1 Up to 150,000 nurses, teachers and other public sector workers brought services to a standstill in Northern Ireland as they walked out in protest at a two-year pay freeze. Unions say their members have become victims of the political impasse that has left the province without a functioning government since 2022.
2 Endeavour Mining has stripped its former boss Sébastien de Montessus of total remuneration worth $29.1 million after he was fired for alleged “serious misconduct”.
3 The new board of Hipgnosis Songs Fund is seeking to offer possible bidders for the troubled music investment company a sweetener of up to £20 million. Hipgnosis is asking for formal approval from shareholders to allow the board to pay fees to prospective acquirers to provide “significant protection” to them for their due diligence and purchase costs.
4 More than 3,000 jobs are set to be lost in south Wales after Tata Steel confirmed to workers that it would press ahead with the closure of both of its blast furnaces at Port Talbot.
5 The decline in global demand for oil this year could be less severe than expected in the face of a brighter economic outlook, the International Energy Agency has said.
6 Google has announced a billion-dollar investment in a UK data centre in a move hailed by the government as a big “vote of confidence in Britain”. The centre, to be built on a 33-acre site in Hertfordshire, will power Google’s cloud and AI services for British customers.
7 Royal Mail reported that it had enjoyed a happy 2023 festive season. However, the long-term decline in letter-writing and sending Christmas cards, as well as wage demands and redundancy settlements, mean the group will be in the red at the end of the financial year.
8 The chairwoman of Home Reit, the crisis-hit “landlord for the homeless”, has stepped aside under pressure from unhappy shareholders, heralding a wider boardroom exodus. Lynne Fennah had chaired the company since its stock market debut in October 2020.
9 J Sainsbury is giving up on its hopes to develop a big mainstream retail banking operation and plans to wind down Sainsbury’s Bank after 27 years. The accounts of its 1.9 million customers will be farmed out to other providers as part of the strategy to put “food first”.
10 Before Covid, “purpose” was voted as the business buzzword of the year. Fast-forward to 2024 and almost every big company has an avowed purpose central to their mission statement. Purpose-driven businesses claim to be more profitable and consumers expect businesses’ purpose to have a positive impact on people and the planet.