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 [...]
What you need to know before the US open March 17, 2014 As investors wait to see how US and EU powers continue to respond to the referendum in Crimea yesterday, S&P 500 stocks futures suggest US markets will open slightly higher today. European markets have extended the early gains they made today, keeping their nerve, despite rising tensions over the Ukrainian crisis and weak EU inflation [...]
Bitcoin bugs invest $10m in China’s largest exchange March 17, 2014 Despite China's recent crackdown, cyptocurrency Bitcoin has been given a new lease of life in the world's second largest economy. The company that claims to be China's largest Bitcoin exchange by volume has announced a $10m Series A funding round. Venture Capital firm Ceyuan led the way and was followed by Mandra Capital, Ventures Lab and [...]
Russian gold glitters in face of Ukraine conflict March 17, 2014 The geopolitical tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine are boosting the gold price and benefitting Russian miners, according to Canaccord Genuity today. The broker has upgraded its recommendations on Russian gold producers Polymetal International and Petropavlovsk to “buy”, as a result of its bullish view on the yellow metal and a weaker currency, [...]