Here are the stories making the business headlines this morning.
STV announce a new chief executive officer
STV Group plc has today announced that Rufus Radcliffe will join the board as chief executive officer on Friday, November 1, 2024.
Rufus Radcliffe joins STV from ITV plc where until April 2024 he was a member of the executive committee and latterly held the position of managing director of streaming, interactive and data, playing a key role in the acceleration of ITV’s digital transformation.
He was responsible for the strategic development and successful launch of ITVX in December 2022. Rufus also led the interactive business and the group-wide data strategy.
Over a 13-year career with ITV, he previously held the positions of chief marketing officer, where he ran all direct-to-consumer activities and led the brand transformation of ITV, as well as the marketing launch of BritBox.
Read the full press release here.
Hunting brings in almost $500million in H1 2024
Engineering group Hunting (LSE:HTG) saw revenue grow to almost $500million in the first half of the year.
According to the group’s unaudited half year results for the six months ended June 30, 2024, the group’s order book increased by 32% to a record level of $699.5million compared to $529.7million in the first half of 2023.
Hunting chief executive Jim Johnson said: “Hunting’s balanced and diversified product portfolio has been decisive in delivering another set of strong results and securing a record order book, helping to underpin Hunting’s continued growth."
In addition, Hunting announced that it has secured significant organic oil recovery (OOR) contracts to support major North Sea operators.
The contracts are worth up to $60million over a five-year period.
Read the full story in Energy Voice
Sainsbury’s to buy 10 Homebase stores and convert them into big supermarkets
Sainsbury’s has said it will invest £130million in buying 10 stores from Homebase and converting them into big supermarkets in the retailer’s biggest expansion in more than a decade.
The deal marks the changing fortunes of two big British retail brands as questions are raised over the future of the DIY chain.
Damian McGloughlin, the managing director of Homebase, wrote to suppliers on Thursday to say it was trading “behind where we planned to be” and would begin an “active sale process” to seek new investment next week.
Sainsbury’s, the UK’s second-largest supermarket chain after Tesco, said the first of its new shops would open next summer. The complete set, including stores in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, will employ 1,000 people and Homebase workers at risk of redundancy will be guaranteed an interview.
Starmer attacked for 'petty' removal of Thatcher portrait from No 10
Sir Keir Starmer has provoked outrage from senior Tories and political grandees for removing a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from inside 10 Downing Street.
Just eight weeks after he moved into Number 10, it has been claimed by his biographer that he found the £100,000 painting, commissioned by former Labour premier Gordon Brown, "unsettling".
But his removal of the portrait has been condemned as "vindictive" and "petty" by Tory MPs and prompted calls for the prime minister to return it to its place inside Downing Street.