Barclays share price climbs after board sacks Antony Jenkins in favour of boss with “new set of skills” July 8, 2015 Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins has been sacked, with the bank's board saying it seeks a leader with "a new set of skills". Jenkins – who some dubbed the "nice guy of banking" – will leave the business on 17 July, when John McFarlane picks up the reins as executive chairman. A search [...]
Sterling strength puts dent in annual results for law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer July 7, 2015 International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer saw revenues increase just one per cent for the year ending 30 April. The London-based legal practice blamed strong currency headwinds for the results, saying today that revenues increased by four per cent on a constant currency basis. Freshfields also reported a drop of one per cent in net [...]
Marks & Spencer AGM: Setback for M&S as clothing sales slide off hanger July 7, 2015 Investors and retail observers allowed themselves a small sigh of relief in April when Marks & Spencer brought 14 consecutive quarters of falling general merchandise sales to a halt. After efforts to improve the quality and style of its clothing and to win back disillusioned customers, it seemed to have broken a spell. [...]
Smiths Group share price dips as Andrew Reynolds Smith set toreplace Philip Bowman July 7, 2015 Engineering company Smiths Group has named Andrew Reynolds Smith, currently chief executive of GKN Automotive, as replacement for outgoing boss Philip Bowman. Reynolds Smith will join the firm as chief executive on 25 September. News of his appointment failed to stoke up enthusiasm among investors, instead pushing shares in the company down by 4.91 per [...]
South Western trains franchise going to tender July 7, 2015 The South Western rail franchise will be put out to tender, it has been announced by the Department for Transport. The franchise is currently run by a subsidiary of transport operator Stagecoach Group – Stagecoach South Western Trains. It had previously been given the franchise by Direct Award negotiations – granted by the government [...]
Glencore share price falls as FTSE miners feel the heat from commodities selloff July 7, 2015 London-listed miners felt the heat today after the outlook for the Chinese economy darkened amid ongoing equity market turmoil. Earlier in the day copper prices fell 5.9 per cent to a six-year low of $2.389 a pound on concern about economic growth in China, the world's top metals consumer. It comes a day after Chinese brokerages [...]
HSBC fires Birmingham staff after filming video of mock-Islamic State execution July 7, 2015 HSBC has sacked several employees who made a video in which they pretended to be Islamic State militants beheading a hostage. The video, which was posted online, shows one man dressed in an orange jumpsuit surrounded by five other men dressed in black, one of whom was holding a fake knife. One man is [...]
Competition and Markets Authority sets out its plans to increase competition in the energy markets, sending Centrica and SSE share prices down July 7, 2015 Shares in energy providers dipped in early trading, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) outlined a raft of measures aimed at increasing competition in the energy market. Shares in SSE fell 0.5 per cent to 1,566p while London-listed Centrica shares dropped 0.6 per cent to 265.9p, after a wide-ranging report attacked the UK's "Big [...]
Kainos heads for London market with value over £160m July 7, 2015 Kainos, a Belfast-based provider of IT services, has priced its IPO, giving it a value of more than £160m. Shares will be priced at 139p each. The offer is expected to raise £52.4m of gross proceeds, giving Kainos a valuation of roughly £161.3m. The company’s chief executive, Brendan Mooney, said in a statement: The task [...]
Asos shrugs off last year’s woes as sales soar 20 per cent July 7, 2015 Asos is surging ahead in the UK – but international growth and currency headwinds are still dampening the etailer's earnings. The figures: Retail sales were up an impressive 20 per cent for the four months to 30 June, with the UK up 27 per cent, while international sales were up 16 per cent. International sales [...]