Image source, PA

According to the accountants and business advisors' BDO Employment Index, the outlook for UK employment has fallen for the second consecutive month after years of sustained growth.

BDO’s Employment Index fell to 112.82 points in June - its lowest in over a year.

“The glory years of rising UK employment figures could be coming to an end. While the numbers remain in positive territory, growth is slowing," said Peter Hemington, Partner at BDO LLP.

"The labour market has been resilient to the potential effects of Brexit, but months of negative sentiment has finally taken its toll. Businesses’ hiring plans had remained buoyant in the face of uncertainty. But as confidence begins to turn, there’s no sugarcoating the fear that job prospects will take a hit.”

The number of employed people in the UK rose in March to a record high of 32.7 million people.

Image source, Tesco Lotus

Supermarket giant Tesco is to open 750 convenience stores across Thailand over the next three years.

The new plans will create up to 10,000 new jobs.

Tesco told the Mail on Sunday, external that it sees an opportunity in the country's emerging middle class.

Tesco already has more than 1,500 Express convenience stores and about 400 larger shops, hypermarkets and shopping malls in Thailand, trading under the Tesco Lotus brand, employing 46,000 full-time staff.

Image source, AFP

Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten, the billionaire heirs to the German automobile BMW empire, have given an rare interview with Hamburg-based monthly business magazine Manager Magazin, external.

Both siblings are on BMW's supervisory board, own about 50% of the car maker, and have holdings in several German firms.

Ms Klatten is the second richest person in Germany, worth $18.6bn.

“Many believe that we are permanently sitting around on a yacht in the Mediterranean,” she said. “The role as a guardian of wealth also has personal sides that aren’t so nice.”

While they are comfortable with their roles now, the siblings say they initially struggled with being expected to take on high level positions from a young age.

Mr Quandt, who was 30 when he was first given a board seat, said he has had a lot of self-doubt, and wished he could have studied architecture or worked for a few years as a product manager before taking on the responsibility.

“For both of us, it’s certainly not the money that drives us,” he said. “Above all, it is the responsibility of securing jobs in Germany.”

Image source, Matalan

Value high street brand Matalan said sales climbed in the first quarter both in store and online, with the latter up almost 30%.

But said it had been forced to discount stock earlier than planned amid disappointing weather.

It reported revenue growth of 2.9% to £273.5m for the 13 weeks to 25 May, up from £265.9m in the same period of 2018.

The chain opened new stores in Leeds, Bracknell and Wolverhampton in the period.

BBC reporter Esyllt Carr is at Deutsche Bank's UK headquarters at London Wall. This is her eye-witness report from the scene:

There was a tense mood outside DB’s London HQ this morning as staff arrived to learn more about the bank’s restructuring plans which it says will lead to to 18,000 jobs being cut globally by 2022.

They didn’t speak to the many journalists waiting outside, they simply went into the office to wait for more news on how it would affect them and their positions.

“Good luck”, said one employee to a colleague as they went into the office just before 9am.

One City worker, who said he had friends working at DB, said they were fearing the worst. “They’ve already started looking for jobs at other banks”, he said.

Meanwhile an enterprising recruitment agency has been handing out flyers (pictured).

Image source, Getty Images

Discount supermarket chain Lidl will open 12 new Scottish stores creating around 500 jobs.

The chain already has 98 shops across Scotland, with construction already under way on sites in Dumbarton, Dundee, East Kilbride, Cowdenbeath and Larkhall.

Ross Millar, Lidl's regional director for Scotland, said: "Since opening our very first store in Scotland 25 years ago, we've opened our doors to towns and cities across the country, employing more than 2,200 people."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Reuters

Can a no-deal Brexit be carried out successfully?

Not a chance, reckons former Conservative Treasury Minister Lord Jim O’Neil, vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and also a former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

When asked by BBC Radio 5 Live whether a no-deal can be carried out successfully He replied: “No. Because the word here that is crucial is successfully.

"It can be carried out but it would be utter chaos. How would any business know what the rules of engagement are supposed to be conducting the day after it happened.”

Image source, Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank is busy explaining its mission this morning.

It issued the above slide to help people understand how it will change in the future.

Image source, Getty Images

London shares are now flat, joining other markets in being subdued after positive US jobs data on Friday weakened hopes of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates.

The FTSE 100 is now 5.6 points or 0.07% higher to 7,558.76, led by tobacco giant Imperial Brands Group, rising 2.5% to £20.09 after announcing a 10% increase in final dividend for the current financial year and plans to buy bank shares worth up to £200m.

