CityFibre rolling out in Aberdeen September 3, 2014 WHOLESALE fibre operator CityFibre will begin building out a new fibre network in Aberdeen by Christmas, with the goal of bringing superfast gigabit fibre to the Scottish city. Aberdeen will bring CityFibre’s network – which it resells as an alternative to BT, to councils, businesses and internet providers (ISPs) – to more than 57 towns [...]
Balderton bets on 3D printing September 3, 2014 BALDERTON Capital yesterday led a $4.5m (£2.7m) investment on a 3D printing firm flourishing in London. 3D Hubs, founded in Amsterdam in August 2014, is a 3D printing network of 7,000 printers where anyone can log on, find a nearby printer and print out their designs. “We see the UK as one of the biggest [...]
Building revival helps Ashtead to raise forecast September 3, 2014 BRITISH industrial equipment hire group Ashtead yesterday raised its full-year guidance after posting a 33 percent rise in first-quarter pre-tax profits on strong demand from the United States and the UK. Chief executive Geoff Drabble said he now anticipated the company’s full year results would be ahead of previous expectations and increased its plans for [...]
Full-year profit growth forecast shortfall weighs on Hargreaves September 3, 2014 UK FINANCIAL adviser Hargreaves Lansdown yesterday saw its share price fall by almost six per cent after it reported that full-year profit growth was lightly short of expectations. While revenues rose eight per cent to £291.9m, they were short of the £342m expected by the market. Pre-tax profit, up seven per cent at £195.2m, lagged [...]
Boris Johnson unveils £913m plan to protect London cyclists with Crossrail for bikes September 3, 2014 London Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday unveiled plans for two urban cycleways across London dubbed “Crossrail for the bike.”. They will offer cyclists protection from other road traffic and are the centrepiece of a £913m project to convince more Londoners into using two wheels to get around. The north-south route will run from Elephant & Castle in [...]
Spirit pubs selling more pints September 3, 2014 SPIRIT Pub Company’s like-for-like sales were ahead of the market in the fourth quarter as value-for-money deals attracted more customers to its franchises, boosting full-year expectations. Shares in the company, which was split from Punch Taverns in 2011, closed up 1.3 per cent. Like-for-like sales rose 2.1 per cent at managed pubs in the 12 [...]
Eurozone service sector’s slowdown puts pressure on ECB to undertake quantitative easing September 3, 2014 The Eurozone’s services firms flagged a further slowdown in the troubled currency bloc’s growth yesterday, with surveys indicating that the region is growing at the slowest pace this year so far, putting pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB). The Eurozone’s composite purchasing managers’ index, collated by Markit, dropped to just 52.5 – the lowest [...]
Dismal Eurozone data adds to reasons not to hike interest rates September 3, 2014 Our panel of experts voted to hold interest rates again this week, with dismal data from the Eurozone adding to weak UK wage inflation as the major reasons mentioned not to tighten policy. The clear slowdown in the currency union has had little effect on hard economic data in the UK so far, but several [...]
German bank boss’ support for central Eurozone bond sparks ire September 3, 2014 The chairman and chief executive of one of Germany’s largest banks was in hot water in his home country yesterday, after penning an article in support of centralised bond issuances for the Eurozone. Commerzbank boss Martin Blessing came under scrutiny after expressing the opinion in an article for German business newspaper Handelsblatt. Blessing said that the [...]
ONS revision shows UK financial crisis was not as bad as thought September 3, 2014 THE RECESSION which hit the UK in the aftermath of the financial crisis was less severe than initially thought, and the country returned to its previous peak size at a much earlier date. Revisions released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday showed that GDP dropped six per cent from the first quarter [...]