6:33 am, July 7, 2023

Majority of jobs axed as shopping channel Ideal World collapses

TV shopping channel Ideal World has hired administrators and made most of the jobs redundant.

The Peterborough-based company employed around 275 people at its head office but has hired insolvency experts from advisory firm Kroll after it was hit by weaker consumer spending habits.

Administrators said overall trading was ‘not strong enough’ for the business to continue after a slump in viewers. Existing orders will be fulfilled where possible.

Tube workers to take industrial action

London Underground workers are to take industrial action in a long-running dispute over jobs, pensions and conditions.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said its members will take strike action from July 23 to 28.

There will be no strike on Monday July 24, but workers in different grades will take action on each of the other days. The union said hundreds of jobs are set to be axed, affecting Tube stations and maintenance.

Coffee prices to stay high until 2024 says Lavazza as it warns over earnings

Lavazza has warned of a double-digit drop in earnings this year amid surging coffee bean costs and said its prices aren’t set to come down for consumers until 2024.

The Italian coffee giant said it was braced for a hefty drop in underlying earnings over 2023 as it looked to limit price hikes.

It raised its prices by 6.2 per cent in 2022 but saw its costs jump to 550m euros (circa £470.1m) – almost double its underlying earnings last year.

Government must set out expectations for HS2 Euston project – MPs

Pausing HS2 work at Euston shows the government ‘does not know what it is trying to achieve’ with the station, despite more than eight years of planning, MPs have warned.

In a damning report, the public accounts committee urged the Department for Transport to ‘finally establish’ its expectations for the central London station.

Transport secretary Mark Harper announced in March that work would be paused for two years as costs had ballooned to £4.8bn compared with an initial budget of £2.6bn.

Inquests into deaths of Nottingham attack victims to open

Inquests into the deaths of two students and a school caretaker who were killed in an attack in Nottingham are to open today.

University of Nottingham students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, died in a knife attack in the city on June 13.

Valdo Calocane, 31, is charged with their murder, as well as attempting to murder three other people when a van was allegedly driven at pedestrians. He is in custody and due to appear at the city’s crown court for a plea-and-trial preparation hearing on September 25.

Bradford’s City of Culture 2025 preparations receive near-£20m boost

The government has announced £10m of funding for Bradford to kick off its tenure as UK City of Culture 2025.

The city will also receive £5m from Arts Council England and £4.95m from the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

The cash boost will support Bradford’s programme of cultural activity over the year, which will see around 1,000 performances take place in existing sites and a new bespoke touring venue.

Trial offers hope of breakthrough in treatment for Parkinson’s disease

A former diabetes trial drug could be used to treat Parkinson’s disease within years, research suggests.

The drug was designed to treat dyskinesia – involuntary movements that are a common side-effect in Parkinson’s patients who take levodopa-based medication for several years – and could also improve motor symptoms linked to the condition.

According to Parkinson’s UK, the drug – NLX-112 – offers hope that a new multi-faceted treatment could be in reach by 2030.

Berlusconi’s will divides £4.27bn as oldest children get media empire

Silvio Berlusconi left control of his media empire to his two oldest children, according to details of his will reported by Italian media.

He also bequeathed 100m euros (£85.5m) of his estimated five billion-euro (£4.27bn) fortune each to his companion and his brother.

The Fininvest holding company controlling the Mediaset television network, Mondadori publishing house and other assets said in a statement ‘no shareholder will exercise overall individual direct control of Fininvest SpA’ as the three-times ex-Italian premier and media mogul, who died on June 12 aged 86, had.

Peugeot 208 updated with new look and longer electric range

Peugeot has revealed a facelifted version of its 208 supermini, which brings styling revisions along with an increased range in the case of the electric e-208.

It adopts Peugeot’s latest lighting signature, with new ‘three-claw’ LED lights at the front, positioned low in the bumper. The front end in general gets a full redesign incorporating a new integral, colour-coded grille that is also larger than before.

The EV gets a larger 51kWh battery and more powerful motor, increasing the range from 224 miles to 248. A new 1.2-litre mild-hybrid petrol engine is also available with outputs of 100bhp and 136bhp, but regular petrol engines will be on offer, too. Orders are set to open in October, with prices likely to start from around £21,000.

Yesterday’s headlines on Car Dealer you might have missed

Market movements

The FTSE 100 plunged to its lowest point yesterday since November 3 as US interest rate fears weighed heavily on global sentiment. It closed 161.60 points down – a drop of 2.17 per cent – to end the day on 7,280.50.

The Cac 40, meanwhile, was down 228.52 points (3.13 per cent) at 7,082.29, the Dax was down 409.04 points (2.57 per cent) at 15,528.54 and the Dow Jones was down 366.38 points (1.07 per cent) at 33,922.26.

Weather outlook

Today will start with showers in the north but turning drier later, says BBC Weather. It’ll be largely dry elsewhere, with plenty of sunshine in central and southern areas but rather breezy.

Saturday will see outbreaks of showery rain moving from the south-west and will be heavy and thundery in places. The far north-east will be warm and dry, with plenty of sunshine.