Business

Dead and buried. Joe Giddens/PA Archive It was a dramatic end for government super-contractor Carillion when it crashed into insolvent liquidation in January 2018. Part-completed road projects, unfinished hospital buildings and disruption to hospital cleaning and catering heralded the end of this self-styled “integrated support services business”. Carillion owed itsContinue Reading

Empty shelves in Sainsburys in Belfast because UK suppliers can't clear customs. David Young/PA Queues of lorries at borders and empty supermarket shelves confirm what most already knew: the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) has increased trade barriers between the EU and the UK. So what problems are arising,Continue Reading

The 2015 diesel scandal resulted in a 40% drop in the company's share price at the time. A. Aleksandravicius/Shutterstock Volkswagen’s chairman, Herbert Deiss, has been struggling to bring the company’s stock price back to its previous heights since he took over the reins of the German car maker six yearsContinue Reading

While working from home can be a relief, it's not ideal for everyone Daniel Bosse/unsplash, FAL Remote working was the most requested but refused accommodation for disabled people in the workplace before the pandemic. Since COVID-19, however, employers have been forced to adapt. A lot of workplaces went online, leadingContinue Reading

The UK pound could face harder times ahead. Parlanteste/Shutterstock The Brexit deal has failed to have any major effect on the exchange rate of the pound since January 1. The pound has held steady against the US dollar at US$1.36 and has strengthened slightly against the euro to €1.12. ThisContinue Reading

Ant Rozetsky/Unsplash Many workplaces have been experimenting with different types of flexible working arrangements for years now, but the pandemic has made the need for flexibility far more pressing. This has led to the intensification of many campaigns around flexible working, among them a call for a four-day week. TheContinue Reading

The coronavirus outbreak led some people into financial difficulty, others are faced with seeing their money problems worsen. The new year just adds greater uncertainty. SUKJAI PHOTO/Shutterstock The COVID-19 crisis presents the greatest challenge in a decade for people’s lives and livelihoods. It has not just caused a public healthContinue Reading

Not your average Joe. Vasilis Asvestas/Shutterstock Joe Biden will inherit among the most challenging political and economic environments of any US president. With America reeling from the storming of the Capitol by pro-Trump insurrectionists, not to mention a raging pandemic, President Biden must heal partisan wounds and put the world’sContinue Reading

Ladders for us, snakes for you. Ratthaphong Ekariyasap When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, it seemed like the day of reckoning for over-stretched corporate borrowers was finally at hand. For years, pundits and policymakers had been warning about a dangerous build-up of the debt of “non-financial firms”, meaning all thoseContinue Reading

The famous jeweller Tiffany & Co has just sold for a cut-price bid. Grzegorz Czapski Luxury goods giant LVMH has completed its US$15.8 billion (£11.6 billion) mega-deal to buy famous American jeweller Tiffany & Co. LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, originally agreed to pay US$16.2 billion for Tiffany in 2019,Continue Reading