Law and business: commercial news round-up 24.03.16
updated on 24 March 2016
The four-day weekend looms and while it’s hard to imagine doing anything much other than gorging on chocolate and hot cross buns, it’s also an opportunity to catch up on some light reading. How about starting with this handful of commercially-driven news stories that touch on some of the big business issues of the day:
- Train company Arriva has won a lucrative £1.5 billion contract to run London Overground, taking over in November 2016.
- Following the announcement of a new sugar tax in last week’s budget, the drinks industry is considering legal action to fight its introduction, calling it “ill-advised” and forcing consumers to pay more (NB isn’t that the idea?).
- Research conducted on behalf of the CBI shows that exiting the European Union could cost the United Kingdom £100 billion and nearly 1 million jobs.
- And on that note, M&A activity is said to have stalled in advance of the EU referendum, as buyers act cautiously in face of market volatility, falling pound and a possible Brexit.
- High street retailer Next has compared the financial road ahead for it to “walking up the down escalator” if it fails to turn around falling sales, especially in the face of slowing consumer spending.
Be sure to check the News section every Thursday for this weekly commercial news round-up. Follow @LawCareersNetUK on Twitter and like us on Facebook for instant business news updates.
