Wood Group completes £2.2bn takeover of Amec Foster Wheeler October 9, 2017 Wood Group has completed its merger with Amec Foster Wheeler, the FTSE-250-listed oilfield services firm announced today. The £2.2bn takeover had been held up by the Competition and Markets Authority, but the regulator waved the deal through in September after Amec Foster Wheeler agreed to sell some North Sea assets. The integration of the two [...]
Lloyds Bank chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio on stress: “It nearly broke me” October 7, 2017 Lloyds’ chief executive has said the job nearly “broke” him, dealing with serious insomnia shortly after joining the bank in 2011. In an interview with the Times magazine, Antonio Horta-Osorio discussed the details of his troubles. Within months of starting the top job, he spent nine days at the Priory clinic to prevent a nervous [...]
Here’s how much it’ll cost you to buy a single square foot in London October 6, 2017 The average London home now costs just under £500 per sq ft, according to new data – a rise of more than 50 per cent in five years. The figures by Zoopla suggest the average London home now sets buyers back £496 per sq ft, up from £321 in 2012. Newham, which includes Stratford, was [...]
These are the Tories’ 13 Brexitiest Brexiteers, as ranked by Conservative party members October 6, 2017 Conservative members have been polled by YouGov on which of their MPs they feel are the biggest Brexiteers – important, considering two-thirds of party members voted to leave the European Union. Now it has created a definitive ranking. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson came top of the 13 Brexitiest Brexiteers, despite criticism that personal ambition had [...]
The highest starting City salaries across banking with M&A, sales and trading leading the rankings October 6, 2017 Banking may be well paid, but even by its standards, some pay better than others. Now salary benchmarking site Emolument has assessed salaries from 338 recent graduates starting their careers in banking, with M&A, sales and trading, looking at the institutions which come top for bringing in the most money early on. At £50,000, starting [...]
Deloitte bolsters digital offer with acquisition of design consultancy Market Gravity October 4, 2017 | City Talk Global professional services firm Deloitte has bolstered its digital offering in Scotland with the purchase of Edinburgh-based design consultancy Market Gravity. Deloitte currently has three offices across Scotland, in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. The firm employs around 600 people, with 32 partners and 56 directors among them, providing a full range of services to businesses [...]
How to solve the housing crisis in five years October 4, 2017 The UK housing market is failing millions of people. It produces far too few homes, and then offers them at unaffordable rents and prices. Yet we could cure this national housing crisis in just five years, using high-technology modular construction, reimagined council housing and patient institutional capital. In Japan, the modular future has already arrived. [...]
Designer homeware site Made.com turned a profit in the UK for the first time last year October 4, 2017 Design business Made.com generated a profit in the UK for the first time last year. The figures In results for 2016 released today, the trendy homeware business revealed that its sales grew by 48 per cent. In the UK, revenue was up 38 per cent, helping the business to turn its first profit in the [...]
How does factor investing stack up? A historical overview October 3, 2017 | City Talk Interest in ‘factor investing’ reached an all-time high in May according to Google Trends. As a result, fund management companies and investment banks released a flood of smart beta and risk premia products. Investors should consider the market outlook for these products since factors can have significant multi-year drawdowns just like the equity markets. [...]
UK companies are facing a shifting range of security threats October 2, 2017 The threat level in the UK is severe – and arguably not just in relation to terrorism. Recent incidents have shown that any organisation, regardless of its sector or size, could be adversely affected by a security attack. Whether it is a malicious and indiscriminate ransomware campaign, similar to Petya or WannaCry, or getting caught [...]