Quiz of the week 24-30 October

1. Berlin’s $7bn airport finally opened this week. Long-delayed, when was it originally scheduled to open?

a. 2014, b. 2008, c. 2012, d. 2016

2. Which city in the UK has had the biggest increase in “million-pound streets” — streets with an average house price of £1m?

a. Winchester, b. Poole, c. York, d. Edinburgh

3. Heathrow lost its place as the busiest European airport this week. Which airport took its spot?

a. Paris Charles de Gaulle, b. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, c. Frankfurt am Main, d. Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas 

4. Why did the share prices of several of Samsung’s businesses rise this week?

a. It announced they were working on a coronavirus vaccine, b. Its board reshuffled after an activist investor’s campaign was successful, c. It announced it was planning to merge with video game company Nintendo, d. Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s death left the company’s heirs with a huge inheritance tax bill

5. UK house prices posted their biggest annual gain in five years this week. What is believed to be behind the increase?

a. Buyers are looking for second homes in the country, b. Buyers were prompted by the stamp duty holiday, c. More properties are available in big cities as people move away, d. Landlords are snapping up properties cheap due to the coronavirus crisis

6. Which budget airline was forced to sell its aircrafts to help inject some life into its balance sheet?

a. Ryanair, b. Wizz Air, c. Vueling, d. easyJet

7. Which asset manager called for an overhaul of environmental, social and governance reporting this week, pushing for globally recognised framework instead of the current “alphabet soup” of standards?

a. Vanguard Group, b. BlackRock, c. State Street Global Advisors, d. Pimco

8. The eurozone’s four largest economies – Germany, France, Italy and Spain – posted above average growth results for the third quarter of 2020 as they rebounded from their coronavirus-induced recessions. Which country posted the largest jump?

a. Germany, b. Italy, c. France, d. Spain

9. Which European country was the first to reimpose a nationwide lockdown, which will see all non-essential business, including hairdressers and barbers, close?

a. Ireland, b. France, c. Germany, d. Spain

10. Under the coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, workers received 80% of their pay. As that comes to an end, what percentage of a worker’s salary will the government pay under the Job Support Scheme as it attempts to support struggling businesses?

a. 75%, b. Still 80%, c. 67%, d. 77%

Answers

1. c. 2012. “The airport’s history is an embarrassing tale for Germany’s exalted reputation for punctuality and engineering prowess”, says Stefan Nicola on Bloomberg. Construction on the Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport began in 2006.

2. d. Edinburgh. The number of “million pound streets” jumped from two in 2015 to 22 in 2020, a 1000% increase, Rightmove found. Hill Place, by the city’s Old Town, is the most expensive street; average properties there cost £1.2m.

3. a. Paris Charles de Gaulle. Heathrow saw 18.9 million passengers in the first nine months of the year, compared to rival Paris’s 19.27 million in the same period.

4. d. Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s death left the company’s heirs with a huge inheritance tax bill. The electronics company announced Lee Kun-hee, “who transformed Samsung into the world’s largest producer of smartphones and memory chips”, died aged 78, says Tom Ball in The Times. Speculation that his death will spark a restructuring of the group’s complicated business interests (partly due to the huge IHT bill his heirs will have to pay) pushed shares in Samsung C&T and Samsung Life insurance up by 21.2% and 15.7% respectively.

5. b. Buyers were prompted by the stamp duty holiday. The stamp duty holiday on the first £500,000 of any transaction, saving buyers up to £15,000, boosted the property market’s recovery.

6. d. easyJet. easyJet raised £305m by selling nine of its Airbus 320 planes to leasing companies in Ireland. The carrier is expected to post annual losses of over £1.2bn for the year to September as the coronavirus pandemic continues to decimate the travel industry.

7. b. BlackRock. The $7.8trn asset manager, the largest in the world, said the “wide array of private sector” standards need to be replaced with a single global framework to make it easier for investors to understand, says Attracta Mooney in the Financial Times.

8. c. France. France posted a quarterly growth rate of 18.2%, while Germany, Italy, and Spain’s results were up 8.2%, 16.1% and 16.7% respectively. Output remains well below pre-pandemic levels, however, and is threatened by the rising number of cases across the bloc.

9. a. Ireland. Ireland announced the restrictions last week. France and Germany ordered their countries back into lockdown this week.

10. c. 67%. The government will pay workers 67% of their wages, up to £2,083.33, where their employers have been forced to close due to tier three restrictions.