Australian Securities Exchange chief executive Elmer Funke Kupper steps down to deal with bribery allegations levied against Tabcorp, a betting company he used to run March 21, 2016 The chief executive and managing director of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has stepped down from his role today, shortly after police launched an investigation into bribery allegations at a gambling company he used to run. Elmer Funke Kupper, who has been chief executive and managing director of ASX since October 2011, has resigned effective immediately. Funke [...]
Cybersecurity software company Osirium reveals plans to float on Aim in April, with Panmure Gordon acting as nominated adviser March 21, 2016 Osirium has today revealed its plans to start trading on the London Stock Exchange later this year. The UK-based cybersecurity software company, which focuses on monitoring how systems' privileged accounts are being used and how they can be protected, is aiming to raise at least £4m after expenses so that it can start trading on Aim in April. [...]
Bank lending to property developers halves in just two years to £16bn March 21, 2016 Bank lending to property developers has halved over the last two years, making it more difficult for companies to kick-start schemes that could help ease the housing crisis, a new report out today claims. Bank finance has dropped from £34bn in January 2014 to just £16bn the same month this year – with bridging finance [...]
City financier Edi Truell to step down from board of Tungsten March 20, 2016 Venture capitalist Edi Truell is due to step down from the board of e-invoicing group Tungsten Corporation, after offering to buy its assets. Truell will relinquish his role as vice-chairman, having informed the Aim-listed group's board that he wants to take the company private, City A.M. understands. It's expected to be announced in a statement to the London Stock Exchange tomorrow, as was first reported [...]
Sandwich chain Eat foots £3.6m VAT bill after toasties get grilled in pasty tax battle March 20, 2016 High street sandwich chain Eat found itself picking up a rather expensive VAT bill last year after toasties lost out in the long-running pasty tax row. In 2014, franchisees of rival chain Subway lost a Court of Appeal battle with the Treasury to force it to drop the 20 per cent VAT rate on toasted [...]
FTSE 100 falters but ends the week higher as Sports Direct and Standard Chartered share prices rise but Sainsbury’s falls March 18, 2016 The FTSE 100 index closed lower on Friday, but concluded the week higher. The index closed 0.19 per cent lower at 6,189 points. The fall comes despite a senior European Central Bank policymaker having hinted at another cut in Eurozone interest rates and having said “helicopter money” was part of the bank’s policy toolbox, said Jasper Lawler, markets analyst at [...]
Berkeley Group share price falls as it reports prime slowdown and questions government response to housing crisis March 18, 2016 Berkeley Group has questioned the government's response to the housing crisis, saying that it will struggle to ease the growing gap between supply and demand. "We welcome government's intentions to address the persistent and acute imbalance between housing supply and demand but are concerned that supply may not respond positively due a number of inter-related factors," it said [...]
Trading transparency regulation Mifid ii facing further setbacks after EU Commission calls for revisions March 17, 2016 There’s been another setback for the controversial securities market reform regulation known as Mifid ii. Following a year long delay announced in February, the European Commission has now asked the EU's European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to take another look at rules intended to flesh out reforms. Banks and asset managers have called for [...]
FTSE 100 opens higher as Brent crude oil price rallies March 17, 2016 Markets opened cautiously higher this morning, as investors cheered a decision by the Federal Reserve's Open Markets Committee to hold interest rates – and oil rallied. The FTSE 100 crept up 0.62 per cent, to 6,212 points, pushed up by miners again. Anglo American jumped 9.8 per cent to 541.1p, while Glencore rose 7.6 per cent to 155.4p [...]
Ted Baker raises dividend 18.6 per cent as profits jump 20 per cent March 17, 2016 The figures: Group revenue rose 17.7 per cent to £456.2m in the 52 weeks ended 30 January, up from £387.6m a year earlier. Pre-tax profit jumped 20.3 per cent to £58.7m during this period, up from £48.8m in the year to January 2015. This was helped by e-commerce sales which swelled 45.8 per cent to £53.5m, up from £36.7m. The board hiked Ted Baker's [...]