Uber president Jeff Jones quits after six months in role March 19, 2017 Uber president Jeff Jones has quit his role after little more than six months in the job, the car hailing giant has confirmed. A spokesperson for the firm said: “We want to thank Jeff for his six months at the company and wish him all the best.” Second in command at the car hailing firm to Travis Kalanick, Jones [...]
Astrazeneca global study reveals diabetes medication significantly cuts death rates March 19, 2017 Astrazeneca has hailed the success of its new Type 2 diabetes drugs, after a study of more than 300,000 people revealed it significantly cut the risk of death or heart failure. The FTSE 100 firm today announced the results of the first large real-world evidence study of its kind. The focus was whether the medication, [...]
Theresa May ready to accelerate plans for energy market intervention March 19, 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May could accelerate energy market reform, bringing forward plans within weeks after hinting at an intervention on Friday. A green paper on energy pricing had been expected next month, but now speculation is rife that it could emerge even sooner as Downing Street seeks to capitalise on growing momentum. Former Tory minister John [...]
Judges need to work on boosting their public image, says justice secretary Liz Truss, warning they’ll be in the spotlight even more post-Brexit March 19, 2017 The justice secretary today called on the judiciary to do more to boost its public image, warning it will face more scrutiny once the European Court of Justice is no longer the top court post-Brexit. Liz Truss told the Financial Times the Supreme Court would face "even greater attention" once the UK was no longer [...]
The straw that broke the camel’s back: How an Italian trading business put the London Stock Exchange-Deutsche Boerse merger in jeopardy March 19, 2017 If the European Commission blocks the London Stock Exchange’s merger with Deutsche Boerse in the coming weeks, as is widely anticipated, the army of bankers, lawyers and other finance workers on the deal will immediately turn their attention to the body’s in-depth explanation. As an example of what to expect, when the commission blocked the O2-Three [...]
Votes on boardroom pay could become legally binding in the near future, as the government mulls feedback from corporate governance consultation March 19, 2017 Shareholders could be given the right to block bumper pay packets for companies' executive teams in the much-anticipated upcoming white paper on corporate governance. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has run a consultation on corporate governance, including executive pay and whether pay votes should be binding, which closed for feedback last month. At [...]
GKN considers debt raise in order to manage £2bn pension shortfall March 19, 2017 Engineering group GKN is preparing to go to debt markets to raise £200m in an attempt to placate the trustees of its pension scheme, according to reports. The FTSE 100 group is in the middle of a three-yearly review of its pension scheme with 2016 accounting valuations revealing its deficit had swelled by £475m over the last 12 months to [...]
Next expected to reveal first profits slip since financial crisis March 19, 2017 High Street retailer Next is expected to post the first fall in its annual profits since the financial crisis this week. The company is likely to announce that pre-tax profits fell to about £792m when Next releases its results for the year to January 2017 on Thursday. This number could range between £785m and £799m [...]
The Mitie short: Hedge funds including Marshall Wace and Old Mutual bet on more share price falls at outsourcing group March 19, 2017 | Sponsored Hedge funds are anticipating further falls in the share price of troubled outsourcing firm Mitie. Marshall Wace, Old Mutual and Henderson Global Investors are among the investors to have disclosed short positions on the company. Read more: Mitie flogs its healthcare business for just £2 Markit data, reported on by the Sunday Times, shows the [...]
Revealed: Hampshire Trust Bank more than doubles new lending in 2016, after it launches commercial mortgages business March 19, 2017 Hampshire Trust Bank more than doubled the value of the new loans it wrote in 2016, City A.M. can reveal. The challenger bank racked up loan originations of £393m in its 2016 financial year, up 132 per cent compared with £169m at the end of 2015. The boost is partly thanks to the lender launching a commercial mortgages [...]