Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: london

  • Ryanair added Bucharest to Stansted route to the current limited flight schedule

    Ryanair added Bucharest to Stansted route to the current limited flight schedule

    Ryanair added its Bucharest to London Stansted route to its current limited flight schedule, which will operate with 3 weekly services from May 15th.

    Ryanair’s Olga Pawlonka said: ”We are pleased to add this route connecting Bucharest and London Stansted with 3 weekly services from May 15th, as we work with EU Governments to try to keep some minimum flight links open for emergency reasons, even though the passenger loads on these flights is very low. Our current limited schedule continues to maintain vital links across Europe to facilitate our passengers and their families to deal with emergencies that may require urgent travel over the coming days and weeks.”

    As most EU countries have imposed flight bans or other restrictions, over 99% of Ryanair’s aircraft are grounded for the coming weeks. Ryanair will comply with these restrictions at all times.

    Ryanair is working with EU Governments to try to keep some minimum flight links open for emergency reasons, even though the passenger loads on these flights is very low. This limited schedule will now be extended to May 28th.

    Ryanair is operating these flights, daily or weekly, on the following routes

    To/From the UK
    London (STN) – Bucharest
    London (STN) – Sofia
    London (STN) – Porto
    London (STN) – Dublin
    London (LGW) – Dublin
    Birmingham – Dublin
    Edinburgh – Dublin
    Bristol – Dublin
    Glasgow – Dublin
    Manchester – Dublin
    London (STN) – Eindhoven
    London (STN) – Lisbon
    London (STN) – Cork
    London (STN) – Berlin
    London (STN) – Budapest
    To/From Ireland
    Dublin – London (STN)
    Dublin – London (LGW)
    Dublin – Birmingham
    Dublin – Bristol
    Dublin – Edinburgh 
    Dublin – Glasgow
    Dublin – Manchester
    Dublin – Amsterdam
    Dublin – Brussels
    Dublin – Berlin
    Dublin – Lisbon
    Dublin – Cologne
    Cork    – London (STN)

  • Liberty Global and Telefonica to merge their U.K. operations

    Liberty Global and Telefonica to merge their U.K. operations

    Liberty Global and Telefonica announced an agreement to merge their operating businesses in the U.K. to form a 50:50 joint venture (the “JV”).

    The combination of Virgin Media and O2 will create a nationwide integrated communications provider with over 46 million video, broadband and mobile subscribers and £11 billion of revenue.

    There is an attractive valuation for both businesses, with O2 valued at £12.7 billion and Virgin Media valued at £18.7 billion, both on a total enterprise value basis. O2 to be transferred into the joint venture on a debt-free basis, while Virgin Media to be contributed with £11.3 billion of net debt and debt-like items.

    By combining Virgin Media’s market-leading v6 video service and giga-ready broadband network, together with O2’s 5G ready mobile propositions, U.K. consumers will enjoy a superior connectivity and entertainment.

    As a fully converged provider, the JV will provide more competition in the marketplace and choice for consumers.

    In addition, the JV will become a leading challenger in the B2B space as the combination will accelerate the adoption of converged fixed-mobile services to Virgin Media’s and O2’s existing business customers and offer new services using both companies’ digital skills, networks and product portfolios, such as cloud, big data, Internet of Things and cybersecurity services.

  • 91% less passenger vehicles crossed Eurotunnel in april 2020

    91% less passenger vehicles crossed Eurotunnel in april 2020

    In the context of the lockdown measures imposed by the French and British governments on the 17th and 23rd March respectively, prohibiting all travel considered to be non-essential, Eurotunnel focused on ensuring the supply of critical goods between France and the United Kingdom via its Truck and Passenger Shuttle services.

    This restriction does not apply to cars and vans travelling in the Passenger Shuttles, as drivers and passengers remain in their vehicles during the crossing, without coming into direct physical contact with staff or passengers.

    Le Shuttle Freight carried almost 80,000 trucks in April 2020, mainly due to the resilience of demand for food, pharmaceutical and e-commerce goods.

    With an average of 4 departures per hour, Le Shuttle is better adapted to this type of product than maritime transport. Since 1st January, more than 466,000 trucks have crossed the Channel using our Shuttles.

    In April 2020, the Passenger Shuttles carried almost 20,000 passenger vehicles. This figure should be seen in light of the very severe restrictions in relation to border crossings imposed by the French and British governments.

