WH Smith trading update: Airport sales keeps retailer’s shares aloft August 30, 2018 Airport passengers shopping for a holiday read helped boost WH Smith in the 12 months to the end of August, it said today, as it delivered a trading update on its full-year results. The retailer, voted the UK’s worst high street store earlier this summer, teased its latest results ahead of their official release on [...]
Hays delivers investors a summer surprise after dividend hike August 30, 2018 UK recruitment giant Hays put a smile on investors’ faces at the opening bell this morning, after hiking its full-year dividend by 18 per cent. Annual profits leapt to £243m in the first half of 2018, rising 15 per cent from the same period in the previous year. The FTSE 250 firm revealed a special dividend [...]
SSE’s merger with Npower gets the provisional green light from UK competition watchdog August 30, 2018 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given provisional clearance to the proposed merger between energy firm Npower and the retail arm of SSE. A further inquiry by the CMA was set up in April after initial concerns were raised as to whether the merger might impact the prices of standard variable tariffs (SVTs), the most [...]
Panasonic to ditch UK to move headquarters to Amsterdam August 30, 2018 Panasonic is to move its European headquarters to Amsterdam from London, in a decision thought to be a result of uncertainty around Brexit. The Japanese electronics company confirmed today that it would move to the Netherlands due to concerns that it could face a hefty tax bill once the UK leaves the EU. Laurent Abadie, [...]
Lender Amigo hails surging revenue but profits count the cost of IPO August 30, 2018 Amigo witnessed a 50 per cent leap in sales across the first quarter of its new financial year, but its share price remained flat as the costs of its recent stock market float impacted profits. The figures The lender reached £62.9m revenue for the three months to the end of June, a whopping 47 per [...]
Africa needs fintech – but fintech needs Africa more August 30, 2018 What a difference a couple of decades make. At the turn of the century, Tony Blair remarked that “the state of Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world”. This week, on her first official visit to the continent, Theresa May embraced a new vision of optimism and hope. Read more: Theresa May [...]
Politicians have abandoned economics for paternalism August 30, 2018 Have advocates of lifestyle and environmental regulation given up pretending that the policies they advocate are grounded in good economic analysis? Two stories from last week suggest so. The first was reporting around a new study by the Global Burden of Disease project, which concluded that even moderate drinking increases the risk of alcohol-related health [...]
Scrap business rates in favour of land tax, Lib Dems say August 30, 2018 Business rates should be abolished and replaced by a tax on land values to boost investment and productivity, the Liberal Democrats have said. The party will publish proposals this morning to scrap business rates in favour of a commercial landowner levy (CLL). The levy – paid by owners rather than tenants would remove buildings and [...]
DEBATE: Does the shock resignation of the French energy minister prove that Macron’s regime has lost its shine? August 30, 2018 Does the shock resignation of the French energy minister prove that Macron’s regime has lost its shine? Adam Bartha, director of Epicenter, says YES. It’s hard to lose something that you haven’t had for a while, but Nicolas Hulot’s resignation in protest of Emmanuel Macron’s agenda shows what we should already have known. The French [...]
The revolving door of Australian Prime Ministers is a lesson for May August 30, 2018 You know the story: Australia has yet another Prime Minister. In fact, it has been 11 years since one has completed a full three-year term, and as of last week, five people have held the office in as many years. It is enough to make British politics look strong and stable. Read more: Lidington tells [...]