Sir Howard Davies promises to rise above Boris Johnson’s “vulgar abuse” over London airport analysis January 20, 2014 Sir Howard Davies plans to "rise above this vulgar abuse" from Boris Johnson as he works to pick a site for a new runway or airport. "I completely dismiss what the mayor has said about our report. It’s completely at variance with anyone else … As far as the mayor's concerned we don’t seem to [...]
Mayfair’s billionaire hedge fund bosses are procrastinators just like the rest of us January 20, 2014 Call it procrastination, call it the post-Christmas pile of paper work, but most hedge funds and private equity groups still haven’t submitted their application to operate under new EU regulations coming into force this year, research shows. With less than six months to go until the new laws come into force, over 80 per cent [...]
Why doesn’t UK growth reflect red hot business surveys? January 20, 2014 While several surveys are roaring higher, the strength implied by these indicators isn't apparent in official data. Deutsche Bank's chief UK economist, George Buckley, has looked into the problem ahead of the latest GDP figures, due on the 28 Janaury. Analysts expect fourth quarter GDP to come in slightly lower than the previous two quarters [...]
Smaller energy firms reap the rewards as switching soars January 20, 2014 The number of energy customers looking for cheaper deals soared at the end of last year, with around one million people switching energy suppliers over November and December. In contrast, around 208,000 people switched in September and 3m switched over the entire year, according to research from data company Electralink. 230,000 of those switching in [...]
Fat Face moves closer to stock market debut January 20, 2014 Clothes shop Fat Face is ratcheting up its plans to seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange, and has brought in a slew of bankers to advise on a possible flotation. Bridgepoint, the private equity group that owns Fat Face, hired financial advisory group Lazard in December to assess options. And after strong Christmas [...]
Is Ed Miliband the only politician who doesn’t like beer? January 20, 2014 Political bloggatron Harry Cole posted this video of Ed Miliband drinking ale while visiting a British brewery with the words "Ed Miliband hates British beer." We haven't spoken to the Labour leader to confirm whether this is the case, apparently he has more important things to talk about, but you can see from his [...]
Germany falls out of love with renewable energy January 20, 2014 Germany is planning to cut its renewable energy subsidies by up to a third by 2015, according to plans from the minister of economics and energy Sigmar Gabriel. Under the draft proposals the feed-in tariffs paid to renewable power generators will be slashed to an average of €0.12 per kilowatt hour (kWh) by 2015 from [...]
Bitcoin faces latest regulation barrage – this time it’s from Finland January 20, 2014 Today has brought another state-led assault on Bitcoin – Finland, like neighbour Norway, has deemed the virtual currency a commodity, rather than a currency. Finland’s central bank has said that Bitcoin doesn’t even meet the definition of an electronic payment method. Speaking to Bloomberg, Paeivi Heikkinen, head of oversight at the Bank of Finland in [...]
How Nintendo’s ancient business model is killing it, in 1 chart January 20, 2014 Nintendo’s share price plummeted 19 per cent this morning in Tokyo before finally recovering to close 6.1 per cent lower – the stock's biggest fall since September. The drop was in reaction to a profit warning on Friday which highlighted Nintendo’s core failure to get ahead of the changing market of smartphones and [...]
EU commission to take on member states over migrant tax discrimination January 20, 2014 European Union member states are set to face increased scrutiny to ensure their tax regimes do not penalise citizens who work or reside outside their country of origin. The European Commission has identified tax discrimination as one the major barriers preventing EU citizens from leaving their home country and looking for employment elsewhere. The Commission [...]