Spain's Telefonica to merge British unit O2 with Virgin Media
Liberty Global has agreed to merge its Virgin Media cable company with the O2 mobile business owned by Spain's Telefonica to create a major new force in the British telecoms market.
Liberty Global has agreed to merge its Virgin Media cable company with the O2 mobile business owned by Spain's Telefonica to create a major new force in the British telecoms market.
Air France-KLM is opening talks with its French unions on workforce cuts, Chief Executive Ben Smith told Reuters, as the airline group warned of mounting losses with no clear end in sight to the coronavirus crisis.
Two weeks of coronavirus shutdown were enough to hit Air France-KLM with an 815 million-euro ($880 million) first-quarter operating loss, the airline group said on Thursday - predicting demand could take "several years" to recover.
Planemakers Airbus and Boeing have asked Air France to delay taking some wide-body jets after a slowdown in manufacturing caused by the coronavirus crisis, the head of parent Air France-KLM told Reuters.
Asian shares pared early losses on Thursday after Chinese exports proved far stronger than even bulls had imagined, while U.S. bond investors were still daunted by the staggering amount of new debt set to be sold in coming weeks.
Anheuser-Busch InBev , the world's largest beer maker, reported a decline in profit in the first quarter as coronavirus restrictions curbed drinking and said the second quarter would be "materially worse".
Millions more Americans likely sought unemployment benefits last week, suggesting a broadening of layoffs from consumer facing industries to other segments of the economy and could remain elevated even as many parts of the country start to reopen.
Britain's biggest telecoms group BT has suspended its dividend until 2021/22, one of the biggest on the London stock exchange, and pulled its financial outlook in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
British clothing retailer Next said on Thursday it will expand its beauty business by taking on five former Debenhams beauty departments and rebranding them as "The Beauty Hall from NEXT".
British aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce signalled on Thursday it expects to cut some of its workforce to respond to the slump in the global aerospace market, saying it would inform affected employees before the end of this month.
Anheuser-Busch InBev , the world's largest beer maker, forecast a "materially worse" second quarter as coronavirus restrictions curb drinking across the globe, while noting some improvement in China.
Soft drinks bottler Coca Cola HBC AG on Thursday said sales in April fell by more than a third as fast-food chains, theatres and other public arenas stayed shut to limit the spread of the new coronavirus during stay-at-home orders.
British Airways-owner IAG said that chief executive Willie Walsh would stay on until September to steer it through the coronavirus crisis, and that it was planning for flights to return to service in July.
Norwegian Air's passenger volume fell by 98.7% in April from a year earlier as most of its fleet was grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic, the budget airline said on Thursday.
The British businesses of Liberty Global Plc and Telefonica SA will merge to create a major new player in UK mobile and broadband communications in a deal valued at around 31 billion pounds ($38 billion) including debt.