British businesses must seize this chance to tap into Asian potential February 28, 2018 The Brexit vote has amplified the incentives for UK companies to look further afield than established EU economies – and not a moment to soon. The level of trade with Asia is currently lagging. The EU remains by far the UK’s largest trading partner – China, Asia’s largest market, is only fifth. The “golden era” [...]
Drones to be tested with passengers on board this year January 7, 2018 Test flights for the first British passenger drone will begin this year. Martin Warner’s Autonomous Flight Y6S will carry passengers for the first time in spring 2018, having only so far performed flights without people on board. If the flights are successful, it could lay the way for two-person drones to fly over London in [...]
No wonder the pound is rising – 2018 could finally be the year that hawks get their way and push up interest rates February 27, 2018 The start of next week will mark nine years since the Bank of England slashed interest rates to an historic low of 0.5 per cent and unleashed its first round of quantitative easing, an unprecedented measure designed to counteract a deep recession triggered by the financial crisis. Ever since, hawks and doves have squabbled over [...]
Ollie Phillips: Danny Cipriani and Dan Robson need to be on England’s radar for South Africa tour March 22, 2018 Rumblings of the same old Eddie Jones – really impactful in the first couple of years before losing his way – are well and truly underway following England’s fifth-place Six Nations finish. Fantastic results and quality performances over the past two years have brought an expectation and that pressure will be weighing heavily upon Jones [...]
No end in sight for high street’s woes as stalwarts like John Lewis struggle March 9, 2018 The UK high street was dealt another blow yesterday as one of the country’s biggest household names posted a sharp drop in profits. Profits at the John Lewis Partnership – which comprises John Lewis and Waitrose – fell 77 per cent to £103.9m in 2017, forcing the retailer to cut its staff bonus to its [...]
UK opportunities for women in the workplace have rapidly improved but gender pay gap won’t close until 2041, says PwC February 21, 2017 The UK has considerably improved its performance in providing opportunities for women in the workplace, but it will still take until 2041 to close the gender pay gap in the UK. That's according to PwC's Women in Work index, which measures levels of female economic empowerment across 33 OECD countries based on five indicators. It said [...]
The government is looking into whether companies are using share buybacks to inflate bosses’ pay January 28, 2018 The government could crack down on share buybacks, as it has hired researchers to determine whether they are being used by companies to artificially inflate their executives’ pay. Share buybacks, where a company purchases some of its own shares to reduce the number available in the market and often raise their price, can increase a [...]
High Court grants $2.5bn freezing order against Ukraine oligarchs Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov December 21, 2017 A High Court judge has granted an order to freeze $2.5bn (£1.9bn) of worldwide assets of the former owners of Ukrainian state-owned lender PrivatBank. PrivatBank, which was previously owned by oligarchs Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov, has claimed the two took almost $2bn from the bank through a series of “dishonest transactions”. The freezing order [...]
National Assembly for Wales tops Stonewall list of 100 LGBT-inclusive employers with Lloyds Banking Group and Citi on the list January 31, 2018 A number of City firms have made the cut in equality charity Stonewall’s latest ranking of the top 100 LGBT-inclusive employers out today. Citi, Pinsent Masons, Clifford Chance, Lloyds Banking Group and Baker McKenzie were all in the top 10, with legal firms again dominating the overall list. Read more: Lloyds Banking Group named most [...]
Carillion rival Laing O’Rourke is late filing its figures, is it another major contractor we should be concerned about? | City A.M. January 19, 2018 Pinning down the finances of private companies can be a tricky task for City stakeholders. Public companies, however, are mandated to keep investors and other interested parties entertained with a steady stream of financial updates. When it comes to filing financial statements – the audited figures upon which financiers hang their hats – listed firms [...]