Ocado reports sales growth in final quarter December 8, 2016 Ocado has reported growth in sales and order numbers during the 16 weeks to 27 November, with year end sales up 15.1 per cent – but shares in the firm dropped almost four per cent at the market open. The grocery delivery service said group sales were up 14.5 per cent in the fourth quarter, from [...]
National Grid is planning a special dividend after the £14bn sale of its gas network December 8, 2016 Subsidiaries of China and Qatar's sovereign wealth funds are among the investors who have bought a 61 per cent stake in National Grid’s gas pipelines for £13.8bn, which will see £4bn returned to shareholders. National Grid said it had sold a 61 per cent equity interest in its NG Gas Distribution to a consortium of investors called the Quad [...]
Sports Direct shares fall as it unveils 57 per cent profit hit on weak sterling December 8, 2016 Shares in troubled retailer Sports Direct fell as much as six per cent in early trading, after it revealed pre-tax profits had halved in its first half thanks to weak sterling. Underlying profit before tax dropped 57 per cent to £71.6m from £166.4m, it said, while underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation fell 33.5 [...]
Stop looking for easy solutions to complex problems December 8, 2016 "That idea is so simple it’s brilliant" is often uttered as a judgement of its legitimacy. We may wonder whether its simplicity is its brilliance. Or perhaps it’s just our natural desire for the 80/20 rule – that is, for many events, roughly 80 per cent of the effects come from 20 per cent of [...]
London’s housing market stagnated in November as the rest of the country recovered December 8, 2016 London house prices have been stagnating as prices across the UK have started to recover, chartered surveyors have said. According to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), the number of prospective buyers in the UK housing market increased in November, leading to a rise in sales. Read more: London Assembly demands Grayling [...]
Mining companies must dig deeper to secure returns for spooked investors, according to Boston Consulting Group December 8, 2016 Falling shareholder returns in the mining sector have spooked investors and halved its market value since 2010, according to a report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In an analysis of 55 leading mining companies from 2005 to 2015, 10 of which are in Europe, the median total shareholder return was just five per cent. [...]
The Gulf States see great opportunities in Britain’s bright post-Brexit future December 8, 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May is in Bahrain, meeting with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), spearheading the UK government’s plans to “turbo-charge” trade with this important trading bloc. In doing so Mrs May has gone into the history books as the first British Prime Minister to attend the annual GCC Summit, and also the [...]
Plan B for Italian banks is like Fight Club: You don’t talk about it (except in Italy) December 8, 2016 Back in 2010, as the Greek crisis began, I was up in the mountains of Davos interviewing Joaquin Almunia, the then EU economics commissioner. Eight times I asked him: does the EU have a Plan B if Greece’s banks fail? After fudging an answer on the first four attempts, saying Plan A was surely going [...]
Undermining property rights and individual liberty is economic suicide – as Europe’s former communist states are finding out December 8, 2016 The absence of corruption and the presence of the rule of law and property rights (for all forms of assets, physical and financial) are taken for granted in the UK. We tend to think that the protection of property rights is only a problem in countries such as Zimbabwe or Venezuela. As a result, we [...]
As the Prime Minister vows to publish her plan for Brexit before invoking Article 50, will this affect the final deal? December 8, 2016 Rachel Cunliffe, deputy editor at Reaction, says Yes. There are two sides to any negotiation, and as you might have noticed, the EU is the larger and more powerful player in the Brexit battle. But the UK still has cards to play, most notably with its contributions to the EU budget, its position as the [...]