National living wage pushes nurseries towards insolvency August 30, 2016 The national living wage has contributed to almost doubled the number of school nurseries falling into insolvency in the last year according to research released today. Accountancy firm Moore Stephens said that 29 nurseries had become insolvent in the year to March 2016, compared to 16 the year before. “The introduction of the national living wage has [...]
Southern rail forced to fork out more hefty payouts as passengers suffer disruption, automatic refunds set to begin from next year August 30, 2016 ​Southern Rail has been forced to overhaul the way it compensates passengers affected by poor services, following meagre payouts in the past and as claims for delayed journeys soar on the back of this summer’s industrial action. The busy commuter service has been beset by delays, cancellations and strikes in a long-running dispute over the role of guards. [...]
An art rather than a science: one way to value the assets, four ways to value the liabilities August 29, 2016 Many of us like big numbers. But when it comes to pensions deficits, big numbers are not a good thing. Britain’s pension deficit values vary from day-to-day and from calculation to calculation. The numbers cited range from hundreds of billions to trillions of pounds. The reason they differ is because there numerous ways of calculating [...]
How to win friends and influence people: Andy Haldane isn’t doing a great job when it comes to pensions August 29, 2016 Experts labelled comments by Andy Haldane as "irresponsible" after the Bank of England chief economist said he would invest in property rather than putting money into a pension scheme. "It is extraordinary that someone in his position should make such irresponsible comments. If everyone acted on his views it would have seriously damaging consequences both for [...]
Audioboom’s share price jumps double-digits after celebrity investment August 26, 2016 Podcast provider Audioboom today raised £2.6m from the markets after successfully placing shares with former Neighbours star Holly Valance and her property tycoon husband. Nick Candy, himself a non-executive director of Audioboom and already a large shareholder, subscribed to the share issue through Luxembourg-based entity Candy Ventures Sarl. Shares in the Aim-quoted company leapt over 11 per cent in early trading. Although [...]
Anchor butter and Cravendale owner grows earnings despite difficult market conditions August 26, 2016 One of the dairy companies at the centre of Britain's milk crisis reported profit growth and reasserted its desire to increase the milk price paid to farmers. Danish-headquartered Arla announced revenues of €4.9bn (£4.0bn) for the first half of 2016. Although this was down from €5.1bn in 2015, gross margins were sustained at €1.2bn and earnings were [...]
At least nine people killed in car bomb attack in south-east Turkey August 26, 2016 South-east Turkey has been hit by by another deadly car bomb – this time in the town of Cizre – which local sources said had killed nine people and wounded many more. The bomb was set off outside a police station in the town, with local news networks showing footage of plumes of smoke billowing from a police [...]
Free music for EE customers… for six months at least August 26, 2016 Britain's largest mobile phone carrier has announced a tie-up with Apple Music that will see customers receive a free six month subscription. EE – now owned by telecoms giant BT – said that any new monthly customers or those renewing their contracts could benefit from the free service. “The deal is a coup for EE that [...]
Olympic cycling stars talk of hard work, motivation and the opposition sneaking a peek August 25, 2016 Britain’s track cycling stars have revealed the extraordinary lengths to which envious rivals went in order to try to stifle their supremacy at the Rio Olympics. Team GB exceeded all expectations in the velodrome by winning six golds, with every rider on the team coming home with a medal of some colour, but that success [...]
RMT announces another strike on the Govia network that will coincide with the Southern industrial action August 25, 2016 Commuters are facing a double-whammy of industrial action just as the summer holidays come to end. The RMT has announced another strike on 7 September on the Govia Thameslink network in a dispute over the future role of station staff. The 24 hour walk-out follows confirmation of a 70 per cent vote for strike action of ballot of members in [...]
