Business News

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has urged Premier League footballers to “play your part” in the coronavirus crisis and take a reduction in wages. Football clubs have been accused of operating in a “moral vacuum” after a number of them put non-playing staff on furlough leave without asking their superstar players to accept a pay cut. Speaking at the government’s daily coronavirus briefing, he said: “I think everybody needs to play their part in this national effort and that means Premier League footballers too. “Given the sacrifices that many people are making, including some of my colleagues in the NHS…

A family-run engineering company in Wales developed a special ventilator to help tackle coronavirus in just three days – and are now manufacturing a 100 a day. The Covid Emergency Ventilator was devised with the help of a senior NHS consultant and has already successfully treated a coronavirus patient. Engineers CR Clarke – who usually design plastic fabrication equipment for industry – were approached by Dr Rhys Thomas who was concerned at the lack of intensive care unit ventilators. It took just three days to build the device on a small industrial park in Ammanford, south Wales. On Saturday, it…

Criminal trials which are due to last longer than three days will be put on hold due to the spread of coronavirus. The move by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett – the most senior judge in England and Wales – affects those cases that were set to start before the end of April. They will now be postponed. Any current trials will continue as it is hoped they can still be completed. The government has been under pressure to outline its strategy for the legal system, following concerns about how COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, could spread and…

More than £50m has been invested in the Nissan plant in Sunderland as the firm gears up to build the new Qashqai. The Japanese car-manufacturer said its new press, which weighs over 2,000 tonnes and can exert a pressure of 5,000 tonnes, forms part of its £400m investment in the plant. The Qashqai, which came out in 2006, is the plant’s most successful car. Nissan had previously said that a no-deal Brexit could make its European business model “unsustainable”. The press took 18 months to install. Nissan’s chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta, said: “When the first Nissan Qashqai rolled off…

The failure of Europe’s biggest regional airline Flybe could be the start of more casualties, analysts predict. On Thursday, a global airline industry body warned the financial hit from coronavirus could reach $113bn (£87bn) this year. The bleak prediction came on the same day UK-based Flybe went into administration. Airline experts are forecasting more failures as passengers cancel flights. Flybe’s collapse “will likely be the first of many in 2020,” said James Goodall, transport analyst at Redburn. “We expect that the demand destruction caused by Covid-19 accelerated its demise and we believe further airline bankruptcies should be expected in the…

Flybe has gone into administration after struggling to raise funds amid a steep fall in bookings due to coronavirus. One of Britain’s largest airlines, Flybe entered administration just after 3am on Thursday, with all flights grounded and the business having ceased trading “with immediate effect”. It prompted pilots’ union Balpa to accuse the government and the airline’s owners of “betrayal and broken promises” – and questions about how vital regional transport links will be maintained. The GMB union warned that, in addition to Flybe’s 2,400 staff, the collapse threatened 1,400 jobs in the supply chain and put the future of…

The founders of two of the most popular James Bond fan sites are asking the studios behind the next Bond film to delay its release due to coronovirus. No Time to Die is due for release on 3 April but fans have asked for it to be held back to the summer “when experts expect the epidemic to have peaked”. The open letter is from the founders of MI6 Confidential and The James Bond Dossier, James Page and David Leigh. “It is time to put public health above marketing release schedules.” The letter, titled No Time for Indecision, continued: “With…

A town synonymous with the chemical and steel industry today announced its intention to become a thriving digital hub with a £250m living and working tech campus which includes an amphitheatre, rooftop terrace and helipad as well as a working farm. Independent Middlesbrough Mayor and entrepreneur Andy Preston outlined the details of his plans to develop three skyscrapers in the heart of Teesside which looks to combine a thriving digital sector with state of the art residential apartments. The digital industry is currently worth £700m to the Tees Valley region, but the mayor believes this can increase tenfold thanks to the…

The North-South divide in house price growth saw property values climb more than three times as much in Yorkshire and Humber as in south-east England. Land Registry figures for December also revealed a post-election boost, with London prices rising 1.6%. The end-of-year surge meant all regions saw a positive annual growth rate for the first time since February 2018. UK average house prices increased by 2.2% over the year to December 2019, up from 1.7% in the previous month. They rose 3.9% in Yorkshire and Humber last year, but just 1.2% in the South East. According to the Office for…

Businesses are warning of looming layoffs, lost revenue and a hit to Canada’s reputation, as rail disruptions drag on in the country.A coalition of 39 industry associations wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, calling on him to “work urgently” with First Nations and police to bring the blockade to a peaceful end.“The damage inflicted on the Canadian economy and on the welfare of all our citizens mounts with each hour that these illegal disruptions are allowed to continue,” the coalition said, which represents automotives, mining and numerous other industries.While the members said they share the government’s…

The top five executives at Ocado are to share an £88 million payday, despite the online retailer suffering a £215 million loss in its last financial year. Ocado revealed yesterday that its management team would receive the maximum possible from a five-year incentive scheme set up in 2014 because of the rise in the company’s share price. Tim Steiner, 50, chief executive, will be paid £58.7 million for the year to December 1, 2019, one of the largest annual payouts for a FTSE 100 boss. Duncan Tatton-Brown, 54, the chief financial officer, will be paid £15.8 million, as will Mark…

[email protected], the mentoring network set up by Prince Andrew, has appeared to further distance itself from its royal founder. The company, owned by the prince, had already moved from its Buckingham Palace base into new office space. Now, the initiative has removed mention of the prince’s name from its website. Prominent supporters turned their backs on [email protected] after revelations about the prince’s friendship with disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein. Barclays, Standard Chartered and KPMG all cut ties after a BBC Newsnight interview about the royal’s relationship with the late sex offender. The scheme connects start-up firms, often in the technology…