Projections that the Chinese economy will overtake America’s any time soon are fanciful February 8, 2017 Possibly the single most important of the tensions stoked up by President Trump is the rivalry between the United States and China. Economic strength will be the ultimate determinant of this struggle for the position of Top Nation. Comparisons of the size of economies, particularly ones at very different levels of income per head, are fraught [...]
Punish HMRC for arbitrarily bullying the victims of our complex tax code February 8, 2017 A good rule of thumb for a system or process: if you sat down and designed it from scratch, would it look like it does now? Ask that question of the tax system and the answer, of course, is a resounding “no”. It is a hideously complicated mess that punishes families and businesses, while destroying [...]
If we cannot build on the green belt, then we must build up and build faster in inner city parts of the capital February 8, 2017 Has there ever been a more opportune time to reform the UK’s exceptionally strict rules against building on the so-called “green belt”? Huge swathes of protected land surround cities and towns such as London, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham and Manchester. Soaring house prices and rental costs in these areas have prompted a sea change in people’s [...]
London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse confident European regulators will wave through £21bn mega merger February 8, 2017 The London Stock Exchange (LSE) moved one step closer to its £21bn mega-merger with German exchange Deutsche Boerse yesterday, formally submitting concessions to competition regulators in Brussels. The offer goes little beyond the LSE’s sale of its French clearing unit LCH SA to Euronext. However, both exchanges are confident the submission will be enough to [...]
London wage growth reaches 10-month high as recruiters report staff shortage concerns February 8, 2017 Wages in London grew at the fastest since March last year during January, as UK-wide demand for staff reached a 17-month high, a new survey shows. Almost a fifth of the London recruitment firms surveyed said average salaries were rising, compared to only 4.8 per cent who reported lower salaries, according to the figures from [...]
Strong dollar starts to bite on Mondelez sales outside of the US as revenue falls 8.1 per cent February 7, 2017 Mondelez International, the maker of Oreos and Cadbury chocolate, reported a slump in holiday-quarter sales and profit due to a strong dollar. The figures Net revenue fell 8.1 per cent to $6.77bn in the quarter. Analysts on average had expected revenue of $6.89bn, according to Thomson Reuters estimates. The strong pound hit the value of [...]
Disney revenue slides as it fails to find blockbuster success of last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens February 7, 2017 The Walt Disney company reported quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations, though revenue fell short of Wall Street estimates. The figures The firm posted first-quarter earnings per share of $1.55 on $14.78bn in revenue. Analysts had expected first-quarter earnings of $1.49 per share on $15.26bn in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates. At the [...]
Government has the skeleton of a plan to fix UK housing: Now it needs the drive to actually do it February 7, 2017 The government’s Housing White Paper, released yesterday, was an attempt to get England to the 250,000 new homes a year required to reach housing need. It went in many good directions and created a skeleton of a system that could meet need – but in places it did not go far enough, and perhaps pulled [...]
Back on track? Toymaker Hornby’s sales in line with expectations as shares rise February 7, 2017 Shares in Hornby steamed ahead by as much as 24 per cent in early trading as it said that full year revenues are on track to be in line with expectations. In a trading update, Hornby said: “As previously announced, revenue is expected to decline by around 20-25 per cent this financial year due to [...]
Playtech bets £50m on bingo specialist Eyecon as it looks to bolster content February 7, 2017 Software and services supplier to the gambling industry, Playtech, has purchased Eyecon, an online gaming slots software company, for £50m, including £25m in cash. This represents eight times Eyecon’s current earnings. The addition of Eyecon’s content portfolio is an attempt by Playtech to boost its capacity to provide more content to its customers. Eyecon has [...]