Staff in line for payouts after Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) loses data leak appeal. Workers’ personal details were leaked online by a senior IT employee in 2014. Morrisons could face a hefty compensation bill after the supermarket lost an appeal against a ruling that is liable for a former employee leaking personal information about 100,000 members of staff. The ruling, which paves the way for 5,518 claimants to receive compensation, is the UK’s first data protection class action. It comes after workers’ personal details were leaked online by a senior IT employee, Andrew Skelton, in 2014. Information including salaries, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and bank account details were also sent to a number of newspapers. Skelton was jailed for eight years in July 2015 for his actions
Ryanair Holdings (RYA) profits fall as CEO predicts grim winter for aviation. Fuel cost and strikes hit budget carrier and Michael O’Leary expects more airlines to go bust. The Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, has said he expects more airlines to go bust, as the budget carrier posted a 7% drop in profits because of rising fuel prices and strikes hitting costs and bookings. O’Leary predicted a grim winter for the aviation industry, with oil prices, interest rates and the US dollar rising and air fares falling. He said Ryanair was better hedged than most rivals against the rise in oil prices, adding: “It is inevitable that more of the weaker, unhedged European airlines will fold this winter.”
Premier Inn unveils no-frills hotel brand with pod-style rooms. Owner Whitbread (WTB) creates spin-off Zip as it refocuses after sale of Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola. Premier Inn’s owner, Whitbread, is launching a no-frills hotel chain with small pod-style rooms as the company seeks to refocus its business after the sale of its cafe chain Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola. Called Zip by Premier Inn, the new hotels will be located on the outskirts of major towns and cities. Rooms will cost from £19 a night and be less than half the size of a standard Premier Inn room, at 8.5 square metres. Premier Inn prices typically start at £49 while its more upmarket brand, hub, starts at £69 a night. Premier Inn is Britain’s biggest budget-hotel chain. Whitbread’s chief executive, Alison Brittain, said the spin-off would cater for the “ultra-price-sensitive customer looking to zip in and out”.
ITV chief: now is last chance to build British challenger to Netflix. With subscription service in place, we’ll keep Love Island in-house, says Carolyn McCall. The chief executive of ITV (ITV) has said now is the last chance for UK broadcasters to build a British Netflix, as the US streaming giant continues to grow at breakneck speed. The warning from Carolyn McCall, chief executive of the UK’s largest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, follows protracted talks between the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV to create a credible domestic streaming rival to Netflix that have failed to bear fruit. McCall, who took over at ITV in January, has made developing a subscription video-on-demand service a priority – to sit alongside existing free service ITV Hub and a paid-for, ad-free version that allows access in Europe which has proved popular with holidaymakers – with a launch planned for next year.
Ryanair accused of inaction over racist incident on plane. Airline apparently did not remove passenger who abused woman on flight. Ryanair Holdings (RYA) has referred a racist incident on one of its flights to Essex police, after facing criticism that it did little to prevent a male passenger inflicting a tirade of racist abuse on a 77-year-old woman. The airline apparently did not remove the passenger from the flight from Barcelona, instead moving the woman from her seat. The man was filmed by a fellow passenger calling the woman an “ugly black bastard”, and shouting “don’t talk to me in a foreign language” when she spoke to him in English with a Jamaican accent
Shell ends National Gallery sponsorship – to delight of campaigners. Twelve-year deal, which had sparked environmental protests, expired in January. Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) has ended its 12-year sponsorship of the National Gallery, to the delight of campaigners who have fought to keep fossil fuel financing out of the arts. The partnership with the Anglo-Dutch firm has made the London art gallery the target of protests over the years, including Greenpeace dropping a banner off the building’s roof and activists gatecrashing the launch of a flagship Rembrandt exhibition. Campaigners have spent years putting pressure on national cultural institutions to cut their ties with fossil fuel firms, which they say gives the companies a social licence to operate and ‘launders’ their corporate image. They have already scored major victories, such as BP ending its 26-year relationship with the Tate in 2016.
WPP no longer world’s most valuable ad firm as share price falls. London-listed company’s market value has dropped behind US rival Omnicom. WPP (WPP) is no longer the world’s biggest marketing and advertising services group by market capitalisation after the UK company’s stock market value slipped below that of US rival Omnicom for the first time in almost a decade. The London-listed company’s share price has been slashed by a quarter over the past year and is languishing at levels not seen since 2012. The group, which has held the status of the world’s most valuable advertising group since 2011, has seen its stock market value plunge to about £13bn ($17bn) as it faces both internal and external crises.
