Serco boss: Pandemic proves importance of private and public sector co-operation February 25, 2021 The coronavirus pandemic has shown how strong the government and private sector can be when they work together, the boss of Serco, which is running the NHS Test and Trace service, has said. Speaking to CityAM, Rupert Soames defended the much-maligned system, saying that after some initial challenges it was now a “world-beating” programme. He [...]
Bin firm Biffa snaps up surplus food collectors Company Shop for £80m February 25, 2021 Waste disposal firm Biffa today said that it has bought surplus food group Company Shop for £82.5m. Company Shop, which describes itself as the country’s biggest surplus food firm, collects waste items and then redistributes them to its member organisations. Surplus produce can include production overruns, trial products, or produce that has been incorrectly labelled [...]
British Gas owner Centrica falls to £360m loss as warm weather and lower prices bite February 25, 2021 British Gas owner Centrica said today that it fell to a £362m statutory loss due to a combination of coronavirus, lower commodities prices, and a spell of warm weather. The loss is less than half the £783m hit the firm reported last year. It also said it would not pay out a divided for last [...]
Wall Street tanks as tech stocks drag down market February 25, 2021 Wall Street has tanked today, with technology stocks in particularly dragging down the markets. The S&P 500 was down more than 2 per cent at one point, and retreating technology stocks dragged the Nasdaq down more than 3 per cent, as the benchmark 10-year note yields surged above 1.6 per cent to the highest in [...]
Opinion: We need to stop calling it ‘NHS’ Test and Trace February 21, 2021 Who runs NHS Test and Trace? “Surely the NHS?”, you might say. Not according to NHS England’s boss, Sir Simon Stevens. When quizzed by the Health and Science Committee last month, Stevens said: “I can’t comment specifically on Test and Trace because that is run by the Department of Health and Social Care rather than [...]
Storage firm Safestore hails ‘excellent’ UK trading February 16, 2021 Safestore, the self-storage firm, said full-year earnings are likely to hit the top end of expectations following strong trading in the first quarter, driven by an “excellent” UK result. Group revenue was up 9.8 per cent and like-for-like sales were up 6.6 per cent, with a 8.3 per cent surge in UK sales. Occupancy increased [...]
Serco agrees on $295m acquisition of WBB February 16, 2021 International service company Serco has today announced an agreement to acquire Whitney, Bradley & Brown (WBB) for $295m. The purchase, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, will strengthen Serco’s position providing programme management services to the Department of Defence. This has been a critical growth area for the company in [...]
The Bribery Act: Ten years on January 11, 2021 This year marks ten years since the Bribery Act came into force. It was enacted in 2010 but was not active until the following year. In May 2019 a House of Lords Select Committee of which I was a member scrutinised the Bribery Act and concluded that overall it was working well. The immediate reaction from businessmen at the outset when the Bribery Bill was [...]
Informa profit plunges as pandemic shutters events January 6, 2021 Events group Informa forecast a plunge in profit in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic brought the events industry to its knees. The FTSE 100 firm, which is the world’s largest exhibitions group, said it expected adjusted operating profit in the range of £250 and £270m. This is down from £933m in 2019. Revenue is set [...]
Industrial services firm Altrad hails ‘robust’ year December 17, 2020 Industrial services giant Altrad said that it was optimistic about its future prospects after a “robust” financial performance in 2020. The Montpellier-based group, which provides services for the oil, gas, and petrochemicals sectors, said that it had managed to maintain profitability despite intense pressure from the pandemic. Over the year revenue dropped a sixth, from [...]