business and finance

UK Airline industry wants wage subsidy scheme extended

Tim Alderslade, the chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, wrote to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, saying that carriers will face a 'renewed cash crisis' if the job support scheme is withdrawn.




business and finance

UK trailing Europe in coronavirus crisis loans

Less money has been lent under the Business Interruption Loan Scheme than in Switzerland and Germany because the application process is too complex, the TaxPayers' Alliance said.




business and finance

Furloughing fat cat bosses pocketed over £300m in five years

There are mounting calls for super-rich fat cat executives to play a bigger part in shouldering the financial burden stemming from the crisis, which will end up hitting taxpayers hard in the pocket.




business and finance

Amazon to reap £7,500 a second in online boom

Analysts are predicting it will unveil first-quarter sales of around £59 billion. But the retail giant has been accused of abandoning fraud victims by closing a crucial helpline.




business and finance

Airbus jobs at risk and shake-up looms as 3,200 furloughed

Chief executive Guillaume Faury told the plane maker's 135,000 staff to brace for a major shake-up and potentially sweeping job cuts to slash costs.




business and finance

John Lewis seamstresses making scrubs for NHS

The retailer announced it would reopen its Lancashire textiles factory to make 8,000 washable gowns for Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust over four weeks.




business and finance

Lloyds Bank lags UK rivals on coronavirus loans

Though it is one of the largest lenders to small and medium-sized firms, it has only approved a tiny percentage of loans made under the Government's Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.




business and finance

Companies must show restraint on bosses' pay

The Investment Association said firms will need 'to take account of their individual circumstances particularly considering the impact on their stakeholders' when deciding executive pay.




business and finance

Sportswear firm Adidas suffers hit as profits slump 93%

The German sportswear firm warned its sales would slump 40 per cent in the second quarter despite China emerging from lockdown, and surging performance online.




business and finance

Easyjet bosses set for showdown with founder Haji-Ioannou

Following a row over the cost of new planes, Haji-Ioannou is trying to oust chief executive Johan Lundgren and chairman John Barton at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on May 22.




business and finance

MARKET REPORT: British pharma shines with coronavirus test

Novacyt has inked a deal with the Department of Health to provide it with 288,000 tests a week. And Omega Diagnostics has made fresh strides in the race to roll out antibody tests.




business and finance

Up to 30,000 North Sea oil and gas jobs could be cut

The crash in oil prices could put 10 per cent of the sector's 300,000 workforce at risk and reduce new investment in the region to the lowest level since 2000.




business and finance

Top executives seek help with mental health during lockdown

Paracelsus Recovery said the rise in requests was mostly from high-flying businessmen who were struggling to adapt to their new style of life.




business and finance

Brokers prey on businesses desperate for coronavirus lending

Treasury officials and the City watchdog expressed concern after it emerged a company is charging £500 upfront, then a percentage of the value of the loan if the application is successful.




business and finance

MARKET REPORT: Royal Mail shares rise after a first class verdict

Royal Mail is poised to benefit from the new reliance on web sales. Citigroup Analysts bestowed a rare double upgrade on the 504-year-old postal service, moving it from 'sell' to 'buy'.




business and finance

Founder of 'legal loan shark' Amigo in bid to oust the entire board

James Benamor says Amigo was committing 'slow-motion suicide' by making 'irresponsible' loans and failing to alert shareholders to the potential cost of complaints.




business and finance

Online food shopping soars among silver surfers

Grocers have hired an army of 110,000 temporary staff to meet rising demand. Tesco is now delivering to more than a million people every week, an increase of 400,000 weekly delivery slots.




business and finance

Boeing boss warns of lasting effect of Covid-19

Just a day after arch-rival Airbus said it was 'bleeding cash' and may not survive, Boeing boss David Calhoun said: 'It is difficult to estimate when the situation will stabilise.'




business and finance

Reform furlough scheme to save jobs, says think-tank Reform

Think-tank Reform is calling on Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor (pictured), to let businesses bring back employees on reduced hours but still receive some state support as lockdown is lifted.




business and finance

BP promises to pay a £1.7bn dividend despite 'brutal' environment

Many had been worried BP would have to cut or axe the payout after oil prices began tanking in late January. But the energy giant has raised the amount it will give to shareholders.




business and finance

M&S defies pressure to cut executive pay packages

Chief exec Steve Rowe (pictured) will still take his full £810,000 salary plus bonuses this year despite asking long-suffering savers and the taxpayer to prop up the ailing business.




business and finance

British Airways planning 12,000 redundancies

Coronavirus has wiped out demand and IAG believes it will take several years for air travel to recover to 2019 levels.




business and finance

Estate agents under fire for offering viewings during the pandemic

Firms are accusing each other of 'profiteering' from the pandemic. An estate agency in the Lake District sparked a debate after it said it had completed a viewing on a £1.25m home.




business and finance

Cath Kidston staff 'betrayed' over redundancy pay

Bosses at the company's owner, Barings Asia, are withholding the severance payment. Instead staff have been been told to apply for government handouts.




business and finance

Dixons Carphone's online sales rise 166% in five weeks

The group, which has scrapped its dividend for shareholders and furloughed 16,500 staff, saw its share price jump over 19 per cent earlier today.




business and finance

P&O owner begs for £150m bailout as it plans to give investors £270m 

Dubai-based DP World says P&O needs the emergency cash to avoid collapse during the virus crisis.




