Hyundai Motor and General Motors announce billions in US investment (but deny it’s anything to do with Trump’s tax threat) January 17, 2017 Hyundai Motor will boost investment in the US, after Donald Trump warned of a 35 per cent border tax of cars imported to the US. Hyundai said it plans to increase US investment by 50 per cent to $3.1bn (£2.57bn) over five years and could also build a new factory, though group president Chung Jin-haeng denied [...]
Shoppers spent £133bn online last year, but the internet is hitting margins January 17, 2017 UK retailers raked in £133bn online last year as the internet's importance for the retail industry continued to grow. Research from IMRG and Capgemini shows that shoppers spent £18bn more online in 2016 than they did the year before, a growth of 16 per cent. Read more: John Lewis will cut staff bonus as profit comes [...]
US toymaker Mattel names former Google Americas president as new chief executive January 17, 2017 Mattel announced today it has named a new chief executive to help put a stopper in floundering sales. Margaret Georgiadis, who previously worked as president of Americas at Google, will take to the helm of the US toymaker 8 February. Georgiadis is set to replace Christopher Sinclair, who had only taken up the role as chief exec in 2015. He [...]
Higher fiscal spending could prompt faster tightening of monetary policy says Federal Reserve’s Brainard January 17, 2017 Donald Trump’s economic policy could lead to a faster pace of monetary policy tightening, according to an influential member of the US Federal Reserve’s rate-setting body. If the US President-elect’s policies lead to higher inflation at a time when the US is approaching full employment, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) could be forced to [...]
“No deal is better than a bad deal” – Six things we learned from Theresa May’s big Brexit speech January 17, 2017 Theresa May said her plan to quit the EU would involve 12 key objectives, and while some of those may be broader than others, there were still plenty of interesting developments. Speaking at Lancaster House today, the Prime Minister gave an outline of her hopes for Brexit for the first time – so what did we [...]
British American Tobacco shares fall three per cent after announcing $49bn Reynolds takeover deal January 17, 2017 British American Tobacco's (BAT) share price tumbled four per cent on Tuesday afternoon after it announced a deal to take over US competitor Reynolds. After months of talks between the two firms, BAT has agreed to pay around $49.4bn (£40.8bn) for the 57.8 per cent of Reynolds that it does not already own. Its shares jumped [...]
Controlling costs of £55.7bn HS2 project will be “challenging”, admits Department for Transport January 17, 2017 Controlling costs of HS2 will be "challenging", according to the Department for Transport (DfT), and has said cost estimates of the second stage of the project won't be set until 2019. The comments were made in written evidence submitted by the DfT's permanent secretary Philip Rutnam, to support a Public Accounts Committee inquiry on the Great Western [...]
Not so sunny: Low demand pushed profits down for Caribbean travel group Elegant Hotels January 17, 2017 Elegant Hotels faced a tough year as profits fell during 2016 due to the weak pound and lower demand for luxury accommodation. The figures The Caribbean travel group, which owns six upscale hotels and a beachfront restaurant on Barbados, said revenue was down 5.2 per cent in 2016, at $57m (£46.3m). Adjusted pre-tax profit for year to [...]
The UK has shot up the corporate fraud rankings with an annual spike in incidences January 17, 2017 Fraud incidents have shot up at UK businesses during 2016, catapulting Britain towards the summit of global corporate fraud rankings. Over the last 12 months the proportion of British businesses saying they had been affected by fraud jumped from 74 per cent to 90 per cent. Read more: Rolls-Royce to pay £671m to settle corruption [...]
Welcome words: The City reacts to the Prime Minister’s Brexit speech January 17, 2017 The City came, it saw and it reacted to the Prime Minister's long-awaited speech on Brexit. Here's a round up of the nuggets of wisdom so far: Mark Boleat, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation "We welcome the Prime Minister’s ambition to retain the greatest possible access to the single market, which is important [...]