Pearson chair to depart after £7.2m CEO pay spat with shareholders April 22, 2021 Sidney Taurel will step down from chair of Pearson, after rowing with shareholders over handing new chief executive Andy Bird a £7.2m sign on bonus. The education publisher said Taurel will retire no later than the 2022 annual meeting. Taurel’s decision came after a third of Pearon’s investors voted against a £7.2m pay award for [...]
Peers brand decision to lift cap on number of nuclear warheads ‘thin and unconvincing’ April 22, 2021 Members of the House of Lords have criticised the government’s decision to lift the cap on the number of nuclear warheads held by the UK. Peers argued the decision was disproportionate, expensive, unfounded, unconvincing and at odds with the United States, which has just pledged to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in foreign policy. [...]
Clifford Chance to make redundancies in London April 22, 2021 Clifford Chance has launched a redundancy scheme that will see tens of London-based employees leave the law firm. The Magic Circle law firm will make between 44 and 73 people redundant in the capital, with those working as legal support secretaries and in the document production unit and the mail room to be affected. The [...]
Freshfields tries to distance itself from ‘Magic Circle’ label April 22, 2021 Top brass at elite London law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer would prefer it not to be labelled a ‘Magic Circle’ firm, after it aggressively expanded into the US in recent years. “I don’t think the Magic Circle is a correct reference, and, at the same time, we do more than our US competitors as well,” [...]
Wizz Air redundancies ‘dangerously influenced’ flight safety culture claims whistleblower April 22, 2021 Covid-19-related redundancies at Wizz Air “dangerously influenced” flight safety culture, a whistleblower has claimed, after the way in which staff were selected for redundancy left them worried to call in sick. Last April London-listed Wizz Air laid off around 1,000 staff – around 20 per cent of its workforce – after a travel shutdown caused [...]
HSBC manager writes viral post about overwork following heart attack April 21, 2021 The tale of what looked to be a stress-induced heart attack has gone viral on LinkedIn, after HSBC contractor Jonathan Frostick vowed to “restructure my approach to work” following his near-death experience. According to Frostick’s LinkedIn post, which has more than 200,000 ‘likes’ and nearly 11,000 comments as of Wednesday evening, the HSBC manager had [...]
Covid travel restrictions see revenue at hotel giant Accor tumble April 21, 2021 Revenue at Accor fell in the first quarter of its 2021 financial year, as Covid-19 restrictions left the group still unable to operate at full capacity. First-quarter revenue totalled €361m, down 48 per cent when compared with Q1 in 2020. Revenue per available room fell by 64 per cent against Q1 2019, reflecting the current [...]
JP Morgan sustainability rating downgraded after funding Super League April 21, 2021 Sustainability ratings company Standard Ethics has downgraded JP Morgan’s rating after it was revealed to have funded the failed and controversial European Super League. Standard Ethics said it judged JP Morgan’s involvement in the project to be “contrary to sustainability best practices”, and as a result downgraded its corporate rating from “adequate” to “non-compliant”. The [...]
Hammerson completes retail park exit with £330m sale to Canadian private equity player April 21, 2021 Property giant Hammerson has confirmed that it has sold seven retail parks to private equity firm Brookfield in a £330m deal that completes the retail landlord’s exit from the struggling sector. The £330m price tag represents an eight per cent discount to the 31 December book value of £357m, and the deal concludes Hammerson’s disposal [...]
London Bridge evacuation: Station reopened after ‘suspicious item’ found on board a train April 21, 2021 London Bridge evacuation: Station reopened after 'suspicious item' found on