    Since 1 January, almost 440,000 passenger vehicles have crossed the Channel on board of Passenger Shuttles.


         		April 20April 19ChangeJan- April 2020Jan- April 2019
    Truck ShuttlesTrucks79,474119,563-34%466,722
    Passenger ShuttlesPassenger vehicles19,682227,393-91%439,854
  • Nomad Foods revenue increased 10.5% to €683 million

    Nomad Foods revenue increased 10.5% to €683 million

    Nomad Foods reported financial results for the three month period ended March 31, 2020. As compared to Q1 2019, revenue increased 10.5% to €683 million. 

    Organic revenue growth of 7.7% was comprised of 1.4% growth in price and a 6.3% increase in volume/mix.

    Gross profit increased 4% to €199 million. Gross margin declined 180 basis points to 29.1% as pricing, promotional efficiencies and mix were more than offset by cost of goods inflation.

    Adjusted operating expenses increased 14% to €97 million reflecting double-digit growth in both Advertising & Promotion and Indirect expenses as a result of phasing.

    Adjusted EBITDA decreased 2% to €120 million due to the aforementioned factors. Adjusted Profit after tax decreased 5% to €68 million, reflecting Adjusted EBITDA decline and higher finance costs.

    Nomad Foods is a frozen foods company. The portfolio of iconic brands, which includes Birds Eye, Findus, Iglo, Aunt Bessie’s and Goodfella’s, have been a part of consumers’ meals for generations. Nomad Foods is headquartered in the United Kingdom.

  • Staff begin phased return to work at Aston Martin Lagonda

    Staff begin phased return to work at Aston Martin Lagonda

    • Extensive and wide-reaching new safety measures are designed to reduce COVID-19 risk for Aston Martin Lagonda employees returning to work;
    • Staff at St Athan factory lead the way on 5 May; Gaydon to follow in due course;
    • The range of actions being taken exceeds latest Government advice.

    Aston Martin Lagonda is this week beginning a carefully planned phased return to work for a number of its manufacturing staff as the business looks to prudently restart car making while adjusting to the new normal in the nation’s ongoing battle to protect the NHS and overcome the threat of COVID-19. 

    Working closely with the trade unions, Aston Martin Lagonda has developed detailed return-to-work protocols to be followed by employees returning to their jobs at the brand’s manufacturing facility in St Athan, Wales.

    Production workers at the company’s global headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire will follow at a later date, as will office and support staff at Aston Martin Lagonda’s various other UK sites.

    The social distancing, health and hygiene instructions cover every aspect of a staff member’s interaction with work from preparing to leave home to arriving on site; navigating the site; breaks and mealtimes; falling ill whilst at work; dealing with visitors and contractors; and leaving the site.

    There is also detailed guidance on PPE management; travel between Aston Martin Lagonda sites; and pool car arrangements.  

    Dozens of individual actions and instructions have been drawn up to support social distancing, with carefully calculated limits on employee numbers on site and working at any given time to support staff actions.

    Appropriate PPE is being provided to all returning staff, for example mandatory use of masks at all time while on site, temperature checks on arrival at work are also being introduced. 

  • Atterley.com sales are up 200% as High Street crashes

    Atterley.com sales are up 200% as High Street crashes

    • Online fashion marketplace Atterley.com has experienced a sales increase of over 200 per cent during the COVID-19 lockdown against the same period in 2019. 
    • Atterley, which is used by over 250 independent boutiques to reach customers worldwide, has around 2,800 brands live on the site.
    • Atterley was founded in 2016 by Michael Welch OBE, who sold online tyre retail business to Michelin for $100 million in 2014.  

    The company launched a Crowdcube campaign targeting a minimum £500,000 to support the further development of its marketplace technology for boutiques and grow its presence in overseas regions including the US. 

    Atterley’s founder and chairman Mike Welch said: ”The beauty of our business model is that instead of operating out of warehouses with stockpiles, our boutique partners provide Atterley with stock and can operate with just one person in each store ensuring safe continuous trading while their doors remain closed to the public. We’re seeing customer growth on the back of the public wanting to support local boutiques during the pandemic and we’ve also seen a marked upswing in boutiques wanting to join the platform since the lockdown took hold.”

