Wizz Air profit wiped out by rising fuel prices August 6, 2026 Soaring jet fuel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East led to a sharp drop in Wizz Air’s profit. The increased fuel costs and “extreme volatility” from the war in Iran caused the budget airline to swing to a €198.2m net loss, a significant shift from its €38.4m gains the prior year. The [...]
TfL greenlights Wayve’s autonomous vehicles in the City August 6, 2026 Transport for London (TfL) has granted British autonomous driving firm Wayve a licence to operate its cars in the City, a move which will see robotaxis will make their first appearance in the capital later this year. Wayve said on Wednesday that TfL has approved a fleet of autonomous Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles to operate [...]
Admiral profit slides as boss eyes push into EV insurance August 6, 2026 Admiral suffered a drop in profit as the insurance giant was weighed down by lower earned premiums in its UK car business. The group’s profit before tax fell by 18 per cent to £429.2m in the first half of the year, while turnover remained flat at £3.11bn. Milena Mondini, group chief executive, told Morning Wire [...]
Quilter toasts record inflows as financial advice push pays off August 6, 2026 Quilter has posted record net inflows as the wealth management firm toasts the success of capturing customers seeking financial advice. Total assets under administration and management (AUMA) jumped 25 per cent to £157.4bn in the first half of the year. The hike was driven by a 32 per cent increase in core net inflows to [...]
Manchester billionaire tables £583m offer for property developer Harworth August 6, 2026 Billionaire-owned Peel Group has tabled a £583m offer for Harworth as the property developer is poised to become the latest firm to exit the London Stock Exchange. The offer of 172.5p per share represents a premium of 20.1 per cent compared to Harworth’s closing share price yesterday and a 36.9 per cent premium above the [...]
WPP slashes jobs as revenue continues to fall August 6, 2026 Embattled advertiser WPP slashed jobs in the first half of the year as its revenue continued to fall. The London-listed media group cut another 1,267 employees in the first half, around 1.3 per cent of its total staffing. Across the 12 months to June, WPP has now slashed its total workforce by 6.4 per cent [...]
Fifa crisis: Is it possible to defend Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan? August 6, 2026 Crafting a defence of Infantino isn’t easy, but it is possible to assemble both a behavioural excuse and a commercial justification for the Fifa president’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup. One newspaper evocatively likened Gianni Infantino to Icarus at the weekend after his proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup melted [...]
As it happened: Stocks fall into red as oil fluctuates over Middle East developments August 6, 2026 Welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Oil prices have fluctuated around the $80 mark over the last 24 hours following mixed developments coming out of the Middle East. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – was heading towards $79 per barrel on Thursday morning, holding up a near 10 per cent [...]
Neurodiversity, employment law and ‘reasonable adjustments’ – the new HR headache August 6, 2026 The death of the ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy in HR departments is a result of businesses being caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to neurodiversity in the workplace, as corporations battle to support staff within the bounds of very complex employment laws – and very personal interpretations of them. Over recent years, [...]
‘Social value’ procurement rules are an absurd waste of time and money August 6, 2026 Procurement is not a sexy topic, but stay with me here. The public sector spends around £400bn a year buying goods and services from the private sector. You can imagine the scale: NHS equipment and Ministry of Defence gear, police cars and IT infrastructure, immigration processing centres, security guards, construction projects and fax machines. It’s [...]