Shares up after construction firm Costain’s order book hits a record £4.2bn January 3, 2019 Shares in Costain are up more than five per cent after the construction and engineering company announced today that it finished the year with a record-breaking order book of £4.2bn. In a trading update the firm, which is a major supplier to Network Rail and Highways England, said it had an order book of £4.2bn, up from [...]
Next defies Christmas fears with online sales boost but outlook remains cautious amid Brexit uncertainty January 3, 2019 Next has opened the crucial post-Christmas trading update season by reducing its full-year profit expectations, but defied investor worries by increasing sales. The retailer said full-price sales for the festive period were up 1.5 per cent between 28 October and 29 December, in line with its expectations. Next reported a 14.9 per cent increase in online [...]
DNO extends Faroe hostile takeover offer amid valuation spat January 3, 2019 Norwegian oil firm DNO has extended its cash offer for Faroe Petroleum amid a bitter dispute over the company’s valuation. DNO will extend its offer of 152p per share after Faroe yesterday resisted the hostile bid, which it said “substantially undervalues” the business. The company today increased its holding in Faroe to 30 per cent, [...]
David Davis: May should postpone parliament’s Brexit vote again to stoke no deal fears January 3, 2019 Former Brexit secretary David Davis believes Theresa May should delay parliament’s vote on her Brexit deal for a second time in order to push Britain closer to a no-deal scenario, and to pile pressure onto MPs and the EU. Parliament was originally due to vote on May’s deal on 11 December, but the Prime Minister [...]
DEBATE: Will this year be as politically tumultuous as the last? January 3, 2019 Will this year be as politically tumultuous as the last? Robert Colvile, director of the Centre for Policy Studies and author of The Great Acceleration, says YES. Sorry to puncture the New Year cheer, but the turmoil of 2018 wasn’t a one-off – in fact, it’s the new normal. The parliamentary situation, with the Tories supported [...]
Resilience, risk, and regulatory changes: What lies ahead for the UK finance sector January 3, 2019 As we look ahead to 2019, the banking industry could be excused for trying to catch its breath. A decade on from the financial crisis, the path forward still remains fraught with difficulties. Return on equity remains stubbornly low across the board, while cost-income ratios remain high. This year will clearly be defined through the [...]
With mobile technology, we can empower the world’s unbanked January 3, 2019 Financial inclusion must become the watch-word for 2019. An estimated 1.7bn adults worldwide do not have access to formal financial services – that’s 31 per cent of the adult population who do not have a bank account. Incapable of borrowing, saving, or investing money and protecting themselves, exclusion from the global money system denies these individuals [...]
From Brexit to tariffs, brace yourself for an uncertain 2019 January 3, 2019 Get ready for a 2019 full of uncertainty. On the political scene, headline events range from Brexit to the US-China trade tensions to EU reforms – all coming at a vulnerable stage in the business cycle, with half of US chief financial officers expecting a recession in 2019, and over 80 per cent by 2020. [...]
Overcrowding on trains close to a record high as commuters warned it will get even worse January 3, 2019 Overcrowding on trains has hit one of its highest ever levels – but is likely to get even worse, according to Labour. The 10 most overcrowded peak train routes are already running at 187 per cent overcapacity, the party’s analysis found, an increase of 25 per cent since 2011. And they are likely to get [...]
Brits rack up £1.3bn in music sales, with UK artists making up half of the top 20 best-sellers for 2018 January 3, 2019 British artists had their most bumper year to date in 2018, as local musicians scored half of the UK’s top 20 albums last year with more than £1.3bn in music retail sales across the country. Data released today by record label association the BPI put singer/songwriter George Ezra's 'Staying At Tamara's' as the best-selling album released in 2018, [...]