Jo Jones Main image: Abélia, £95, sezane.com Sat 20 Jul 2024 23.50 BST The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Source link
France remained Europe’s most attractive destination for foreign direct investment in 2023, an EY survey released on Thursday said, as new projects slowed across Europe. For the fifth straight year, France beat the U.K. and third-place finisher Germany, but EY warned that Paris’ European leadership could be challenged “enduring competitiveness gap, alongside the repercussions of the prevailing social climate and the recent energy crisis.” “Financing, labor costs and taxation — the basic competitiveness tenets — are still considered handicaps,” the report said, also underlining a decrease in “quality of life,” attributed to the French “social climate.” France also saw research and development projects drop 15 percent year-on-year, EY said. Source link
Pure Human Resources, an HR, recruitment and training consultancy based in North Baddesley, Hampshire, is celebrating the launch of its new training suite and extended office space. The expansion comes as a result of significant growth and a need to accommodate its expanding team. Pure HR has welcomed new members to its team across the business over the past few years, including in administration, HR and marketing. With the addition of a fourth HR consultant, the team outgrew their existing space, prompting the decision to take over the whole top floor of its building. Last week, the business welcomed clients and associates from across Hampshire and beyond to celebrate the expansion with champagne and cake. The newly acquired space has been transformed into a spacious training suite, fully equipped to facilitate effective learning experiences. In addition to the training suite, the expansion includes additional kitchen space to provide refreshments and lunches for training sessions, as well as extra office space to accommodate the growing team comfortably. Stephanie Fosh, managing director, said: “We’re thrilled to announce …
InstaVolt has secured the top spot in this year’s ORESA Growth Index Top 100. The Hampshire-based EV charging network has enjoyed a compound annual growth rate of 362.55 per cent over the past two financial years. As the largest owner and operator of rapid public chargers in the UK, InstaVolt has now made 1,500 installations across the country, commanding around 15 per cent of the market. Revenues at the company have grown more than 20-fold since 2020-21, reaching £18.6 million in 2022-2023. Now in its third year, the ORESA Growth Index celebrates organisations like Instavolt that have achieved remarkable growth, and spotlights the leadership behind those businesses. For seven years, that’s been Adrian Keen – who just last week announced his intentions to step down as CEO. “We believe people will buy electric cars, but they won’t if the infrastructure isn’t there”, said Adrian. “It was an opportunity to professionalise the public charging experience and give people the confidence to make the change. “We’ve got a pipeline of thousands and partnerships with big brands that …
NATS has been awarded first place in the European Climate Leaders list, a survey of two thousand companies across Europe. The report, now in its fourth year, is compiled by the Financial Times in partnership with Statista and lists businesses that have achieved the greatest reduction in their ‘core’ Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions intensity over a five-year period from 2017 to 2022. These emissions describe the direct emissions of a business through combustion of fuel sources and the indirect emissions from use of electricity. NATS, which provides air traffic control services to UK and international airports from its base in Fareham, Hampshire, achieved the highest score of all European companies based on methodology developed by Statista. Other factors are also taken into account, such as whether companies have robust science-based targets in place, their commitments to net zero, and transparent disclosure of their indirect scope 3 value chain emissions. It also considers CDP scoring, an assessment of sustainability and stewardship in which NATS holds an ‘A list’ rating, as well as SBTi …
Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department has debuted at No 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 2.61 million units, the highest for any album since Adele’s 25 in 2015. The singer reacted to the news by posting a carousel of polaroids from the recording of the album on social media: “My mind is blown. I’m completely floored by the love you’ve shown this album.” “2.6 million ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIOUS?? Thank you for listening, streaming, and welcoming Tortured Poets into your life. Feeling completely overwhelmed.” “I was already so fired up to get back to the tour but you doing THIS?? May 9th can’t come soon enough,” she added, referring to the resumption of her Eras Tour concerts in Paris on 9 May. Billboard said traditional album sales, which include digital downloads, CDs, vinyl LPs and cassettes accounted for 1.914 million of the 2.61 million …
Amid a shifting strategy, Ford (F) reported first-quarter earnings Wednesday, beating analyst expectations. However, due to fierce pricing pressure, Ford’s EV revenue fell 84% in Q1 2024. Ford shifts EV strategy amid sales upswing Despite EV sales surging 86% to 20,233 in the first three months of 2024, Ford is pulling back. All Ford electric models saw double (or triple) digit sales growth. The F-150 Lightning remained the top-selling electric pickup in the US, with 7,743 models sold, up 80% over last year. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E was the second best-selling electric SUV in the US, with 9,589 vehicles delivered, up 77% over Q1 2023. Meanwhile, Ford’s commercial Pro unit continues to appear as a dark horse for the automaker, with EV adoption rising 40%. Ford E-Transit sales were up 148% in Q1, with 2,891 units sold. Ford’s growth propelled it to second in the US EV market (if you don’t include combined Hyundai and Kia sales). The sales surge comes after Ford introduced significant price cuts and savings on the Mach-E and Lightning earlier this …
The lastest strikes came within hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to provide Israel with $26.3 billion in assistance. The measure, which includes $9 billion in humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, now goes back to the Senate, which about 10 weeks ago cleared legislation with nearly identical aid to Israel. The House bill will now get bundled with three other measures. The Senate will receive them as a single package that includes aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, along with new sanctions, a TikTok ban and U.S. power to freeze Russian assets. Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint, including from the U.S. Meanwhile, thousands of Israeli protesters took to the streets on Saturday to call for new elections and demand more action from the government to free the hostages …
Rivian’s electric SUV continues attracting new buyers in the US. In the first three months of the year, the Rivian R1S became the fourth best-selling EV in the US, topping Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 and the Volkswagen ID.4. Rivian R1S continues climbing US EV sales charts in Q1 In 2023, Rivian’s R1S became the seventh best-selling EV in the US after beating out the Ford F-150 Lightning and Tesla Model X. Rivian sold 24,783 electric SUVs in 2023, topping the Ford Lightning (24,165) and Tesla Model X (23,015). The R1S is not slowing down, climbing to fourth place in the first quarter of the US EV market. In the first three months of the year, Rivian delivered 13,588 vehicles. According to Kelley Blue Book data, the company’s electric SUV accounted for the majority of sales. Rivian sold 8,017 R1S models in Q1 2024, enough to top Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 (6,822) and Volkswagen ID.4 (6,167). The R1S was only behind the Ford Mustang Mach-E (9,589), Tesla Model 3 (30,842), and Tesla Model Y (96,729) in the US …
Sunset Boulevard has dominated the Olivier Awards, winning seven of its 11 nominations at a star-studded ceremony on Sunday night. Among the musical’s triumphs were the Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical awards for its leading duo Tom Francis and Nicole Scherzinger, the former Pussycat Doll and Britain’s Got Talent judge. Best Actor went to former Sherlock and Game Of Thrones actor Mark Gatiss for his role in Jack Thorne’s The Motive And The Cue. Image: Nicole Scherzinger. Pic: PA The drama, set in 1964, follows a Broadway production of Hamlet starring Richard Burton and the fiery backstage interactions between him and director John Gielgud. Succession star Sarah Snook beat fellow nominee Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker to take home Best Actress for her West End debut performance in The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Follow Sky News on WhatsApp Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News Tap here Parker was nominated for her role in comedy Plaza Suite opposite …
