Law and business: commercial news round-up 09.07.15
updated on 09 July 2015
You may well be in the midst of a training contract application frenzy, but don’t panic; one of the best things you can do to help your chances (other than NOT submitting your applications at 11.45pm on 31 July) is hone your commercial awareness skills. Here are a few news stories that you should probably know a bit about:
- BP is staring down the barrel of an $18.7 billion fine for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill - the largest fine ever imposed in the United States. The money will be split among the affected states and earmarked for environmental clean-up efforts.
- Pizza Express has revealed that it made significant financial savings by changing who was in charge of chopping up the lemons in its restaurants - in essence, get the chefs to do it as they’re cutting up stuff already. Innovative!
- The recent well documented revival in M&S’s fortunes has taken a knock, with figures for the second quarter showing a drop in like-for-like sales of general merchandise (ie, clothing).
- George Osborne’s "politically audacious" budget was delivered yesterday, offering what he claimed to be "a new settlement with Britain": namely, a higher minimum wage in exchange for welfare cuts, among other things.
- And obviously, the Greek story continues - this week's developments have included a conclusive 'no' vote in the referendum, the resignation of the country's charismatic finance minister and a deadline to present new proposals by the end of today to secure a third bailout.
Be sure to check the News section every Thursday for this weekly commercial news round-up. Follow @LawCareersNetUK and @CityLawLIVE on Twitter for instant business news updates.
