Jim McCann had a good sleep on the night of the UK Brexit referendum. There was much at stake for Willis Towers Watson, the newly merged insurance brokerage and consultancy he chairs. But an English friend had assured him that the UK would stay...
Read moreStansted seeks end to cap on passengers
The company behind Stansted, London’s third-busiest airport, is to call on the Government to lift restrictions on passenger numbers as it ramps up its campaign to expand and eventually build a second runway. Charlie Cornish, chief executive at...
Read moreKingfisher cheers property market with new HQ search
Kingfisher, the retailer behind B&Q and ScrewFix, is seeking a giant new London headquarters, a deal which would be a fillip for the commercial property market after the Brexit vote. The company has appointed agents at Cushman & Wakefield...
Read moreEnergy suppliers share data to catch electricity and gas thieves
Ian Terblanche, Experian’s director of telecoms and utilities, said the threshold at which premises would be identified as abnormal varied, but that it was “a long way out from the baseline”, meaning thrifty consumers and regular holidaymakers...
Read moreYoung customers want biometric banking for ease of access
Young customers want to use thumbprints and facial recognition rather than pin numbers and passwords for banking, new research has found. Card company Visa found that a quarter of 18-24 year olds would consider switching banks if they were not...
Read moreNight-time economy boosts Britain's high streets
Bars, restaurants and pubs came to the rescue of Britain’s beleaguered high streets last month by helping to draw consumers into town centres. High streets enjoyed a 1.1pc increase in footfall during August, pushing overall footfall in the UK...
Read moreTime to ignore popularity in a drive for successful UK industrial policy
Industrial policy’s chequered history is a minefield of costly blunders in the UK. Misguided goals, wavering political commitment, capture by interest groups and departmental incompetence have all crippled the best-intended attempts to improve...
Read moreGalliford Try boosts dividend after record year
In the immediate aftermath of the referendum, the company reported “a short-term decline in visitor numbers and small increase in cancellation rates”. Mr Truscott added that “In July we were maintaining similar sales rate to last year, but a...
Read moreThere may be a sunnier post-Brexit if we become firm friends with Japan
Japan has a very strong manufacturing presence in the UK, particularly in the automotive industry, with Nissan operating the UK’s single biggest car manufacturing plant, in Sunderland. Much has been made of the uncertainty now surrounding this...
Read moreWhat America will do after the election – whoever wins
Another area where Trump and Clinton are singing from the same sheet is their dislike of existing and proposed trade deals. Protectionism, together with expected robust economic growth and a stronger dollar, points towards domestic-facing...
Read morePortfolio managers shun investing in own funds
Half of the 15,000 mutual funds in the US are run by portfolio managers who do not invest a single dollar of their own money in their products, raising concerns about whether fund managers’ interests are properly aligned with those of their...
Read more‘Vietnam is my life. Dragon is my life’
© Tony Healey Dominic Scriven is the proud owner of the Vietnamese Labor medal, an honour the 52-year-old explains is awarded by the Asian country’s communist government for “contributions, as a labourer, towards the revolution”. It seems an...
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