Published: 21 November 2022
By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight
The government has denied the truth of an article published in the Sunday Times yesterday which claimed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was seeking to pursue frictionless trade with the EU, modelled on Switzerland's EU relationship. Switzerland has full access to the single market, but must abide by EU regulations, accept freedom of movement, and make payments into the bloc's budget, all conditions firmly rejected by ministers during negotiations with Brussels following the 2016 vote to leave the EU. "I don't recognise this story at all," health minister Steve Barclay told Sky News. "I don't support that. I want to maximise the opportunities that Brexit offers." A foreign ministry spokesperson said: "These reports are categorically untrue". David Frost, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator, said if the claims were correct, he hoped "the government thinks better of these plans, fast". Former UKIP and Reform party leader Nigel Farage said on Twitter: "This level of betrayal will never be forgiven."
Think-tank The Resolution Foundation says the tax-heavy budget delivered by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last week has piled further pressure on the “squeezed middle” as well as top earners, and means workers face living through a two-decade wage stagnation, costing them as much as £15,000. It warned that the personal tax rises announced will deliver a permanent 3.7% income hit to typical households, and calculated that real wages are now not expected to return to their 2008 level until 2027. Had wages instead continued to grow at their pre-crisis rate during this unprecedented 19-year pay downturn, they would be £292 a week, or £15,000 a year, higher, it said.
British graffiti artist Banksy invited shoplifters to pay the London Regent Street branch of fashion retailer Guess a visit on Friday, saying it had used his work without permission. Its store window display featured Banksy's Flower Thrower graffiti, and showcased a new capsule collection which its website says was "created in partnership with Brandalised, an urban graffiti license whose mission is to offer Banksy fans affordable graffiti collectibles. "Attention all shoplifters. Please go to GUESS on Regent Street. They've helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?" he told his 11.6 million followers on Instagram. Banksy’s identity is a closely guarded secret.
Reuters reports that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), owned by India's Tata Motors, has invited tech workers recently laid off at firms such as Twitter and Facebook owner Meta to apply for 800 roles spanning self-driving, electrification, machine learning and data science. The 100-year-old British automaker wants to hire engineers to help develop electric cars, and on Friday announced a jobs portal specifically for displaced tech workers to fill some 800 vacancies. JLR is planning to become an "electric-first" business from 2025, and said it believed workers leaving big tech groups such as Amazon are most likely to have the required skills to fill new roles in Britain, Ireland, the United States, India, China and Hungary. The majority of the jobs will be in Britain, however, split between JLR's offices in Manchester and Gaydon in central England, Chief Information Officer Anthony Battle said.
Virgin Money has posted a strong rise in full-year profits driven, it says, by higher interest rates. The FTSE 250 bank said pre-tax profit surged 43% to £595m. It also posted impairment losses of £52m, compared with a £131m credit a year ago.
Catering company Compass hiked its full-year dividend this morning while posting a rise in underlying operating profit and revenues, and hailing record net new business. In the year to 30 September, underlying operating profit grew 87.5% to £1.59bn, on revenue of £25.8bn, up 37.5% on the previous year. The company highlighted "excellent" net new business of 7.5%, while client retention rates improved to a record 96.4%, up 100 basis points on 2021, and said it expected its profit growth to be more than 20% in 2023, with margins above 6.5%. The dividend per share was lifted 125% to 31.5p. Compass, which has completed an initial £500m share buyback, also announced a further £250m buyback, to be completed in the first half of 2023.
Germany's foreign ministry plans to tighten the rules for companies deeply exposed to China, making them disclose more information and possibly conduct stress tests for geopolitical risks, a confidential draft document seen by Reuters said. The proposed measures are part of a new business strategy towards China being drawn up by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government as it seeks to reduce its dependency on Asia's economic superpower. "The aim is to change the incentive structure for German companies with market economy instruments, so that reducing export dependency is more attractive," said the document, singling out the chemicals and car industries.
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has filed for US bankruptcy court protection, said in a court filing on Saturday that it owes its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1bn (£2.61bn), of which some $1.45bn (£1.22bn) is due to its top ten creditors. None were named.
Twitter staff were apparently temporarily locked out their offices over the weekend, according to a company message seen by media outlets including the New York Times and BBC, which revealed staff were told on Friday that "effective immediately", all badge access would be suspended. They were thanked for their "flexibility" and reminded not to discuss confidential company information on social media. No reason for the shutout was given by either Twitter nor its new owner Elon Musk, however Musk posted a skull and crossbones emoji and then a picture of a gravestone with Twitter's logo. Having introduced a $8 monthly ‘Twitter Blue’ fee for blue tick verification (£6.99 in the UK), the site was flooded by ‘verified’ parody accounts and the programme is now suspended.
Publishing giant Simon & Schuster's owner is to let its $2.2bn (£1.85bn) sale to Penguin Random House collapse, according to people familiar with the matter who have spoken to Reuters. The acquisition was blocked on 1st November by a US federal judge on antitrust grounds, as the combined new business would have accounted for more than 25% of all print books sold in the United States this year. German media group Bertelsmann SE & Co, which owns Penguin, was apparently unable to convince Paramount Global, Simon & Schuster's current owner, to help launch an appeal and extend the deal contract before it expires today. Bertelsmann will owe Paramount a $200 million break-up fee as a result of the transaction falling apart. All parties declined to comment.
She was dubbed by Forbes as the world's youngest female self-made billionaire in 2014, but on Friday a US federal judge has sentenced Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes to 11 years and three months in prison for defrauding investors in her now-defunct blood-testing startup. She was sentenced on three counts of investor fraud and one count of conspiracy, following her conviction in January. Theranos promised to revolutionise blood testing by replacing traditional labs with small machines envisioned for use in homes, drugstores and even on the battlefield, and the company was at one point valued at $9bn (£7.57bn), with Holmes’ stake worth $4.5bn (£3.78bn). However, when the Wall Street Journal investigated, it found Theranos’ miniaturised blood testing machine, which could apparently run an array of tests from a few drops of blood, in fact relied secretly on conventional machines from other companies to run patients' tests. "This is a fraud case where an exciting venture went forward with great expectations only to be dashed by untruths, misrepresentations, plain hubris and lies," the judge said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Schenk had asked for a 15-year sentence, saying it would be "making a statement that the ends don't justify the means." "I have felt deep shame for what people went through because I failed them," Holmes said. Her lawyers are planning to appeal.
Why Media is an award-winning design, marketing, digital communications and PR agency offering tailored solutions to companies on a global scale. We have extensive experience in delivering design and marketing services to a spectrum of companies including professional services, property companies, financial institutions and shopping centres. We have offices in London UK, Hertford UK, Finestrat ES & Brescia IT.
Marketing Contact
Name: Claire White
E-Mail: claire@whymedia.com
Telephone: 01992 586 507
