Hong Kong protests: UK companies defiant in face of continued unrest September 30, 2014 UK companies are not putting restrictions on travel to Hong Kong, despite continuing protests in the city, according to market sources. Although several London-based banks declined to comment on the situation in the region, insiders said there were no immediate plans to follow the example of French cosmetics company L’Oreal, which yesterday banned all staff [...]
Chuka Umunna vows to get firms to put more ethnic minorities on boards September 30, 2014 Labour’s shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna yesterday promised to hold UK businesses to account over the number of senior black and ethnic minority staff they employ, most notably at board level. Pledging to introduce a Davies-style commission and report into why people from ethnic minorities make up just one in 15 senior management positions, Umunna [...]
Rents and house prices cool from summer boom September 30, 2014 THE PROPERTY market appears to be giving a glimmer of hope to prospective first-time buyers, with house price growth slowing in September and landlords saying they expect lower rent increases. Nationwide’s house price index, released yesterday, fell 0.2 per cent from August to September which knocks annual growth down to 9.4 per cent from 11 [...]
Apple share price rises even as EU claims Irish tax deal may have broken laws September 30, 2014 The European Union yesterday accused Ireland of breaking its EU tax laws by letting Apple shelter tens of billions of dollars worth of profits from revenue collectors in return for maintaining jobs. Europe’s Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia wrote to Dublin that tax deals agreed in 1991 and 2007 amounted to state aid and might have broken EU [...]
Wonga set to ditch its Newcastle United sponsorship deal after crash in profits September 30, 2014 Wonga is considering scrapping its Newcastle United sponsorship deal and might never go back into TV advertising, after a major fall in profits last year. The online payday lender had a meteoric rise powered by catchy adverts, but profits crashed last year. It is paying customers £2.3m in compensation for sending debt collection letters from [...]
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals share price shoots up 27pc after Ebola case confirmed in US September 30, 2014 Shares in Canadian drugmaker Tekmira Pharmaceuticals soared in after-hours trading yesterday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of the Ebola virus on US soil. After closing about two per cent up, shares jumped 27 per cent to $26.82 on heavy volume. In August, the US Food and Drug Administration [...]
News Corp buys Move to boost its real estate September 30, 2014 Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp yesterday stepped further into the digital age with the announcement it would spend $950m (£586m) buying Move, the US company which owns property websites such as realtor.com. News Corp said it would pay $21 per share, a premium of 37 per cent to Move’s closing price on Monday. Australian real estate [...]
Real estate website Move has followed a rollercoaster road to success September 30, 2014 Like the US property market, real estate website Move’s fortunes have followed a rollercoaster path. The firm was founded by former chief executive officer Stuart Wolff under the name Homestore in the 1990s and listed in 1999. But during the dot-com bubble, Wolff was convicted of insider trading and falsifying the company books, leading him [...]
Shares in high street retailers cool on Next’s warm weather warning September 30, 2014 SHARES in the UK’s biggest clothing retailers slumped yesterday after industry bellwether Next warned it might have to cut its profit forecast if the warm weather continued. Next said third-quarter sales to date were up six per cent rather than the 10 per cent it had forecast as the mild September weather deterred shoppers from [...]
Endless Capital sells Kiddicare two months after £2m takeover September 30, 2014 ENDLESS Capital has sold Kiddicare to online retailer Worldstores just two months after buying the mother and baby products site for £2m from Morrisons. The turnaround specialist bought Kiddicare in July after Morrisons’ disastrous ownership of the site. The Yorkshire-based grocer bought Kiddicare in 2011 for £70m as part of its bid to build its [...]