What you need to know before the open – 09/01 January 9, 2014 It's all eyes on the European Central Bank for bourses today, as it announces its decision on interest rates. There's been plenty of speculation over whether we'll see another rate cut, given rising concerns over deflation in the euro area, but consensus is that today's meeting is likely to be too soon for a decision. [...]
M&S Christmas trading blighted as clothes sales continue to fall January 9, 2014 No belated Christmas cheer for Marks and Spencer – the group's just reported that like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 28 December were down 2.1 per cent. The quarter, it said this morning, was a challenging one, and performance was below expectations. Sales in general merchandise, which includes clothes, fell for the tenth quarter [...]
2014 brings bad news for Britain’s supermarkets January 9, 2014 Tesco has announced a disappointing set of results for the Christmas and New Year period. In the UK like-for-like sales were down 2.4 per in the six weeks to 4 January. Group sales for the period fell by 1.2 per cent. Chief executive Philip Clarke commented: We continued to invest in the most compelling offer [...]
Why geography matters when selecting an MBA course January 8, 2014 Business has gone global and business schools have followed, with most now claiming to offer international reach IN GREATER numbers, business school applicants are looking beyond the UK and US to study their Masters of Business Administration (MBA). QS Top MBA research has found that, while the UK and US remain the most popular study [...]
Why the best location to take your MBA may just be in London January 8, 2014 THE CAPITAL’S status as an international hub for business is matched by a strong offering of MBA programmes. And for applicants able to afford the cost of living, it is well worth considering what London’s business schools have to offer. In the latest Financial Times Global MBA Rankings, three London business schools rank in the [...]
Diageo joins Diddy for a shot at tequila market January 8, 2014 Back in 2007, the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy (then P Diddy, then just Diddy) used the lyrics of album track Through The Pain (She Told Me) to tell fans he’d been “hangin' on Patron all day” – name checking the premium tequila brand beloved by rappers from Jay-Z to Chamillionaire. Today he officially [...]
STJ Advisors sees profits fall January 8, 2014 Specialist equity capital market adviser STJ Advisors has just reported a drop in profits from £2.9m to £2.3m in the year to the end of March 2013, according to documents filed at Companies House. The niche firm, which advised the Royal Mail Group during the initial stages of its privatisation last year, also witnessed a [...]
Here’s what MPs were saying on betting machines last year – a rather different story to today’s crackdown January 8, 2014 Today saw the House of Commons awash with calls for further regulation of the gambling industry. During Prime Minister's Questions, Labour leader Ed Miliband urged David Cameron to give local councils further powers to limit the number of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs), the current allowance is four. David Cameron's response was that empirical evidence [...]
China’s going to double its oil and gas output by 2030 January 8, 2014 China, the world's biggest energy consumer, is set to more than double crude oil and gas output over the next sixteen years, according to its Ministry of Land and Resources. The ministry predicted today that output may reach 700m tonnes of oil equivalent by 2030, saying the assessment came from a recent resources evaluation. That [...]
US private sector jobs growth highest since November 2012 January 8, 2014 238,000 more people in the US were employed in December than November, according to data released by Automatic Data Processing (ADP). The impressive increase in jobs created in the private sector came in above expectations of 200,000 and is the highest in 13 months. It follows November's rise of 229,000 – which was revised [...]