Durex owner Reckitt Benckiser will buy a US baby formula maker for $16.6bn February 10, 2017 Reckitt Benckiser (RB) is set to buy US baby formula maker Mead Johnson for $16.6bn (£13.3) in cash. The British company behind such names as Lysol cleaners and Durex condoms said it will pay $90 a share for the American firm. The acquisition will open up a new market area for RB, who called the move a "significant step [...]
Psychology in marketing: It’s time to get emotional February 10, 2017 To succeed at marketing you need to understand people. And to understand people, you need to know what makes them tick. In an age when ad blocking is on the rise and trust at a premium, understanding psychology has never been more important in marketing. Whenever I talk about the art of persuasion in [...]
Nationwide blames low interest rates as profits drop – but building society’s results were still ahead of expectations February 10, 2017 Nationwide profits dropped during the nine months to 31 December, with the building society blaming continued low interest rates. The figures Underlying profit before tax dropped by 23 per cent to £866m from £1.13bn in the same period of last year. Statutory profit before tax was down 16 per cent to £946m from £1.12bn – [...]
Just Eat chief executive David Buttress steps down over urgent family matter February 10, 2017 The chief executive of takeaway food delivery app Just Eat has resigned over “urgent family matters”. David Buttress will work full time until the end of the first quarter, before handing over to current chairman John Hughes. The company said it will start an immediate search for a successor. Buttress will continue to be a [...]
Editor’s notes: Follow the data: Our world is getting safer, richer and healthier February 10, 2017 Towards the end of last year, my colleagues and I made a point of trying to buck the notion (most deep-rooted on social media, it must be said) that 2016 was a particularly dreadful year. Brexit, Trump and a host of celebrity deaths were held up as evidence of a wider disintegration of our fortunes. [...]
ArcelorMittal rides surging steel prices to post earnings 20 per cent up February 10, 2017 ArcelorMittal rode the surging steel and iron ore prices in 2016, to record a 20 per cent rise in profits in full year results. The company's shares rose by more than four per cent in morning trading in Amsterdam. The figures Earnings for 2016 grew to $6.3bn, a fifth more than the $5.2bn recorded in [...]
Property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz is about to get a new superyacht – but not in time for Mipim February 10, 2017 As annual property knees-up Mipim approaches, many of the industry's big dogs are polishing up their gin palaces – but word reaches us Vincent Tchenguiz will just miss out on showing off his brand new, €22m superyacht at the event in March. Property tycoon and Annabel's regular Tchenguiz, best known for his triumphant crusade against the Serious [...]
The government’s assault on buy-to-let landlords is hurting tenants February 10, 2017 The bill for the government’s misguided war on buy-to-let is coming due. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said yesterday that rents are likely to rise by 25 per cent over the next five years, outpacing house price growth, as landlords pare back their portfolios and tenants are left to fight over a diminishing supply [...]
Parliament is likely to be virtually powerless as Brexit remakes Britain February 10, 2017 The government's publication of a Brexit White Paper establishing a high level, if vague, overview of its vision for a post-Brexit Britain provides welcome clarity on its key negotiating objectives. In practice, however, the extent to which the government will be able to deliver upon these goals will rely not only on the outcome of [...]
The UK government’s crackdown on encryption threatens to undermine London’s fintech boom February 10, 2017 Talk of calamity befalling corporate Britain as we negotiate our EU exit is typically overblown. Nevertheless there is a potentially serious conflict in the making between the UK government’s stated desire to maintain access to certain online data for reasons of national security and the continental European determination to institute a modern system of information [...]