Remote working: How to keep your team happy in lockdown April 28, 2020 The concept of trust in the workplace has been a topical issue for a few years. The tendency to quickly distrust information has continued to grow against the rise of fake news, making it increasingly difficult for some businesses to develop trust with their employees. Establishing workplace trust has arguably become even more challenging in [...]
Economies in free fall as hopes fade for a V-shaped recovery April 28, 2020 Amongst the arguments about a lack of protective clothing for health workers and whether governments were too slow to react to the spread of Covid-19, the latest figures show that the pandemic is gradually coming under control. The rate of growth in new infections and fatalities around the world is slowing and the curves are [...]
Pearson holds dividend as school closures hit revenue April 24, 2020 Education publisher Pearson today said it will pay out a dividend for 2019 even as the closure of schools and test centres pushed down revenue in the first quarter. The FTSE 100-listed firm reported a five per cent decline in year-on-year revenue in the first three months of the year, which it said was a [...]
FTSE 100 rises despite awful economic data as oil rebounds April 23, 2020 The FTSE 100 recovered from a dip today to post a one per cent climb by the mid-afternoon, despite dire economic data as oil prices rebounded. Britain’s FTSE 100 stock index was down marginally by midday at 5,768 points after climbing more than two per cent yesterday. But by 3.30pm London’s index had risen 1.1 [...]
Coronavirus: Our digital shift has implications for blockchain April 22, 2020 Of the many lessons being learned during the current Covid-19 pandemic, an important one is that many industries are capable of going digital in an emergency. The rapid digital transition has been more agile where blockchain was already in place. Blockchain’s lasting legacy will be its role in the continuation of positive digital change post-crisis. [...]
How will Blockchain revolutionise financial services? April 22, 2020 In a recent PwC report, it was estimated that distributed ledger technology could reduce financial services infrastructure cost between US$15 billion and $20 billion per annum by 2022. This would positively impact both business and consumer banking in many unexpected ways. To truly understand the magnitude of the problem Blockchain can solve, one should look [...]
UK marketing budgets suffer sharpest drop since 2009 crash April 22, 2020 UK marketing budgets declined at the fastest rate since the 2009 global financial crisis in the first quarter as consumers and businesses cut spend due to the coronavirus crisis. A net balance of -6.1 per cent of companies slashed their total marketing budgets in the first three months of the year, according to the latest [...]
Peugeot maker PSA sales slump as coronavirus crashes car market April 21, 2020 Peugeot manufacturer PSA Group today posted a double-digit decline in sales for the first quarter as it forecast a slump in automotive markets across the globe due to coronavirus. The French car maker reported revenue of €15.2bn (£13.3bn) in the first three months of the year, down 15.6 per cent on the same period in [...]
Can inclusion efforts help business resiliency during the COVID-19 crisis? April 14, 2020 When business continuity plans kick in, as they have for the COVID-19 crisis, what happens to diversity and inclusion efforts at investment organisations? Do they fall away as ‘nice-to-haves’ or are they seen as contributing to a cultural edge of resiliency? Evidence from a meeting as the unprecedented global lockdown took hold – by conference-call, of [...]
Coronavirus: US Federal Reserve pledges another $2.3 trillion in loans April 9, 2020 The US Federal Reserve has promised an extra $2.3 trillion (£1.84 trillion) of loans to shore up the US economy as American unemployment surged for the third week in a row amid the coronavirus crisis. Fed chairman Jay Powell said the money would be made available for employers and households to help them through the [...]