Reuters UK Business

By Joanna Plucinska LONDON (Reuters) -British airline easyJet on Wednesday forecast a smaller first-half loss and strong summer bookings, boosting its shares despite a writedown of about 40 million pounds ($51 million) due to the conflict in the Middle East. The low-cost airline reported a first-quarter headline loss before tax of 126 million pounds, compared …

EasyJet sees strong summer despite Middle East instability Read More »

LONDON (Reuters) -Japan’s Fujitsu should be contributing hundreds of millions of pounds to pay the compensation bill the British government is expecting to face over the Post Office Scandal, postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said on Wednesday. When asked by BBC Radio if he thought Fujitsu could face a bill of “hundreds of millions of pounds” …

UK says Fujitsu should pay hundreds of millions for UK Post Office scandal Read More »

By Iain Withers LONDON (Reuters) – British asset manager abrdn confirmed plans to axe 500 roles as part of deep cost cuts on Wednesday after suffering worse than expected outflows of client cash in the second half of 2023. Abrdn and other active asset managers have been grappling with turbulent markets and growing competition from …

Drained by fund outflows, abrdn pursues deep cost cuts Read More »

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany’s economic downturn worsened this month with both manufacturing and services activity contracting, a preliminary survey showed on Wednesday. Underlying data showed a convergence in performance between the two monitored sub-sectors, the report said, with the decline in manufacturing output easing, while the services sector posted its steepest drop for five months. The …

German business activity deteriorates in Jan -PMI Read More »

BERLIN (Reuters) – E.ON Chief Executive Leonhard Birnbaum on Wednesday lashed out at Germany’s government, calling for an energy masterplan for Europe’s top economy that should be aimed at cutting red tape and offering a capacity market. Birnbaum criticised legislators for being “passionately inert” with regard to Germany’s energy transition away from fossil fuels and …

E.ON boss slams Berlin for being too slow on energy transition Read More »

LONDON (Reuters) – The downturn in euro zone business activity eased this month but an improvement in the manufacturing outlook was partly offset by a steeper decline in the bloc’s dominant services industry, a survey showed on Wednesday. HCOB’s preliminary Composite PMI, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 47.9 this month from December’s 47.6, just …

Euro zone business downturn eases in January -PMI Read More »

(Reuters) -Puma on Wednesday said it expected mid-single-digit currency-adjusted growth in its 2024 sales, after reporting preliminary currency-adjusted sales growth of around 6.6% for 2023. It forecast its operating result (EBIT) to come in a range of 620 million to 700 million euros for the current year. For 2023, Puma reported preliminary full-year sales of …

Puma sees mid-single-digit currency-adjusted sales growth in 2024 Read More »

MILAN (Reuters) – Europe’s STOXX Tech index jumped over 3% to its highest since January 2022 on Wednesday as traders cheered strong earning updates from some of the region’s top technology groups. Chipmaking equipment maker ASML, Europe’s biggest technology company by market value, reported better-than-expected net profit and its best-ever quarterly orders, while German software …

Earnings lift European tech index to over 2-year high Read More »