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Only 1 in 25 of CEOs in Britain’s largest publicly listed companies are women, according to a new report.

Analysis of senior leadership in the FTSE 350 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange showed 96% of CEOs are men.

This is despite the entry level recruitment often being close to 50:50, according to analysis conducted by gender and diversity consultancy firm, The Pipeline.

Its Women Count 2022 report found three-quarters of the members of FTSE 350 executive committees are men, and a quarter are women. There were no women at all on the executive committees of 10% of the companies and nearly 70% of companies have no female executive directors at all on their main boards of directors.

The path towards becoming a CEO is dominated by men: the report found three out of four executives working their way up to CEO are men.

But when women become CEOs it is more likely that there will be women appointed to other roles in the upper echelons of FTSE 350 companies.

Companies with female CEOs are over four times more likely to appoint women executive directors onto their main board than companies with male CEOs, The Pipeline analysis found.

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The proportion of female executives on the main board of a company with a female CEO is 63% compared to 14% where the CEO is male, the report said.

The problem of a lack of equal gender representation exists across senior leadership. In the FTSE 350, 82% of chief financial officers (CFOs) are male.

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The Women Count report has tracked the gender diversity of British executive committees for the past seven years and described progress over that time as “glacially slow”.

The prospect for women seeking advancement to the senior echelons of FTSE 350 companies “looks as desolate as ever”, The Pipeline said. However, there are four more female CEOs this year compared to last year.

Other FTSE indices showed similar inequalities. In the FTSE 100 there are 91 male CEOs and 7 women CEOs and in the FTSE 250 there are 168 male CEOs and 5 female CEOs.

The numbers do not add up to 100, 250 and 350 because not every organisation listed in the FTSE has a CEO, the report said. Some investment vehicles often have only an investment manager and no further staff.

The data was gathered through by examining company websites, annual and other reports and direct contact with companies.

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iPhones sold in US will no longer come from China – as Apple reveals impact of Trump’s tariffs

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iPhones sold in US will no longer come from China - as Apple reveals impact of Trump's tariffs

Apple says devices sold in the US will no longer come from China, as the tech giant tries to mitigate the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Most iPhones will be sourced from India instead, with iPads coming from Vietnam, to prevent dramatic price rises for American consumers.

Unveiling financial results from January to March, the company said the US president’s escalating trade war has had a limited impact on its performance so far.

However, Apple CEO Tim Cook believes the tariffs will add £677m in costs during the current quarter – assuming Trump’s policies don’t change.

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Revenue for the first three months of the year stood at £71.8bn, with earnings of £18.6bn also beating analyst expectations.

High demand for iPhones during this period may have been driven by US shoppers rushing to make purchases before the new tariffs came into force.

But the full impact of any panic buying will only emerge when Apple reports its results from April to June later in the year.

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Apple’s reliance on Chinese factories to manufacture its iPhones meant the company was far more exposed to the impact of Trump’s trade war than others.

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After the president unveiled plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries – now largely paused for 90 days – Apple’s stock plunged by 23%, wiping out £582bn of value.

While its share price has recovered slightly, it remains 5% lower than before “Liberation Day”.

Growing tensions between Washington and Beijing are also having an impact on Apple’s sales in China, which fell 2.3% between January and March.

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Addressing the planned changes to manufacturing, Mr Cook added: “We have a complex supply chain. There’s always risk in the supply chain. What we learned some time ago was that having everything in one location had too much risk with it.”

Devices sold outside of the US will continue to be made in China.

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Space NK owner kicks off £300m-plus sale process

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Space NK owner kicks off £300m-plus sale process

The owner of Space NK has kicked off a formal sale process more than a year since it hired bankers to auction the high street beauty chain.

Sky News has learnt that teasers have begun being circulated to prospective bidders in recent weeks, despite anxiety about consumer confidence in a stuttering UK economy.

Manzanita Capital, a private investment firm, engaged bankers at Raymond James to oversee an auction in April 2024.

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A deal is expected to fetch between £300m and £400m.

Manzanita has owned Space NK for more than 20 years, and is not expected to sanction a sale unless it receives an attractive offer.

One party contacted about a potential bid said the business appeared to be in good financial health.

Manzanita has also owned the French perfume house Diptyque and Susanne Kaufmann, an Austrian luxury skincare brand.

Founded in 1993 by Nicky Kinnaird, Space NK – which is named after her initials – trades from roughly stores and employs more than 1,000 people.

It specialises in high-end skincare and cosmetics products.

Manzanita previously explored a sale of Space NK in 2018, hiring Goldman Sachs to handle a strategic review, but opted not to proceed with a deal.

Manzanita has been contacted for comment, while Raymond James declined to comment.

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Tesla’s board members have reportedly started looking for Elon Musk’s successor as CEO

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Tesla's board members have reportedly started looking for Elon Musk's successor as CEO

Tesla’s board members have reportedly started a search for someone to replace Elon Musk as CEO.

Several executive search firms were approached to find a successor around a month ago, the Wall Street Journal reported.

But it added that the current status of the succession planning for the electric car-maker was not known.

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Tesla’s chair, Robyn Denholm, later reacted to the report by insisting that any suggestion of an active search was “absolutely false”.

She added that the board was highly confident in Musk’s ability to continue “executing on the exciting growth plan ahead”.

Musk’s net worth has plunged and Tesla stocks have fallen sharply amid a public backlash over his role in Donald Trump’s government. He owns just under 13% of Tesla stock and is the largest shareholder.

The world’s richest man has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he has overseen the firing of tens of thousands of government employees.

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He has also supported far-right parties in Europe, which has led to protests against Musk and Tesla, which have seen its showrooms and charging stations vandalised across the US and Europe.

President Trump has labelled the vandals “terrorists”.

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It comes after Musk said the time he spends with DOGE would “drop significantly” from May and he will dedicate more time to running his companies, such as Tesla, SpaceX and X.

The board members met with Musk and asked him to announce publicly he would spend more time at Tesla, the report said.

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It was unclear if Musk, who is a member of the board, was aware of any attempts to identify a successor, or if his pledge to spend more time at Tesla had affected succession planning, it added.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump said Musk could be part of his administration for as long as he wants.

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“You’re invited to stay as long as you want,” Mr Trump said.

He said Musk had been “treated unfairly” for his role in helping Mr Trump slash the size of the federal government, adding: “You really have sacrificed a lot.”

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