Amec Foster Wheeler share price jumps on plan to weather oil price rout March 10, 2016 Shares in Amec Foster Wheeler jumped this morning after it announced the sale of one of its units and plans to halve net debt in the next 15 months, despite Britain's largest oil and gas engineering group swinging to a loss in 2015. The figures: Amec made a pre-tax loss of £235m in the 12 months ended 31 [...]
John Lewis grows market share in challenging conditions, but PBT falls as pension charges and property declines take hit March 10, 2016 John Lewis Partnership has heralded its market share growth despite "challenging markets". The figures Profit before tax was down 10.9 per cent to £305.5m, in line with expectations, "entirely due" to pension charges and lower property profits, the partnership said. Operating profits before property rose 3.9 per cent to £8.87m at Waitrose and £1.8m at [...]
John Lewis bonus falls to 10 per cent – but still gets a big cheer March 10, 2016 John Lewis Partnership staff gave a huge cheer this morning as the retailer revealed this year's bonus stood at 10 per cent – down on last year's 11 per cent boost. More than 91,000 JLP partners – who work for both the eponymous department store and Waitrose – applauded as the figure was revealed from a giant [...]
Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden’s total remuneration plummeted last year, sad face March 10, 2016 Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden's pay packet was cut by almost 80 per cent last year, as the energy giant faced a challenging year ahead of its mega-merger with BG. The boss pocketed a mere €5.1m for 2015, having received a total remuneration of €24.2m the year before, though this included pension accrual, taxes and other [...]
Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the UK’s big six energy companies: CMA wants energy price cap for pre-payment meters March 10, 2016 Britain's competition watchdog wants to introduce temporary price controls for four million households which are on pre-payment meters, as it laid out sweeping reforms aimed at injecting more competition into Britain's energy market. This would cut bills by a total of £300m a year and will remain in place until 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) [...]
Morrisons’ share price falls 2.5 per cent as dividend is cut on sales and profits decline March 10, 2016 Sales and profits at Morrisons have fallen again – but the supermarket management is talking confidently about progress made so far, and guided on future dividends in an effort to woo shareholders. Morrisons' share price was down 2.5 per cent in mid-morning trading, however, as investors digested the news that this year's dividend was being slashed [...]
Home Retail Group posts “significantly stronger” cash flow as time ticks on in Sainsbury’s vs Steinhoff bid for Argos March 10, 2016 Home Retail Group has revealed much higher cash flow levels and signs of improvement at Argos – the centre of a bidding war between Sainsbury's and Steinhoff. The figures Argos' like-for-likes dropped 2.6 per cent in the year to 27 February, to £4.1bn, as the retailer sustained second half declines of two per cent. Margins fell [...]
Societe Generale to cut 550 jobs over next five years March 9, 2016 Societe Generale is to cut 550 jobs over the next five years. The bank confirmed it is targeting 550 job reductions in the back offices of its French retail banking network, resulting in the closures of six out of 20 locations. The French bank said the plan would not rely on mandatory redundancies. The move is part [...]
Amazon is going to lease Boeing planes in move to set up air delivery network March 9, 2016 Amazon.com is going to lease 20 Boeing aircraft as the online retailer makes a move toward setting up its own air delivery service. The online giant is going to lease Boeing 767 freighter aircraft, according to Air Transport Services Group (ATSG), and comes as the company has been testing drone deliveries. Amazon currently relies on [...]
BMW racks up another record year, pushed on by favourable currency headwinds as share price falls due to outlook for “slight” sales increase in 2016 March 9, 2016 German carmaker BMW's share price dropped this afternoon, despite posting a record breaking sixth year in a row. Shares dipped by two per cent immediately after the figures were released. Revenue, sales, and pre-tax profit all set fresh records at the luxury car firm, though investors baulked at the suggestion 2016 would see numbers only "slightly up" [...]