Research parks can help turn the light-bulb moment of science into business success February 17, 2020 Based on 35 years of experience, I am a proponent of the idea that “place matters”. Businesses benefit from being located in an environment willing to share the risks involved in fostering entrepreneurship. That’s why the global research and science park movement has taken off. It is designed to support the clustering of enterprises to [...]
UK house prices: Buyer boom sets scene for record-breaking spring February 17, 2020 UK house prices are expected to break records over the coming months as buyer activity outstrips the number of new sellers, according to new research. The average price of property coming to market jumped 0.8 per cent – or £2,589 – this month, just £40 short of a new all-time high. The house price boom [...]
Scrap the TV licence, the BBC should just stick to the national news February 15, 2020 It is good that the BBC model is being disrupted by social media — allowing isolated individuals threatened by brown envelopes and sinister demands to be united in their opposition to the multi-billion pound media enterprise. Essentially, the broadcaster needs to be radically stripped down to just one channel: BBC News and Weather. All other [...]
Tesco ‘unlawfully’ blocked rivals from opening nearby stores, CMA finds February 14, 2020 Tesco has been told to stop illegally blocking rival supermarkets from buying its land or leasing nearby sites by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). An investigation from the competition regulator found that Tesco had blocked access to rivals using restrictive contracts on 23 occasions. The UK’s biggest supermarket chain has agreed to take action [...]
Sajid Javid opts to go down with the ship February 14, 2020 Just under three months ago, Boris Johnson promised a room full of business leaders that Sajid Javid was guaranteed to remain in office as chancellor. He praised Javid and gave a “categorical” commitment to the CBI conference that he will remain in post. Yesterday, Javid was told that if he wanted to keep his job [...]
Is Valentine’s Day just a marketing gimmick? February 14, 2020 Is Valentine’s Day just a marketing gimmick? Nicholas Mazzei, a corporate social responsibility adviser, says YES. Love is a commodity in much demand, and there is little enough of it to go around. The decline in the amount of sex men in the US are having has been linked to the rise of popularism and [...]
US hits Huawei with fresh charges over alleged trade secret theft February 13, 2020 The US has ramped up its attack on Huawei, filing a raft of new charges against the embattled Chinese tech giant on allegations of stealing trade secrets. In a 16-count indictment published today, the Justice Department accused Huawei of stealing technology from six unnamed American companies. The fresh accusations come alongside raft of other charges [...]
Expecting a bonus from overseas? February 13, 2020 Hedging against risk in currency remuneration If you are currently working overseas, then you may be in receipt of a salary in currency. If you send all or part of that salary back to the UK, you may have found that the amount varies month to month due to fluctuations in the currency market. Over [...]
Zurich Insurance’s strong performance aided by its UK business February 13, 2020 Zurich Insurance Group’s stellar performance was boosted by a strong showing by its UK business, Zurich UK. UK earnings were up 59 per cent to £413m from £260m in 2018. General insurance gross written premium increased 4 per cent to £2.5bn from £2.4bn in 2018. In its general insurance business, business operating profit grew 97 per [...]
DRI Healthcare plans $350m London listing February 12, 2020 Healthcare royalty investment company DRI Healthcare said today it was planning to raise up to $350m (£269m) in a proposed London initial public offering (IPO). The company said it was looking to list on the main market of the London Stock Exchange next month. It said it would use the proceeds from the float to [...]