Lloyds share price falls as profits come in below expectations while total PPI bill surges July 31, 2015 Shares in Lloyds were down 2.21 per cent this afternoon to 83.81p per share after profits missed expectations and it announced a £1.4bn provision to cover the cost of mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI). The figures The state-backed bank said pre-tax profit rose 38 per cent to £1.19bn in the six months to the end of [...]
Oil producer Afren goes into administration July 31, 2015 The story of embattled oil producer Afren came to a sorry end today after the company called in the administrators, having been unable to agree a new funding deal with its lenders. "The board believes that all the possible routes have now been explored during the course of this process, which was subject to a [...]
Barclays cuts 150 investment bank jobs July 31, 2015 Barclays is planning to cut around 150 jobs in its investment banking arm, City A.M. understands. The cuts come shortly after chief executive Antony Jenkins was ousted by new chairman John McFarlane, who has earned the nickname "Mack the knife" thanks to his no-holds-barred approach to cutting headcounts. Deputy chairman Sir Mike Rake has also [...]
Uber invests $1bn in India to battle rival Ola July 31, 2015 Uber has announced a $1bn (£640m) investment in India, the ride-hailing app’s fastest-growing market. India is already Uber’s largest market outside the US, after it expanded to 18 cities in two years, posting 40 per cent month-on-month growth. The company will use the investment to expand further, putting it in direct competition with local taxi-hailing company [...]
JD Sports on course to smash consensus expectations July 31, 2015 JD Sports Fashion's share price jumped more than seven per cent this morning after revealing it expects pre-tax profits to come in 10 per cent ahead of market expectations. The retailer, which announced record annual profits before tax of £100m in April, said it would smash consensus market expectations. Analysts have been tipping [...]
To stay ahead in a digital economy, we must dismiss the myth that digital skills are only for a certain few July 31, 2015 To stay ahead in a future digital economy, leaders of any business need to culturally prepare for radical change. Today, the digital skills that underpin the success of our future economy lie in the hands of a small group of people. How many business leaders can confidently say they understand what goes on behind the [...]
Today’s job cuts at Shell and Centrica were about more than just rapidly falling oil prices July 31, 2015 The UK’s offshore oil and gas industry is at a crossroads. Though it has spent over £500bn and employed hundreds of thousands people in high-skilled jobs across the UK to extract the nation’s oil and gas over the last 50 years, it has found itself with a bloated cost base and worrying inefficiency. Job [...]
Alton Towers Smiler rollercoaster crash takes shine off Merlin Entertainments sales July 31, 2015 Merlin Entertainments has posted an increase in revenue in the first half of the year despite trading being “significantly impacted” due to a rollercoaster collision last month in which four people were left seriously injured. In a trading statement released just days after the company issued a major profits warning, the Alton Towers owner [...]
Henderson surprises with £25m buyback plan after riding out rough markets July 31, 2015 Fund manager Henderson yesterday unveiled a £25m share buyback programme after beating expectations with a near 30 per cent rise in underlying profits. However, the firm, led by chief executive Andrew Formica, said the market rout in June had caused assets under management to fall by eight per cent to £82.1bn from £89.4bn compared to [...]
Countrywide share price slumps after UK housing market slowdown July 31, 2015 Shares in the UK’s biggest estate agency Countrywide tumbled four per cent yesterday after posting a sharp fall in profits, blaming a “difficult housing market” and the uncertainty in the run-up to the General Election. The company, which owns estate agencies including Hamptons, Blundells and John D Wood, said profit before tax decreased [...]