National Grid boss warns of tighter energy supplies as profits slip in first half November 21, 2013 Power transmission network National Grid has reported a seven per cent drop in first-half profit before tax, to £979m, reflecting "the temporary additional cost of pre-financing asset growth at attractive interest rates". The company says its on track for a good full year result, and that performance has been solid. (Release) Head of National Grid Steve Holliday [...]
Peer to peer lending market gets new risk-capital entrant | City A.M. November 21, 2013 THE BURGEONING peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market will get a new entrant today with the launch of Wellesley & Co, a shareholder-backed lending platform risking its own cash. The firm, co-founded by Graham Wellesley, has been backed by £5m of its four shareholders’ cash. The structure makes it the only known P2P to put its own [...]
There is nothing worse than self-righteousness in business November 21, 2013 REMEMBER the righteous folk telling us that the problem with banking was all those nasty, profit making global corporations, with their horrid shareholders and especially those awful hedge funds? And that the answer was to encourage small, regional co-operatives, with their senior management drawn from a broader cross-section of the community to boost corporate governance? [...]
Lloyds boss to receive £2.3m share bonus – but will have to wait five years for it November 20, 2013 Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta Osorio is to receive his 2012 bonus as 3m or so in shares – worth £2.3m at currency values. That's because the Lloyds share price has been above the government's break-even point for 30 consecutive trading days. But the boss of the state backed bank will have to wait five [...]
Co-op Bank and Flowers in line for multiple probes November 20, 2013 Prime minister David Cameron announced this afternoon that there may well be an inquiry into the disgraced Paul Flowers' appointment as chairman of the Co-op Bank, and his suitability for the role. There are "lots of questions" to be answered, he said. The inquiry would be ordered by chancellor George Osborne and arranged by the [...]
Euro plummets on suggestions of negative deposit rates November 20, 2013 The euro just took a beating against the dollar, falling on news that the European Central Bank (ECB) is considering negative deposit rates. They're weighing the option of a minus 0.1 per cent deposit rate. That's according to Bloomberg, who say that the central bank is considering a "smaller-than-normal cut" if the officials do decide [...]
Fall in US home sales picks up pace in October November 20, 2013 The number of completed transactions on home sales in the US fell 3.2 per cent in October, with the existing home sales index coming in at 5.12m. The reading follows September's drop of 1.9 per cent, to 5.29m. Analysts had expected a fall of 2.6 per cent to 5.15m. Paul Diggle, property economist at Capital [...]
US business inventories see largest rise since January November 20, 2013 US business inventories rose by 0.6 per cent in September – their largest jump since this January. Analysts had expected an increase of just 0.4, the same as that seen in August (revised up from 0.3 per cent). Business inventories data is compiled by the US Census Bureau and measures the change in inventories from [...]
Government lavishes over £400,000 on PR for Green Deal November 20, 2013 Figures released to Sky News under the Freedom of Information Act show that the government spent £413,815 on PR consultants to promote its Green Deal initiative. The lavish spending works out at £1,889 for each household which has had energy efficient measures installed. The Green Deal has so far been implemented in only 219 properties [...]
US retail sales return to growth in October despite shutdown November 20, 2013 US retail sales are up again in October, and well ahead of analyst estimates. They jumped by 0.4 per cent, after seeing no growth last month (revised up from a 0.1 per cent fall). Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics, says that the number is "a very decent result at a time when [...]