Here are the stories making the business headlines locally and across the country this morning.
‘We will carry this loss with us always’: Bristow reflects on Norway heli accident
Bristow bosses expressed their ‘heartfelt condolences’ in the wake of a fatal accident involving a Norwegian search and rescue helicopter last week.
Announcing its annual results on Tuesday, the Houston-based helicopter operator said the incident had been a “deeply sad and difficult time”
61-year-old Reidun Hestetun – who worked as a nurse for state-backed energy giant Equinor – died after the Bristow-operated Sikorsky S-92 crashed into the sea near the island of Sotra during a training exercise on Wednesday 28 February.
A further five crew were rescued from the water and transferred were recovered and transferred to Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen.
Currys investor hits out at ‘absurdity’ of London Stock Exchange as more companies prepare to quit
A major Currys investor has hit out at the “absurdity” of valuations on the London Stock Exchange as two more companies prepare to quit.
JO Hambro Capital, a top 10 Currys shareholder, criticised the dismal valuations the London stock market attaches to businesses, saying Currys should be worth far more than what investors have valued it at.
The electronics retailer is subject to a possible bidding war between suitors Elliott Advisors and China’s JD.Com. Currys recently rejected a 67p per share bid from Elliott, which valued the business at about £756m.
Hambro’s veteran fund managers, James Lowen and Clive Beagles, said an “acceptable offer” for the tech retailer would be closer to 100p per share, which would value the company at close to £1bn. The fund managers pointed out that Currys had sales of £9.5bn last year.
Meta boss apologises for 'technical issue' which hit thousands of users
Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Threads suffered widespread problems on Tuesday afternoon, with users locked out of their accounts and pages failing to load properly.
Facebook outages reported on Down Detector shot up just before 3pm, with more than 300,000 problems logged.
More than 25,000 Instagram outages were also reported via the website, which collates status reports from several sources, including users.
Problems on Facebook left some users unable to login, while others were logged out and unable to reset their passwords or access their accounts.
Meanwhile, Instagram users struggled to load timelines, stories and comments.
GB News posts £42m loss but grows online audience
GB News saw its losses jump nearly 40% over the last year but says it has grown its online audience fivefold.
Pre-tax losses at the broadcaster hit £42.4m for the year to the end of May 2023, up from £30.7m a year earlier.
It comes as Rupert Murdoch's TalkTV announced it would cease broadcasting as a traditional television channel in the summer and move solely online.
Last month, presenter Piers Morgan said he was taking his Uncensored show off TalkTV to focus on its YouTube channel.
TalkTV said smartphones were now the primary device where news is consumed.