Euro rate hike unlikely for at least two years June 23, 2014 AUSTRIAN central bank chief Ewald Nowotny said this weekend that the European Central Bank (ECB) is unlikely to raise interest rates until at least 2016, as the policy of major central banks diverges. Nowotny’s comments follow the ECB’s easing, which reduced the Eurozone deposit rate to a negative level for the first time. Analysts have [...]
Formula One car speeds around docklands June 23, 2014 CAMPAIGNERS hoping to bring a grand prix to the streets of London yesterday cheered on a Lotus Formula One car as it drove through the streets of Canary Wharf. The team’s reserve driver Marco Sorensen weaved the Lotus around the docklands roads to raise awareness for Race Week London, which starts on 3 July.
City of London Festival: Bowler hats off in Paternoster Square June 23, 2014 Anyone walking through Paternoster Square this morning, be not afraid of the giant millinery planted in the middle. You haven’t woken up in a Lewis Carroll novel – the City of London Festival has started and that giant bowler hat is a venue. The festival has previously slipped under the radar slightly, but this [...]
Gerard Grech: Three things you didn’t know about the Tech City UK CEO June 23, 2014 Chief executive of Tech City UK Gerard Grech 1 His passion has always been the fusion of art and technology and he was part of the team that launched one of the world’s first smartphones – the Orange SPV – in 2002 . 2 His first record turntable was an upright version, which cost £20 [...]
Small firms fear skills shortages will cap growth June 23, 2014 SMALL businesses are at their most confident since the UK’s recession, but shortages of skills are beginning to emerge as unemployment plummets, according to a report today. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) figures show that the firms are at their most confident in at least four years, going back to the beginning of the [...]
Top Morgan Stanley economist says Yo to a bizarre new app June 23, 2014 Yo, the new app that raised $1.2m (£705,000) for its simple one-word communication platform last week, got an endorsement from a surprising source yesterday. The app allows users to send each other only one message – the word “YO”, and was championed by Morgan Stanley global chief economist Joachim Fels. “When I first read about [...]
UK businesses demanding more staff with foreign language skills June 23, 2014 NEARLY two-thirds of UK businesses (65 per cent) say they have a need for more workers who can speak foreign languages proficiently, according to a report from the CBI. The top three languages identified by businesses surveyed as being most beneficial were French first, with 50 per cent, followed closely by German in second with [...]
50 Shades of Grey author EL James rakes in £33m June 23, 2014 50 Shades of Grey author EL James has left her rivals firmly under her heel as she recorded earnings of £33.4m in a year, almost four times higher than the reported £8.6m earned by JK Rowling last year. The exceptionally good sales of the sadomasochistic trilogy, which topped the 100m sales mark this year, may [...]
Car auctioneer owner aims for listing hat-trick June 23, 2014 THE OWNER of British Car Auctions (BCA) is plotting another foray onto the London stock market, buoyed by the success of two similar share sales earlier this year. New York-based outfit Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, which bought BCA in February 2010, is on the verge of appointing half a dozen investment banks to bring the [...]
Use of asset-based finance has risen fivefold in UK in a decade June 23, 2014 USE OF asset-based finance by the UK’s biggest businesses has grown by 16 per cent in the past year, rising from £4.4bn to £5.1bn. Figures from the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA), the industry body for the UK and the Republic of Ireland, show there has been more than a fivefold increase on the £1bn [...]