FTSE 100 market report: Budget goodies lift oil majors March 18, 2015 Britain's blue-chip index was 0.1 per cent higher this lunchtime as investors digested the chancellor's budget. Chancellor George Osborne unveiled £1.3bn additional support for the struggling north sea oil and gas industry. He said the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts this will boost production by around 15 per cent. Crumbling oil prices have made a [...]
Uber’s chief executive is among 30 charged with operating illegal taxi ring in South Korea March 18, 2015 Uber has come under fire for operating an “illegal taxi ring” in South Korea. According to Yonhap News Agency, Seoul District Police have charged 30 people associated with the company, including chief executive Travis Kalanick. Others range from Uber Korea's brand manager to the heads of car rental companies and a number of drivers. [...]
Barclays halves bonus payouts for top executives March 17, 2015 Barclays has slashed the payouts to its top bosses by half, yesterday revealing that the group of executives at the head of the bank received £16.5m in shares for deferred bonuses and new awards. That is a dramatic fall from £31.8m a year earlier, reflecting both the increased crackdown on payouts, and a shift away [...]
HSBC to close Jersey accounts in crackdown on tax avoidance March 17, 2015 HSBC has begun contacting thousands of holders of Jersey accounts who live in the UK in a bid to avoid accusations that it is helping to shelter money from tax authorities. Britain’s biggest bank has written to customers with such accounts to ask them to take proof of identity to a branch on the island, [...]
Jefferies results spell bad news for Wall Street March 17, 2015 US investment bank Jefferies saw its first-quarter earnings slashed on the back of weak trading in fixed income bonds and a slowdown in capital markets, results revealed yesterday. Blaming a “tepid” bond market for a 56 per cent decline in fixed-income revenue to $126m (£85m) in the first quarter, the results will alarm Wall Street [...]
Korma blimey! Just Eat gobbles up the market March 17, 2015 Despite a wobbly start, takeaway portal Just Eat has gone from strength to strength. Just Eat has been connecting hungry customers with their local takeaway restaurants for the past 14 years. “We’re like your best friend, letting you know which is the best Chinese or Indian restaurant in your area,” said Just Eat [...]
OneSavings share price soars as challenger bank doubles profits after IPO March 17, 2015 Challenger bank OneSavings more than doubled its profits last year, yesterday reporting strong buy-to-let and small business lending. Statutory pre-tax profits came in at £63.7m for 2014, up from £31.4m in 2013. That includes the £7.4m OneSavings spent on its stock market flotation last summer. The bank is made up of several different units [...]
BT fined £800,000 by Ofcom for deaf service failure March 17, 2015 British Telecom (BT) has been handed an £800,000 fine from media regulator Ofcom for failing to offer adequate services for hearing-impaired customers for five months. The fine relates to BT’s failure to bring in its Next Generation text relay system from between April and September 2014. The system translates voice-to-text on various devices, including PCs, [...]
BHP Billiton spin-off in good stead as debt is halved March 17, 2015 Commodities group BHP Billiton is set to spin-off its weaker assets with less debt than originally expected through fledgling mining company South32. South32’s portfolio of mines and refineries has long been overshadowed by BHP’s iron, petroleum and copper businesses. The smaller business contributed post-tax profits of $738m (£500m) in the last six months of 2014, [...]
Sony share price jumps following increase in operating profit March 17, 2015 Sony’s share price opened five per cent higher on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, after the company revised its third-quarter operating profit up 2.2 per cent to 182bn yen (£1bn). The company increased its operating profit for the year from the originally reported 178bn yen, which it said was based on [...]