Business news in brief
Brighton Pier owner seeks plan to re-open late-night sites
The owner of Brighton Pier has pressed the government to announce plans to support the safe reopening of night-time venues. Anne Ackord, chief executive of the Brighton Pier Group, said there is an “urgent need” to form a reopening strategy. It came as the company, which owns 12 bars including Chelsea’s Embargo Republica, said trading from 4 July to the start of September was “better than the board expected”. It said the group saw total revenues at 77 per cent of those from the same period last year, while its bar operations were running at 59 per cent of its previous revenues. Shares were 10.7 per cent higher at 33.75p. PA
Openreach adds another 67 locations to its future-proof broadband plan
Openreach has announced a further 67 locations in its programme to build full fibre broadband across the
country. The new tranche of work will take two years, starting in March 2021 in locations stretching from Alloway, in Ayshire, to Helsby, in Cheshire, and Ivybridge, in south Devon. More than 560 towns, cities, boroughs and villages have now been included in the company’s Fibre First programme, a £12bn project to build full fibre technology to 20 million premises throughout the UK by the mid-to-late 2020s. PA
Issue with Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service hits Covid-19 data
An issue with Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform has sparked system problems for organisations in the UK, including Public Health England’s (PHE) coronavirus case dashboard. The platform is used to track the number of new positive coronavirus cases and reported deaths linked to the virus in England and is normally updated daily. However, PHE tweeted yesterday afternoon that they had been unable to update the platform because of the problem, which Microsoft has confirmed and said it is investigating. PA
New Aviva boss snaps up £1m of shares in insurer
The new chief executive of insurance giant Aviva has splashed out £1m buying up shares in the struggling firm. Amanda Blanc, who took the top job in July, said she wants to refocus Aviva towards more profitable divisions, including the UK, Ireland and Canada. The former AXA UK & Ireland boss bought 324,887 shares last Friday at 307.8p-a-pop and will be hoping they can return to the pre-lockdown levels of 412p from February. Last week the company announced it would be selling its Singaporean business to a consortium led by Singapore Life, with private equity backers TPG its largest shareholder. PA
MJ Gleeson profits decimated
Housebuilder MJ Gleeson saw massively reduced profits as the company was forced to shut down its construction sites during lockdown. The firm made £5.6m profit before tax for the year ending June 30, a reduction of 86 per cent from the year before, on revenue of £147.2m, down 41 per cent. Chairman Dermot Gleeson said he expects the market for strategic land will recover as builders start buying new sites. MJ Gleeson, which focuses largely on first-time buyers in the north of England and the midlands, said that it expects current strong demand to continue through the year.