Streaming giants: Amazon reportedly in talks to buy iconic MGM Studios May 18, 2021 One of the film industry’s most famous studios MGM may be about to be bagged by online retail giant Amazon for £6.35bn, according to reports. The multi-billion-dollar sale would give Amazon’s Prime streaming service access to a back catalogue of iconic content that spans nearly 100 years of film and television since the studio was [...]
Net Zero: New oil, gas and coal development must end this year, IEA says May 18, 2021 New oil and gas field development and extraction must end this year, while no new coal-fired power stations can be built if the Earth is to stay within safe limits of global warming, the world’s leading energy organisation has said today. Halting developments is fundamental to meeting the net-zero emissions goal by 2050, to keep [...]
Land Securities losses widen with work-from-home measures May 18, 2021 Commercial property firm Land Securities has seen its full-year loss widened this morning, as its London-centric office portfolio crumbled under work-from-home measures. The FTSE 100 firm has reported a loss before tax of £1.39bn for the 12 months ending 31 March, compared with a loss of £837m the year before. The pandemic pushed many companies [...]
Weekend Read: Foreign investors flee Myanmar as regime strengthens grip May 16, 2021 Businesses have continued to bow out of Myanmar after the bloody coup has killed more than 750 people and seen over 5,000 arrested for protesting the military’s forced reign. Companies began to flee Myanmar in March, like Japanese beverage group Kirin which had a $1.7bn stake in Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited, a company [...]
Pension transfer scam crackdown risks delaying thousands of transfers May 14, 2021 The government tabled proposals to tackle pension scheme fraud today, but it could risk blocking or delaying thousands of legitimate transfers, AJ Bell’s chief executive has warned. The plans outlined by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) could push providers to ask people transferring to a pension scheme not on the government-approved ‘safe destination’ [...]
Financial watchdog proposes stiffer ‘duty’ to beef up consumer protection May 14, 2021 The UK’s financial watchdog has tabled a proposal today for a stiffer “duty” on companies to protect consumers from scams and mis-selling. Mis-sold financial products, including endowment mortgages, pensions and payment protection insurance have plagued retail investors for decades. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the firms it regulates would need to follow the new [...]
London is ‘not safe for everyone all of the time’, Met’s Cressida Dick says May 14, 2021 Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has said this morning that the streets of the capital are “not safe for everyone all of the time”. Black communities and women and girls face inflated rates of violence, the commissioner said today, adding that nearly half of London’s homicide victims were Black. “If I look at victims [...]
Airline industry calls on the UK to lift borders like the EU May 14, 2021 Germany, Spain and Holland became the latest European nations to lift the shutters on travel restrictions yesterday, as the airline industry called on the UK to do the same. Still placing tough restrictions on arrivals, the UK has received calls from Ryanair and the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) for more clarity on travel. Ireland’s [...]
Alphawave shares lift slightly, after 22 per cent plunge in London stock market debut May 14, 2021 Following a turbulent market debut yesterday, Alphawave’s shares rebounded slightly in its second day of trading in the capital. The tech firm’s share price bounced to 366.2p per share this morning, down 1.03 per cent, after prices fell as low as 310.85p yesterday. Over half a billion pounds was wiped from the Canadian computer chip [...]
The UK’s lifting of restrictions could be delayed if variants and infections surge, minister says May 14, 2021 Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has warned today that there could be a delay in June’s lifting of restrictions if variants or infection rates become a problem. To avoid a postponement of the well-anticipated 21 June, Zahawi told LBC: “The way we don’t have to do that is by everybody doing their bit, by taking the [...]