The FTSE 250 is now 22.6 points or 0.1% ahead to 19,678.09. Top of the winners is power generation business ContourGlobal, rising 3.2% to 180.2p.

Image source, Getty Images

Deutsche Bank has made the first of the 18,000 job cuts announced yesterday as part of its reorganisation.

Teams of share traders in Tokyo and other offices in Asia were told this morning that their jobs were going.

Deutsche Bank is yet to specify exactly where the rest of the jobs will be lost but the company is holding a press conference from 9am so we'll bring you more news as we get it.

Image source, Getty Images

Six of Britain's skyscrapers produce as much carbon dioxide as 3,000 cars, a report in today's Times suggests.

It says that the London landmarks produce more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

"The figures highlight the scale of the challenge for building owners to comply with the government's commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050," the paper said.

The six skyscrapers in the spotlight and the number of kilograms of Co2 emitted per square metre per year according to the report are:

1. Tower 42 (49.16)
2. The Shard (37.63)
3. Gherkin (34.15)
4. Heron Tower (34.11)
5. Cheesegrater (24.00)
6. Walkie Talkie (15.85)

Image source, Camsing International

Shares in Hong Kong media and entertainment company Camsing International Holding, external plunged today after the company said on Friday its chairwoman had been arrested in China.

Its shares were last down over 80% on the day.

"The board of directors of the Company ...became aware on 5 July 2019 that Ms Lo Ching, the chairman and an executive director of the Company, is currently being held in criminal custody by the Yangpu Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau in the People’s Republic of China," Camsing said in a statement late on Friday, external.

It added that "the Directors are unable to ascertain the reasons of, or incidents leading to, the criminal custody of Ms Lo."

It said that business operations had not been "materially and adversely affected" by the event.

Image source, Getty Images

Asian stock markets fell across the board on Monday.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell nearly 1%.

In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.7% while the Shanghai Composite shed 2.6%.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Reuters

It's all change at the monent in Greece where the Syriza government has been ousted in favour of the centre-right new Democracy party.

Alexis Tsipras' government was elected in 2015 on promises of ending austerity in the country, which was buckling under a public debt crisis.

Instead it found itself having to abide by tough bailout countries in return for a third bailout, worth over £80bn. Poverty soared, and the economy is still roughly a quarter smaller than it was in 2008.

According to Danae Kyriakopoulou, chief economist at the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), a lot of work is still left to be done.

"The economy has been recovering, there's also the euro entering its third decade, and there are a lot of decisions to be made: where do we go next with the currency union? But Greece will have to attract more investment [and] deal with issues in the banking sector, particularly non-performing loans," she told Today.

"And the primary surplus targets that have been agreed under the bailout are also something that will need to be revisited by the new Greek government in partnership with the EU and its creditors, because it is something that is quite unsustainable in its current form."

Image source, Getty Images

Deutsche Bank has issued a statement this morning about its planned job cuts.

It said: "We opened our first branch in London in 1873, and today we remain one of the largest employers in the City of London.

"We will retain a significant presence here and remain a close partner to our UK clients and to international institutions that want to access the London market.

"We regret that the changes we are making will affect some of our colleagues and we will do everything we can to support them."

The FTSE 100 has started the week at 7,549.07, down 8.38 or 0.11%.

Meanwhile the FTSE 250 opened at 19,629.74, down 25.53 or 0.13%.

The proposed fine for BA relates to a cyber incident notified to the Information Commissioner's Office by British Airways in September 2018, the ICO said.

It said the incident in part involved user traffic to the British Airways website being diverted to a fraudulent site.

Through this false site, customer details were harvested by the attackers. Personal data of approximately 500,000 customers were compromised in this incident, which is believed to have begun in June 2018.

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham explained why it the ICO is proposing a record fine for BA. She said:

BBC Radio 5 Live
Wake Up To Money

Image source, Karen Millen

Fashion chain Karen Millen was put up for sale last month by its Icelandic owners Kaupthing Bank.

Will the troubled chain survive?

Its founder, who sold the business in 2004, hopes it does.

"I’d like to think it could," Karen Millen told Wake Up To Money. "I’d like to leave a legacy behind, it’s something I’m very proud of, or was proud of, and it does need a new home now.

"Whoever buys it needs to put it back where it needs to be.

"The structure right now is not working, and it’s the same across many high street stores working on an old model that no longer works.

"Stores need to close, changes need to happen."

Deutsche Bank's plan to cut around 18,000 staff has pleased traders.

Its shares have risen 4.74% in early trading in Frankfurt.

They're now at 7.52 euros, after climbing 0.34.