  • Aston Martin extends new cars warranties

    Aston Martin extends new cars warranties

    Aston Martin new car warranties extended, and service interval requirements relaxed to give peace of mind for customers.

    Aston Martin is working with its dealer network to help customers worldwide during the unprecedented lockdown conditions imposed to slow thespread of COVID-19.

    The brand will extend to 30 June 2020 all new-vehicle warranties that are due to expire, or have expired since 14 March 2020 or, in the case of China, since January 1st 2020. That is, broadly speaking, the period of lockdown in most countries where suchconditions exist.

    Aston Martin owners whose cars require a vehicle service during the disruption caused by COVID-19 are being assured that their warranty cover will be unaffected, and all cars serviced within three months or 2,000 miles (whichever is earlier) of the in-car service indicator will be protected in full by any applicable warranty.

  • Outreach opens it’s first international office in London

    Outreach opens it’s first international office in London

    • Outreach, an US sales engagement platform, announced that it has opened its first international office in London.
    • Outreach’s London office will focus on customer engagement for the company’s more than 200-strong European-based customers.
    • Outreach is already the largest sales engagement company in Europe and plans to triple headcount by the end of the year.

    “We see a very real opportunity to help evolve the sales industry and customer experience in Europe and we see London as the best place to do so,” said Manny Medina, chief executive officer of Outreach.

    “U.S. teams are engaging with customers in new and innovative ways. Our customers in Europe have shared with us that they believe Outreach can provide European customer-facing teams with the tools they need to transform the sector and turn sales into a true engine for business growth.”

    Tom Castley is Outreach London chief

    Outreach has hired industry veteran Tom Castley to lead its London team. With nearly 20 years of experience building high functioning sales organizations in the tech space, Castley provides Outreach with a grounded view of the local market and expertise in growing international brands.

    Prior to Outreach, Castley spent three years at Apptio running the pan-European account management team responsible for more than $50M of revenue. He also spent several years at Oracle in various roles, concluding with leading CRM sales across manufacturing, retail, high tech, consumer goods, and other verticals.

    Outreach currently employs more than 450 employees and is headquartered in Seattle, Wash. The company aims to triple the number of people in the UK across all customer-supporting functions, including sales, account management, customer success, solutions consulting, professional services, member support, and plans to expand to marketing.

    Outreach works with more than 4,000 customers around the globe. In Europe, Outreach currently has more than 200 customers, including DocuSign and Signal AI. 

  • UK banks approved nearly 1 million mortgages in 2019

    UK banks approved nearly 1 million mortgages in 2019

    Data gathered by Learnbonds.com indicates the United Kingdom’s banks approved 982.286 mortgages in 2019. This is an increase of 7.4% from 2018’s 909.597.

    According to the data, mortgage approval for home purchases increased by 8% for 2019 compared to the previous year. In total, 507.789 mortgages were approved for home purchases in 2019. The highest approval for home purchases was in July at 51.160.

    On the other hand, compared to 2018, there was a rise in remortgage approval for 2019 by 7.9%. Across the year, the total remortgages were 367,590. The highest remortgage approval was in October 38,549 while the least approval was in January at 23,618.

    For other borrowing avenues, there was an increase of 3% in 2019 compared to the previous year. Under this category mortgages, approval was 106,907 in 2019.

    The data further indicates that the entire market mortgage lending in 2019 was £265.8 billion following December’s £22.2 billion. The gross lending was 1.1% lower than in 2018.

    Under this figure, the high street banks’ lending was £172.1 billion to have a cumulative figure of £437.91 billion for 2019.

    The data shows that there was a spike in high street bank lending in October 2019 when lending stood at £25.1 billion.

  • Ryanair reveals top 10 most popular proposal spots in Europe

    Ryanair reveals top 10 most popular proposal spots in Europe

    Ryanair revealed that London Eye is the most popular marriage proposal location in Europe. The iconic observation wheel with 360-degree views over the UK’s capital, topped Ryanair’s list of „The 10 Most Popular Proposal Spots in Europe” – voted by over 5,000 of Ryanair’s customers in the lead up to St. Valentine’s Day.

    Juliet’s Balcony in Verona, home of Shakespeare’s tragic love story, took 2nd place while Seville’s Plaza De España, where movies such as Star Wars and Lawrence of Arabia were shot, took 3rd place in the list of most popular spots in Europe to pop the question.

