London Report: Building boost helps FTSE snap its losing streak March 17, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index snapped its longest losing streak in two and a half years yesterday as the building sector surged on a government plan to pump more cash into a scheme to boost construction. Persimmon was among top FTSE gainers, rising 3.7 per cent after chancellor George Osborne said on Sunday he would extend [...]
New York Report: US stocks rise as tensions in Crimea ease March 17, 2014 US STOCKS climbed yesterday, with the S&P 500 bouncing from its worst weekly drop in the past seven, as concerns eased over the situation in Crimea, while economic data indicated the economy was improving after a winter slowdown. The 97 per cent vote in Crimea in favour of quitting Ukraine was condemned as illegal by [...]
Shoppers are getting a sweeter tooth for bags of chocolate March 17, 2014 Scan the confectionery aisles of most British supermarkets and you’ll notice the proliferation of so-called grab bags of chocolate – brands repackaged into what the confectionery industry calls ‘stand up pouches.’ The usual suspects – Mars Mix, Twix Mix, Cadbury’s Bitsa Wispa, Cadbury’s Caramel Nibbles – dominante our supermarket shelves and new research out today [...]
Tesco shares slump on BoAML downgrade March 17, 2014 Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch have downgraded Tesco today to “underperform” on the back of rival Morrisons’ announcement last week to invest £1bn in slashing prices, causing the grocer’s share to fall to the bottom of investors’ shopping lists. The bank said the implications of the shock announcement from Morrisons were “substantial” and [...]
Who’s really paying the 40p tax rate? March 17, 2014 The 40p rate of tax (the higher rate) has been in the news a lot ahead of the budget – some business groups are calling either for a cut in the rate or an increase in the threshold for paying it. George Osborne was also criticised yesterday for reports that he said that a positive [...]
City A.M.’s bumper Budget preview March 17, 2014 As chancellor George Osborne gets ready to unveil the penultimate budget before the general election, we've pulled together all the expected announcements, and what others are hoping for. Deficit Due to the scale of the budget deficit Ernst & Young believe the chancellor has little room for manoeuvre in terms of giveaways. While the Office [...]
Just-Eat float will have no retail component March 17, 2014 City AM has learned that the float of fast food website Just-Eat will have no retail component. Retail investors will be able to go through brokers who've put in an institutional bid, but there'll be no direct access to the initial public offering (IPO). This mirrors Poundland's recent IPO, which also lacked a retail component. [...]
Why Twitter’s chief executive is really visiting China March 17, 2014 Twitter’s chief executive Dick Costolo has headed off to China today on a trip to “learn more about Chinese culture and the country's thriving technology sector”, according to a Twitter spokesperson. While that sounds lovely and we hope Costolo has a great time, Twitter has some rather more pressing issues in China that the chief [...]
Why Yahoo shares are jumping on Alibaba market debut March 17, 2014 Investors are proving just how excited they are about the news that Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, is heading for a market debut. Yahoo shares rose over four per cent at the opening bell, and leapt almost six per cent in pre-market trading today. That’s no surprise: Yahoo owns a 24 per cent stake in [...]
The obvious questions HS2 planners still have to answer March 17, 2014 Business groups have been broadly supportive of the changes to High Speed 2, set out this morning by new chairman Sir David Higgins, though concerns remain about the benefits of the project. Following Sir David’s review, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has this morning confirmed that the £700m link between HS1 (The Channel Tunnel) and HS2 [...]