Our broken university system is setting future Britain up to fail November 30, 2018 Two news stories this week should strike terror into the hearts of anyone concerned with the British higher education system. First, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) released figures on the impact of a university degree on earning potential, and found that sometimes it just isn’t worth it. By the age of 29, men who studied [...]
UK banks can pat themselves on the back, but the system is still feeling the stress November 30, 2018 Breathe a sigh of relief: once again, all financial institutions have passed the Bank of England’s annual stress tests. But look beneath the surface, and suddenly the various allowances made this week start to undermine the good news. First, if the impact of the new accounting standard IFRS 9 that came into force in January was [...]
The activist investor revolution has begun November 30, 2018 A year ago, anyone attempting to name a FTSE 100 stock that was likely to chart a double-digit share price rise would have been unlikely to name Whitbread. With a big exposure to the British consumer, the owner of Costa Coffee and Premier Inns seemed to have too many chips stacked on the wrong part [...]
DEBATE: After one lender launched a six-times-salary deal, are we headed towards a mortgage timebomb? November 30, 2018 After one lender launched a six-times-salary deal, are we headed towards a mortgage timebomb? Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert at MoneyComms, says YES. A shortage in UK housing supply means that property prices continue to increase, albeit at a slower rate in recent months. This means that lenders must stretch their lending criteria in order to [...]
Raid on Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt offices enters second day as shares fall November 30, 2018 A raid on Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt offices has entered its second day, German prosecutors said this morning, sending shares down by almost three per cent. The operation is targeting two staff members who are alleged to have set up off-shore firms for clients to launder money from criminality. According to a statement from German prosecutors, [...]
A new hope: Backing firms of the future November 30, 2018 If you missed the big news of the last couple of weeks, you must have been hiding under a rock. And no, I’m not talking about the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal – but rather Small Business Saturday, which is returning for a sixth year on 1 December. This is the most important day in the calendar [...]
International trade secretary Liam Fox backs Theresa May’s Brexit deal November 30, 2018 International trade secretary Liam Fox this morning backed Theresa May’s Brexit deal as the prime minister ruled out a plan B. Leading Brexiteer Fox said he believed members of the cabinet would back the deal, despite a deeply divided parliament. Fox told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme: “It is very difficult to get a deal [...]
Canada water-bomber firefighting contract fails to ignite Babcock shares November 30, 2018 A new £100m contract for Babcock wasn't enough to stop its shares drifting downwards this morning, as market uncertainty and investor scepticism outweighed the new deal. Shares fell one per cent after news that the engineering firm will operate a fleet of seven “water-bomber” amphibious firefighting aircraft in Canada for the next decade, in a contract win [...]
UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch charged in US over Autonomy deal November 30, 2018 Prominent UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been charged by US authorities with fraud over the sale of software company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard in 2011. The US Department of Justice filed charges against Lynch yesterday in a San Francisco court. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and include 14 [...]
Ukraine bans Russian men from entering country as tension continues to grow November 30, 2018 Ukraine has banned Russian men aged between 16 and 60 from crossing the border into the country as tensions between the two continue to rise. It comes after three Ukrainian ships and their crews were seized by Russia in the Black Sea last weekend, leaving several Ukrainians injured. Parts of the country became under marital [...]