business and finance

Persimmon suffers 'material' slowdown in sales during lockdown

While the group got off to a strong start this year, social distancing, Government lockdown interventions and economic uncertainty have started to take their toll.




business and finance

British make-up brand Charlotte Tilbury at centre of £1bn bidding war

It is thought that the brand, founded by make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury, 47, (pictured to the right of human rights lawyer Amal Clooney) could fetch more than £1bn.




business and finance

Big offices are now a thing of the past, says Barclays boss

Staley (pictured with wife Debora) said the coronavirus would have a lasting impact on where staff work. Around 70,000 of Barclays 80,000 employees are working from home.




business and finance

MARKET REPORT: Fever-Tree shares lose fizz as co-founder quits

Over the last 17 years Rolls (pictured) and his business partner, chief exec Tim Warrillow , have transformed the market for tonic waters - and created a stock market darling.




business and finance

Aerospace industry facing its 'gravest ever crisis', says Airbus boss

On another bleak day for the sector, Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury predicted it could take 'three to five years' for passengers to be as willing to fly as before the crisis.




business and finance

The worst could be over in six months, say UK drug giants

Glaxosmithkline, led by Emma Walmsley (pictured) and Astrazeneca both revealed a surge in first-quarter sales. Walmsley warned vaccines are not likely to become available for more than a year.




business and finance

Shares rally after worst quarter for pensions

The FTSE 100 index rose 156.75 points to 6115.25, closing above the 6000 mark for the first time since early March, despite data showing the US economy shrank 4.8 per cent in the first quarter.




business and finance

Covid winners: The tech tycoons & money men making a mint

Amazon is expected to report profits of more than £7500 a second, meaning founder Jeff Bezos (pictured with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez) has added billions of dollars to his personal fortune.




business and finance

Oil giant Shell's eight-decade run of not cutting dividends ends

Shareholders are to receive around a two-thirds cut in their dividend payments covering the last three months of 2019, from 47 cents per share to 16 cents.




business and finance

Shell in first dividend cut since WW2: Blow to pensions

Last year Shell was the most generous dividend payer in the UK, handing pension funds and investors £11.6bn.That amounted to 15.5 per cent of all payments made by FTSE 100 firms.




business and finance

Twitter sales plunge 27% but users grow

The US social media group said 14m more users are using its platform every day compared to a year ago, taking the total number to 166m.




business and finance

Ending furlough scheme in June is 'tantamount to economic suicide'

Just days after British Airways warned of 12,000 job cuts, business only expect to recover slowly as workers and consumers stay home and social distancing measures are put in place.




business and finance

Reckitt sees record sales bonanza of £3.5bn as pandemic boosts demand

Laxman Narasimhan, chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, said sales of condoms had been hit in the UK and Italy - but not in China, where restrictions are being lifted.




business and finance

Pandemic set to cost car industry more than £8bn

The pandemic could result in 257,000 fewer vehicles rolling off production lines this year, after output plunged by almost 38 per cent last month, an industry report predicted.




business and finance

Elon Musk brands lockdown 'fascist' and claims it poses risk to Tesla 

Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, has been closed since March 24 as part of a government clampdown, requiring people to stay indoors to slow the spread of the coronavirus.




business and finance

MARKET REPORT: Hargreaves co-founder sells £160m of his shares

Stephen Lansdown found the company's stock was so sought after that, when he launched his latest sale of shares, he had to increase the amount up for grabs twice.




business and finance

Lloyds under fire for handing out just £500m to struggling firms

The bank, led by chief exec Antonio Horta-Osori (pictured), which is the UK's biggest mortgage provider and one of the largest lenders to small businesses, has handed out just.




business and finance

Britain's manufacturers suffer record drop in output

As the economic toll of lockdown starts to rear its ugly head, employment, new orders and output in the sector fell at the fastest pace for 28 years last month.




business and finance

Tesla shares fell by nearly 13 per cent after Elon Musk tweet

The billionaire, 48, made the comment yesterday in a string of tweets that also saw him reveal he was selling all of his possessions and demand that authorities give people back 'their freedom'.




business and finance

DIRECTOR'S DEALS: Diageo's Asia boss sells £746,000 worth of shares

Sam Fischer spent £479,000 exercising options to buy 28,000 shares at 1709p. He later sold the stock at 2663p, netting £267,000. Diageo's market value has fallen 14 per cent this year.




business and finance

McDonald's to open 15 restaurants for takeaway and delivery on May 13 

The fast food business's 1,350 restaurants have been closed since the Government brought in lockdown measures in March due to concerns over staff and customer safety.




business and finance

FCA tells insurers: See you in court, after Covid claims are rejected

Insurers have come under fire for refusing to pay out claims to companies which have been devastated by the lockdown. The Financial Conduct Authority plans to resolve this as quickly as possible.




business and finance

RBS sets aside £800m to pay for bad loans as profit falls almost 50%

RBS, which is changing its name to Natwest later this year, said the loss provisions dragged profit down by almost 50 per cent to £519m in the first three months of 2020.




business and finance

Frontier Developments lands rights to create Warhammer video game

The Cambridge-based software firm will create a 'strategy' title based on the hugely successful fantasy series that will be released on computer and game consoles such as Xbox and Playstation.