Aston Martin CEO to leave, easyJet CFO resigns

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Luxury car maker Aston Martin confirmed the departure of chief executive Andy Palmer to be replaced by AMG chief Tobias Moers in August.

Keith Stanton, currently vice-president and chief manufacturing operations officer, was appointed interim chief operating officer to support the company's new chairman, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll.

EasyJet chief financial officer Andrew Findlay has resigned just days after the airline's founder Stelios Haji-Ioannnou failed to remove him and three other leading board members. The FTSE 100 company said Findlay was expected to work his year's notice while the board looks for a replacement. He has been CFO for almost five years.

On Friday Haji-Ioannno forced a special meeting of easyJet shareholders but his resolutions to unseat Findlay, chief executive Johan Lundgren, chairman John Barton and the company's senior independent director were voted down.

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The Unite union has claimed that British Airways plans to fire the vast majority of its workforce and rehire them on reduced pay and worse terms. BA informed unions last month that it was holding a consultation on as many as 12,000 job cuts. The notice under section 188 of the Trade Union Act means workers could be made redundant as soon as 15 June. – Guardian

Unions and business groups have backed the government’s plan to bail out strategically important companies whose failure would “disproportionately harm the economy”. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is exploring plans for the taxpayer to step in and rescue struggling companies to prevent a wave of job losses in sectors that have been hardest hit during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. – Guardian

British firms have taken £30bn in lifelines from financial markets as a blitz of equity and debt is issued to help businesses survive the coronavirus crisis. Almost 150 companies tapped bond and stock markets to address the cash crunch caused by Covid-19 between mid-March and the end of April, according to analysis by New Financial and BNP Paribas. – Telegraph

Britain’s recruitment industry is the latest to slash its office space as bosses plan to continue flexible working from home long after the pandemic lockdown is over. As many as four-in-10 businesses will review their physical sites in the coming months, giving them a chance to save money on rent, according to a survey by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) – Telegraph

The owner of Britain’s biggest train factory has told the government that it will be “unable to continue production” without support as it burns through cash during the lockdown. Bombardier Transportation, which makes train carriages, has asked for contractual charges to be suspended after it was forced to halt production. The bond repayments and penalties for delivery delays that it wants paused total about £20 million a month. – The Times

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