Coronavirus: China widens travel lockdown as death toll rises January 24, 2020 Fourteen people in the UK have been tested for a new strain of the coronavirus, with five testing negative as the others await results, Public Health England said today. An incident team has made a base in Scotland where five people were tested amid 830 confirmed cases of the virus across the world. The death [...]
Oil in downward spiral as surplus weighs on price January 23, 2020 Oil prices accelerated their decline today as Brent crude fell by more than 2.5 per cent for the second day in a row. The steep drop means that Brent crude is now trading at $61.49 per barrel, its lowest price in almost two months. West Texas Intermediate has been hit even harder, falling back three [...]
Petropavlovsk strikes gold as sales soar in final quarter January 23, 2020 London-listed gold miner Petropavlovsk saw its shares jump eight per cent this morning after the company reported a large increase in sales. In total, the firm said its gold sales had increased 39 per cent in the year ending December 2019, from 369,000 ounces to 514,000 ounces. The firm, which has operations in Russia, attributed [...]
Greenpeace defeated in Norway Arctic oil exploration lawsuit January 23, 2020 Greenpeace has lost its attempt to disrupt Norway’s plans to expand oil exploration operations in the Arctic after an Oslo appeals court ruled against the climate group. Along with the Nature and Youth group, the environmental organisation had tried to argue that the activities violated people’s right to a healthy enivironment. Article 112 of Norway’s [...]
Sweet Christmas for Hotel Chocolat as revenue grows despite supply chain troubles January 23, 2020 Hotel Chocolat has reported double digit revenue growth in the second half of last year. In a trading update this morning Hotel Chocolat said revenue grew 11 per cent in the 13-week period to 29 December, while in the 26 weeks to the same date it was up 14 per cent. The chocolatier said trading [...]
FTSE 100 slumps on increased coronavirus fears January 23, 2020 The FTSE 100 fell after the open this morning, taking its cue from its Asian peers, which slumped amid growing concerns over the spread of the new flu-like coronavirus from China. Britain’s blue chip index opened down, and was trading 0.49 per cent down by 8.30am, with miners and oil majors weighing on the index. [...]
Anglo American boosts production despite copper slump January 23, 2020 Mining giant Anglo American shook at water shortages at its copper mine in Chile to post a four per cent increase in production in the fourth quarter. Output from the Los Bronces mine slumped 28 per cent, which pulled the group’s overall coper production down around 13 per cent. However, strong performance of 6.2m tonnes [...]
Ex-London Stock Exchange boss Xavier Rolet to step down from CQS role January 22, 2020 Ex-London Stock Exchange chief executive Xavier Rolet is stepping down as chief executive of asset manager CQS after just a year, the company said today. Rolet will step down as chief executive next month but will remain with the business as an adviser on strategy and client development. Chief financial officer Serge Harry, who worked [...]
Not as easy as 1,2,3: Seven accounting errors that rocked FTSE firms January 22, 2020 Ted Baker today experienced the dubious honour of joining a list of FTSE firms that have been shaken by accounting errors in the past year. The fashion retailer revealed an accounting error was more than twice as bad as it previously thought, knocking shares down seven per cent. But it is by no means the [...]
Antofagasta hails record production as it shrugs off strikes January 22, 2020 Chilean mining giant Antofagasta hailed record production in 2019 despite unrest in Chile causing major disruptions to its projects in the country. Copper production came in at the top end of the firm’s guidance at 770,000 tonnes, 6.2 per cent higher than last year. Production did take a 5.8 per cent hit in the final [...]