October 4, 2022 Made has said it has started talking to a number of potential suitors about a sale of the furniture retailer. After previously declaring the beleaguered online retailer would be looking to sell itself to shore up funding to clinch its survival, Made.com said it had now entered into non-disclosure agreements with various parties. The potential [...]
Aspire Pharma buys Morningstar healthcare divisions in undisclosed sum October 3, 2022 Aspire Pharma has bought Morningside’s pharmaceutical and healthcare divisions, as well as their subsidiaries for an undisclosed sum. The deal cements an ongoing post-pandemic trend of consolidation within the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Morningside’s boss Tim Brady added that the deal will give Aspire access to over 120 mid and late-stage programs. Chief executive officer [...]
Minister says Rees-Mogg wants to ditch ‘all business regulations’ for SMEs October 2, 2022 Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg wants to scrap all business regulations for SMEs with under 500 employees, according to a Treasury minister. Chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp told a fringe event at the Tory party conference today that Rees-Mogg would soon outline a package of measures to slash business regulation. “One of which is [...]
Made.com posts widening losses after furniture retailer puts itself up for sale September 29, 2022 Online furniture seller Made.com has posted widening losses after consumers slowdown on buying homeware items amid the cost of living crunch. The company posted a loss before tax of £35.3m for the six months to 30 June, versus £10.1m a year prior. Earlier this week, Made said it would conduct a strategic review of its [...]
BBC slashes nearly 400 jobs as licence fee squeeze continues September 29, 2022 The BBC has slashed nearly 400 jobs from its world service division as the broadcaster feels the increasing pressure of the licence fee freeze. The Beeb said it would be moving towards a “digital-first” strategy for the BBC World Service, cutting 382 posts in the process. “Changing audience needs around the world – with more [...]
Investment firms cannot afford to ignore MiFID II three-way reconciliations September 29, 2022 The EU launched MiFID II three years ago, but penalties for non-compliance continue to rise. The number of sanctions issued by national competent authorities (NCAs) in 2020 quadrupled to 613 totalling €8.4m, up from 371 sanctions totalling €1.8m in 2019. Firms incur penalties simply because their reports contain errors. According to a 2021 ACA report, [...]
Cost of living crunch sinks teeth into Morrisons profit September 28, 2022 Morrisons has posted sliding sales after the retailer was recently knocked out of the Big Four by discounter rival Aldi. In financial results for the 13 weeks to 31 July, the group posted like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, down 3.1 per cent on the comparable period a year ago. The supermarket pointed to “unprecedented inflationary pressures” [...]
Russians flee en masse to escape Putin’s mobilisation with few flights out of Moscow costing £10,000 September 27, 2022 Tens of thousands of Russians are fleeing their country to escape the mass military mobilisation that is currently underway. As a result, international flights out of Moscow now cost more than £10,000 per seat for a single ticket. The Kremlin ordered last week that up to 300,000 reservists across Russia should report for duty in [...]
Chapel Down on track to double in size after heatwave allows August harvest September 26, 2022 Plans to double the size of Chapel Down have “started strongly” after a hot summer has allowed the English wine maker to begin harvesting in August for the first time. The London-listed firm described its 2022 harvest as looking “very positive”, crediting the heatwave that swept the country this summer. “We expect 2022 to combine [...]