Need a reason to cut public sector pay and pensions? Look at Jeremy Corbyn March 15, 2017 The shambles over the treatment of National Insurance has dominated the media’s reporting of the recent Budget. But only the previous week, Jeremy Corbyn made a complete horlicks of his tax return for the second year running. The Bearded One makes a saintly fuss over making his tax affairs transparent. In 2016, he forgot to [...]
May 2, Sturgeon nil: The SNP has no case for a second referendum on Scottish independence March 15, 2017 If there is one thing that we can be certain about following this week’s political events, it is that Prime Minister Theresa May is not simply David Cameron in a skirt. After a significant amount of establishment and media pressure to back down on her Brexit timetable and allow many concessions and delays, she has had her [...]
As the Federal Open Market Committee meets, is the US economy ready for higher interest rates? March 15, 2017 Shaun Richards, an independent economist, says Yes. The situation facing the United States has two major features. The most immediate one is the rise in inflation, with the consumer price index rising by 2.5 per cent on a year before in January, and the personal consumption expenditure method rising by 1.9 per cent. These are [...]
The UK risks missing out on the benefits of driverless cars without government action March 15, 2017 The economic gains from driverless cars could bypass the UK entirely without rapid ministerial action, a House of Lords committee has warned. The UK has sought to be at the forefront of trials for autonomous vehicles, but peers have today said ministers must engage in a more cross-governmental approach. The House of Lords science and technology [...]
Tony Pidgley on Berkeley Group’s demotion from FTSE 100, giving up his six-figure salary and solving London’s housing crisis March 15, 2017 Berkeley Homes bowed out of the FTSE 100 following the Brexit vote last year but founder and chairman Tony Pidgley CBE isn’t perturbed. “I don’t run Berkeley for whether it's in or out of the FTSE 100. I run Berkeley because Berkeley does what it does well,” Pidgley tells City A.M. “I couldn’t control Brexit [...]
Article 50, schmarticle 50: UK deal activity is booming, with a flurry of deals so far in 2017 March 14, 2017 The imminent triggering of Article 50 appears to be having no negative effect on UK mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with several major deals announced in recent weeks. New figures show British deal activity has been booming since the Brexit vote, and this year especially. This week’s Bovis bidding war, currently being fought by Galliford Try and [...]
LV= mulls merger or disposals as its profit takes a hit from capital rules March 14, 2017 One of the largest financial services mutuals in the UK has held secret talks over a potential merger with Royal London. LV=, which has nearly 6m UK customers across insurance, pensions and income protection products, has now called off the talks as the firms couldn’t agree on the structure of a deal, reported Mark Kleinman, [...]
Chris Hohn’s activist fund attacks Safran’s “enormously destructive” €8.5bn Zodiac takeover March 14, 2017 Chris Hohn’s activist hedge fund has had another bite at French aircraft-engine maker Safran over a planned €8.5bn (£7.4bn) takeover. The Children’s Investment (TCI) Fund, which owns a 4.1 per cent stake in Safran, publicised its opposition to the deal for plane-seat maker Zodiac last month, saying it had “no strategic rationale”. Safran hit back shortly [...]
Google, Facebook and Twitter won’t tell MPs how many staff moderate content in a major grilling by the Home Affairs Select Committee March 14, 2017 Several of the world's biggest tech companies faced a major grilling from MPs over their efforts to tackle online abuse and hate crime as German authorities pushed further, threatening them with multimillion pound fines over failures. Top executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter faced a lashing from MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee for failing to do enough [...]
Ithaca Energy shareholder urges fellow investors to reject $1.2bn Delek takeover and hold out for better deal March 14, 2017 A major shareholder in North Sea oil producer Ithaca Energy has issued a statement urging fellow investors to reject a $1.24bn (£1bn) takeover deal. Ithaca’s board accepted a bid from Delek Group, which is currently the company’s largest shareholder with a 19.7 per cent stake, in February. The deal values Ithaca’s share value at $646m and [...]