    The list featured some old favourite spots such as the Eiffel Tower and the Spanish Steps in Rome but also some new and emerging locations such as Germany’s Schwerin Castle and the Charles Bridge in Prague.

    RYANAIR’S TOP 10 PROPOSAL SPOT’S
    The London Eye, London, UK
    Juliet’s Balcony, Verona, Italy 
    Plaza de España, Seville, Spain
    Schwerin Castle, Schwerin, Germany 
    Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
    Oia, Santorini, Greece
    Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic
    The Canals of Venice, Venice, Italy 
    The Spanish Steps, Rome, Italy
    Cliffs of Moher, Clare, Ireland

    Ryanair’s Alejandra Ruiz said: ”With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, we asked our customers across Europe to choose the most romantic proposal spot in Europe and we are pleased to reveal the London Eye as Europe’s No. “Eye do” hotspot! Our list of the 10 most popular proposal spots features castles, cliffs and even some clichés so there’s plenty of inspiration for a proposal popping weekend getaway!”

  • Accounting Seed opens a second office in the United Kingdom

    Accounting Seed opens a second office in the United Kingdom

    Accounting Seed opens a second location in Reading, UK, to better serve customers and expand their footprint in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) market.

    Having accomplished double-digit year-over-year growth for the last 10 years, Accounting Seed is both poised for continual growth and able to offer its accounting solution in the EMEA market with features such as multi-currency, multi-entity, and VAT reporting.

    “Now that the key features needed for the EMEA market have been tested and used by the current customer base, we are excited to open a London office and dive deeper into the EMEA market,” said Tony Zorc, founder and chief executive officer.

    Shane Deacon will manage their new office

    The software company hired Shane Deacon, vice president of EMEA, to manage their new office. Deacon brings 14 years of experience in the Salesforce ecosystem, having most recently worked for InvoiceIT/SteelBrick (which is now referred to as Salesforce’s CPQ & Billing) and Kaptio.

    “My goal is to use my knowledge of Salesforce to sell this robust product to organizations that are not only on Salesforce, but also those that don’t realize this kind of transformative accounting technology is out there,” said Deacon.

    In order to support EMEA prospects already in the pipeline for Accounting Seed, Zorc’s goal is to fill the UK office with more solution engineers and account executives in the next 12 months.

    “This new office is key to our ability to service our customers. I cannot wait to bring our product to more companies across the globe and watch as it transforms their businesses for the better,” said Zorc.

    Accounting Seed’s open architecture allows customers to run their accounting their way, a necessity for customers in different industries and countries.

  • Liberis raises £32 million to accelerate growth plans in US and Europe

    Liberis raises £32 million to accelerate growth plans in US and Europe

    • Liberis has closed a £32 million funding round in its largest equity capital fundraise to date;
    • This investment represents the company’s first institutional equity fundraise and was led by FTV Capital;
    • Liberis is backed by Blenheim Chalcot, the UK’s leading digital venture builder, who welcome FTV as co-investors in Liberis;
    • This investment brings Liberis’ total debt and equity funding to over £150 million.

    Since its inception, Liberis has provided over 15,000 small businesses with more than £450 million in funding of which the majority through its innovative Funding-as-a-Service platform with integrated partners.

    The last 18 months have seen rapid global growth for Liberis with expansion into five new countries including the UK, US, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovak and Finland. 

    This new investment will support the business as it further expands its footprint in the United States and in two new European countries, as well as attracting the best talent with a 30 percent increase in headcount planned for the next year.

    The investment will also enable the company to scale globally at pace through its unique partnerships model to support the millions of small businesses who have difficulty in accessing the funding they need to thrive.

    Liberis has new General Managers

    To strengthen its global operations, Liberis has recently appointed General Managers for both the US and Europe. Howard Kramen joins as General Manager for the US, having previously led PayPal’s global credit operations.

    Kramen played an instrumental role in lending over $10 billion to over 225,000 small businesses across the US, UK, Australia and Germany.

    Meanwhile Pedram Tadayon joins as Europe General Manager and brings 20 years financial services industry experience to Liberis, having previously been CEO of Emric – a fintech provider in credit management, along with senior positions held at Nets, EnterCard and American Express.