Olympic Stadium investigation: Beancounters net fees, findings to be made public this summer March 13, 2017 The mid-tier accountancy firm undertaking the forensic investigation into the London Stadium overspend will net at least £140,000, according to documents published by City Hall. Moore Stephens was appointed in February to perform a review of how the cost to transform the Olympic Stadium into the multi-use London Stadium increased from an original budget of £115m to £323m. The firm plans to deliver [...]
Tax rise on national insurance “modest but welcome” says IFS on chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget March 9, 2017 Moves by chancellor Philip Hammond to increase national insurance tax on the self-employed are “modest but welcome”, according to an influential economics think tank. Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said the tax increase will help “shore up the tax base and create a slightly less unequal playing field.” The increase [...]
Domino’s Pizza Group shares drop after UK like-for-like sales for 2017 miss analyst expectations March 9, 2017 Domino's Pizza Group saw its share slide over 15 per cent this morning after reporting lower-than-expected like-for-like sales in the UK for the first nine weeks of 2017. The figures Sales at Britain's biggest pizza delivery firm's stores open for about two years rose 1.5 per cent during the period, much lower than the 10.5 per cent [...]
Uber bans drivers from using Greyball technology that helps them to dodge investigators March 9, 2017 Uber has banned the use its controversial “Greyball" technology, which helps the drivers dodge undercover investigators. The counter-intelligence programme allows the tech giant to identify undercover officials trying to expose Uber’s operations in cities where it has previously banned. Read more: The worst or best job in tech? Uber's hiring a COO Once identified, the [...]
The chancellor needs more than a rainy day fund to help Britain weather Brexit March 8, 2017 In his final Spring Budget, the chancellor was already weaning his audience from this once important spring affair, with little of significant economic policy substance announced. He was handed a gift by the Office for Budget Responsibility in the form of an upgraded outlook for 2017, in anticipation of more resilient consumer spending, although expectations for [...]
Spring Budget: The OBR is still too pessimistic about UK growth this year March 8, 2017 The biggest story in the Budget wasn’t big news. It had been well flagged in advance that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was revising up its GDP growth forecast to 2 per cent in 2017. In November last year, the OBR expected just 1.4 per cent GDP growth this year. HM Treasury’s latest monthly survey [...]
Celebrating International Women’s Day March 8, 2017 There is no doubt that more work needs to be done to close the gender gap across many industries, from the military to elected office to tech to asset management. Raising awareness is one step along this path. To that end, today — International Women’s Day — communities across the world will reflect on the [...]
Celebrating International Women’s Day March 8, 2017 There is no doubt that more work needs to be done to close the gender gap across many industries, from the military to elected office to tech to asset management. Raising awareness is one step along this path. To that end, today — International Women’s Day — communities across the world will reflect on the [...]
Britain can enjoy another golden age of advertising outside the EU March 3, 2017 Between the 1970s and 80s, British advertising grew rapidly from a cottage industry to eventually transform the UK into the creative capital of the world. London agencies began buying up their New York counterparts and acquiring the lion’s share of global marketing budgets. This process began long before we joined the Common Market. It had [...]
How to profit from the Chinese art market and bag some cutting edge paintings while you’re at it March 2, 2017 Which country has the world’s largest art market? Hint: if you’re thinking anything other than “China”, then you’re wrong. Art information website artprice.com estimates that in the first half of 2016, China accounted for 35.5 per cent of the $6.53bn global art sales. Someone out there is making a killing from the Chinese art market, [...]