Author: LoveWorld UK

Premier League clubs will discuss plans for resuming the season in a conference call on Friday but the practicalities of how to even begin training will be the first obstacle they have to overcome with “Project Restart”. The league is hoping the U.K government, which is due to review coronavirus lockdown restrictions on May 7, will give the go-ahead to a return to training, albeit with strict medical guidelines in place. Getting players back on the training field would clear the way to an eventual resumption of the season in early June with games expected to be held behind closed…

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday Britain was now past the peak of its coronavirus outbreak and promised to set out a plan next week on how the country might start gradually returning to normal life. In his first news conference since recovering from a serious case of COVID-19, Johnson sought to offer hope to weary Britons, but urged them to stick with lockdown restrictions that are hammering livelihoods and the economy. “I can confirm today that for the first time, we are past the peak of this disease. We’re past the peak and we’re on the downward slope,…

British state-backed lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) said its profits halved in the first quarter, as it set aside 802 million pounds against a likely spike in bad loans due to the coronavirus pandemic. RBS on Friday posted pre-tax profits of 519 million pounds for the period, down from 1 billion pounds the previous year, just ahead of the 415 million pound average of analyst forecasts compiled by the bank. The lender reiterated its strategic priorities set out by CEO Alison Rose in February, but said it would wind down Bó, the digital bank only launched last November, as…

People from some ethnic minorities in Britain are dying in disproportionate numbers from COVID-19, possibly in part because they are more likely to work in healthcare and other sectors most exposed to the virus, a leading think tank said on Friday. Per capita deaths for people in Britain who had black Caribbean heritage were three times that for British citizens who are white, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said. Per capita deaths among other black groups were double that of the population overall, while those of Indian descent also suffered more fatalities than average, the IFS said. Taking into account…

Oil prices jumped on Thursday, extending steep gains in the previous session on signs the U.S. crude glut is not growing as quickly as expected and that gasoline demand battered by COVID-19 restrictions is starting to pick up. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 climbed to a high of $17.35 a barrel and were up 14.3%, or $2.15, at $17.21 at 0350 GMT. The U.S. benchmark surged 22% on Wednesday. Brent crude LCOc1 rose 10.3%, or $2.33 to $24.87 a barrel in light trading, with the June contract expiring on Thursday. The contract hit a high of $24.91 earlier…

Lloyds Banking Group’s (LLOY.L) pretax profit was all but wiped out in the first quarter, after it became the latest lender to be hobbled by provisions against expected bad loans due to the coronavirus pandemic. Britain’s biggest domestic bank on Thursday reported pre-tax profits of 74 million pounds, down from 1.6 billion pounds the previous year, hit by a 1.4 billion pounds loan impairments charge. The figure was sharply below the 863 million pounds average of analysts’ forecasts compiled by the bank. Lloyds is viewed as a bellwether for the British economy, as the country’s largest provider of home loans…

Royal Dutch Shell RDSa. cut its dividend for the first time since World War Two on Thursday as the energy company retrenched in the face of an unprecedented drop in oil demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Shell also suspended the next tranche of its share buyback programme and said it was reducing oil and gas output by nearly a quarter after its net profit almost halved in the first three months of 2020. Shell’s shares in London had slumped 7% by 0753 GMT, sharply underperforming rival BP (BP.L) which was down 2.2%. For years, Shell has taken pride in…

UK stock markets rose on Thursday as investors cheered signs of progress in developing a treatment for the novel coronavirus, while Reckitt Benckiser surged after reporting strong demand for its products ahead of the lockdown. The consumer goods firm (RB.L) said sales of its Lysol disinfectants, Mucinex cough syrup and Dettol soap had jumped in the first quarter and that it now expected performance in 2020 to be better than initially forecast. Its shares rose 3.2%, pushing up the household goods index .FTNMX3720 2.3%. [nXXN2CH004] The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 0.3%, climbing for the fourth straight session and on track to…

A day after his fiancee gave birth, Prime Minister Boris Johnson leads a meeting of his top ministers on Thursday to discuss how to ease Britain’s lockdown amid a backdrop of rising deaths and questions over the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. New figures on Wednesday showed that Britain now has the second highest official COVD-19 death toll with more than 26,000 deaths, a statistic which puts pressure on the government over its response to the outbreak and fuelled caution in raising restrictions on movement in case that led to a second spike. The government will also face questions…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, has given birth to a baby boy, Downing Street said on Wednesday. Both mother and child are doing well. The boy was born at a London hospital. Johnson returned to work on Monday, a month after testing positive for COVID which he said had threatened his life. Symonds also had symptoms of COVID but recovered swiftly. The couple, who have been living together in Downing Street since Johnson became prime minister in July, announced in February that they were expecting their first child. Politicians began sending their congratulations to the couple. “So…