BUSINESS CLOSE: McDonald’s sues former boss over alleged relationships with staff; Twitter mulls TikTok tie-up; One in three firms expects to cut jobs; Superdry secures funding lifeline
It was a subdued day for London markets, with the FTSE 100 closing up 18 points at 6,050 and the FTSE 250 rising 102 points to 17,724.
McDonald’s is suing its former chief executive, Steve Easterbrook – who was fired last year for having an inappropriate relationship with an employee – after claiming he covered up sexual relationships with three other workers and destroyed evidence so he wouldn’t be caught.
Meanwhile, Twitter expressed an interest in buying video platform TikTok’s US operations, reports claimed last night. The video-sharing app is already the subject of takeover discussions with Microsoft.
It comes after Donald Trump announced plans to ban TikTok over security concerns unless its Chinese owners sell off the US arm.
In the UK, one in three companies is preparing to cut jobs by the end of September, according to a new poll by the CIPD. The survey spoke to 2,000 employers and found that the proportion planning to cut jobs had risen from 22 per cent to 33 per cent over the past three months.
Elsewhere, Superdry greed to a new £70million financing deal with its banks and said sales fell less than expected.
The fashion chain, which was already struggling before the coronavirus crisis, said the new loans it has secured through its lenders HSBC and BNPP will run until January 2023. It comes as it posted a 24 per cent decline in sales in the three months to the end of July, which the company says is smaller than they had feared.
