AstraZeneca CEO hails NHS drug price deal but keeps pause on £200m UK investment

The boss of Britain’s biggest pharmaceutical company has said the government’s recent drug pricing deal is a “very positive step” but is unlikely to unfreeze a paused £200m investment in Cambridge.AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, suggested that a UK-US deal on NHS pricing agreed in December would not be “sufficient” to restart the project to build a research site in the east of England, which was paused in September.Soriot, who has rebuilt the company’s drugs pipeline since 2012 and turned it into the UK’s most valuable listed business, also described the US as “the most attractive market in the world”.During Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing two weeks ago, AstraZeneca announced $15bn (£11bn) of investments in China, its second-biggest market, and is also pouring $50bn into US factories and labs by 2030.The British drugmaker listed its shares in New York and they began trading on 2 February, but it kept its main stock listing in London

Barclays CEO ‘shocked’ by Epstein revelations as bank deals with Staley fallout

The chief executive of Barclays has said he is “deeply dismayed and shocked” at the “depravity and the corruption” revealed in the Epstein files, as the bank deals with the fallout of its ex-boss Jes Staley’s ties to the convicted child sex offender.In his first public comments on the matter since the US Department of Justice began publishing documents related to Jeffrey Epstein in December, CS Venkatakrishnan said his thoughts went out to the victims of Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting child sex trafficking charges.“I’m very, very deeply dismayed and shocked by the moral depravity and the corruption that you’re reading about in the latest set of instalments. You know, my heart really goes out to victims of this scandal and these crimes,” he said.However, the Barclays boss – speaking as the bank reported annual profits – stopped short of commenting directly on allegations against his predecessor, Staley

UK backs biggest English onshore windfarm in a decade among 190 green energy projects

The largest onshore windfarm in England in a decade has been awarded a government subsidy among 190 contracts for renewable energy projects, as Labour attempts to hit a goal of creating a virtually zero carbon power grid within four years.The government said it would offer contracts to a record number of solar projects alongside support for onshore windfarms including the huge Imerys project near St Austell in Cornwall.The project will be the largest to be built in England since Labour lifted an almost decade-long de facto ban on new onshore windfarms after returning to power in 2024.The ban caused England’s onshore wind industry to collapse, and the Imerys project – developed by Clean Earth Energy – at 20 megawatts is dwarfed by many Scottish onshore windfarms that won contracts in the latest auction, the largest of which is 186 MW.It will generate a fraction of the electricity of the 480MW West Burton solar farm, which also won a contract in the auction and will be the largest solar project ever supported by the UK government

BT replaces Openreach boss in latest management shake-up

The head of BT’s infrastructure arm, Openreach, is to step down after nearly a decade, having almost completed a £12bn rollout of full fibre broadband to 25m homes.Clive Selley, who was tasked by the former BT chief Philip Jansen to “build like fury” to address the UK’s status as global laggard in the introduction of high-speed broadband, will become the boss of BT’s international division.Selley is being replaced by his deputy, Katie Milligan, who will decide on whether to further expand the fibre network to 30m homes by 2030.The change in management is the latest in a shake-up by Allison Kirkby, BT’s first female boss, who has changed 10 of the 11 members of the telecoms group’s executive committee since she took over in February 2024.After joining in 2016, Selley was tasked with upgrading the ageing Openreach network, which provides broadband across the UK, to full fibre

BP halts share buy-backs as annual profits slide

BP has halted share buybacks after reporting weaker annual profits as it prepares to continue a plan to resuscitate its fortunes under a new chief executive.The company became the first large oil company to suspend its buybacks after its underlying earnings fell to just below $7.5bn (£5.5bn) for 2025, down from almost $9bn for 2024.Oil companies have reported weaker profits over the last year after global prices fell for a third consecutive year and at the steepest rate since the Covid pandemic

Telstra joint venture to axe more than 200 jobs amid AI rollout

More than 200 Telstra jobs are expected to be cut, as the telco rolls out AI capabilities and sends some jobs to India.Telstra and the technology consultancy Accenture announced a $700m joint venture (JV) in 2025 to drive efficiency, modernisation and productivity.A JV spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the team had been notified “about proposed changes to its workforce, including reducing roles where work is no longer needed, and moving some work to the JV team in India”.If the changes proceed, the spokesperson said, affected team members would be helped to find new jobs either at Telstra or at Accenture, or have “access to our leading career transition program and retrenchment benefits”.Sign up: AU Breaking News email“These changes would see the JV use Accenture’s global capabilities, advanced AI expertise and specialist hub in India to deliver Telstra’s data and AI roadmap more quickly