BUSINESS CLOSE: Heineken axes 8,000 jobs; Dunelm restarts dividend; Persimmon puts aside £75m for cladding issues
The FTSE 100 index has closed down 0.11 per cent or 7.20 points to 6,524.36 this afternoon.
Heineken is axing 8,000 jobs around the world in a €2billion cost-saving drive aimed at kick-starting growth in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Its boss Dolf van den Brink, who only took charge of the group last year, now plans to cut around 10 per cent of the group’s 85,000-strong global workforce.
Dunelm Group has reinstated its dividend after its first-half profits jumped by about a third to £112.4million thanks to strong online demand offseting the impact of store closures during repeated coronavirus-induced restrictions.
Housebuilder Persimmon has put aside £75million towards cladding safety problems. Its announcement comes on the same day the Government is expected to announce more funding to help tackle the cladding crisis in buildings.
Nearly 600,000 UK firms are at risk of collapsing due to a cash crisis if the Government does not extend support measures, and up to nine million jobs are under threat, research by the Institute for Public Policy Research has warned.
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Dunelm Group has reinstated its dividend after its first-half profits jumped by about a third