North Sea oil industry calls for urgent rescue package ahead of Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget March 8, 2016 The North Sea oil industry today called on the chancellor to deliver an "urgent" rescue package in next week's Budget, a move which will safeguard its increasingly uncertain future in the face of tumbling crude prices. Trade body Oil & Gas UK warned some 14bn barrels of an estimated 20bn barrels of oil located around [...]
Thomas Cook has extended its suspension of trips to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh until the end of October, due to no change to travel advice March 8, 2016 Travel operator Thomas Cook has opted to extend its suspension of holidays to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh until Monday 31 October 2016, due to no change to travel advice from the Foreign Office. A ban had previously been in place up to 25 May after a Russian commercial jet was downed in October. The Foreign [...]
Moody’s: RBS, Lloyds, Barclays, Santander, HSBC and Nationwide need to close a £129bn capital shortfall to satisfy new Bank of England requirements March 8, 2016 Britain's biggest banks need to close a £129bn shortfall in capital requirements by the end of the decade if they are going to satisfy new Bank of England rules by the time they go into effect in 2019, according to a new report out today. Moody's said Britain's seven largest banks – Royal Bank of Scotland [...]
Close Brothers’ share price drops six per cent, despite hiking its dividend after reporting a 10 per cent fall in assets under management March 8, 2016 Mixed results at Close Brothers Group have failed to impress investors, who have sent the share price six per cent lower this morning. Assets under management dropped by 10 per cent in the six months to January, from £10bn to £9.1 bn as volatile market conditions begin to bite and not helped by a disposal in November. The company [...]
Worldpay share price falls more than 11 per cent to be among the FTSE 100’s worst performers after posting disappointing full-year results March 8, 2016 Shares in Worldpay fell by more then 11 per cent today as the payments company posted its first round of financial results since it listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) last year. The plummeting share price makes Worldpay among the FTSE 100's worst performers for the trading day so far, along with miners. Worldpay reported [...]
Gold bullion is soaring as the US dollar weakens – could the dollar’s best days be behind us? March 8, 2016 Many would agree that strong monetary expansions often lead to weak paper currencies, but the evidence is mixed. The reason may be because money supply is usually treated as a generic concept, from base money, notes and coin, gold and other commodity monies. To really understand modern financial systems, we must acknowledge that they are [...]
Equiniti Group share price up as company announces an increase in revenue in its first set of full-year results since IPO last October March 8, 2016 Share price in Equiniti Group rose this morning as the company announced a boost to its revenues in its first set of full-year results since its float last October. Revenue at the company grew to £369m for the year ended December 2015, up 26.2 per cent from £292.3m the year before. Loss before tax at the company, [...]
Bad news: Bonuses on Wall Street have fallen as companies were hit by compliance costs March 8, 2016 If you're in securities, look away now. A new report has shown the average bonus paid on Wall Street has fallen nine per cent to $146,200 (£102,565) as finance firms' revenues were hit by extra compliance costs. The figure, by the Office of the New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, showed profits at New York City's securities [...]
FYI: WPP wants you to know this about February’s revenue and sales growth March 8, 2016 Just days after warning that geopolitical conditions should make advertisers wary of "Don Draperish" optimism and handing in a solid rise in revenue and profits for 2015 in its latest results, WPP has another update. Due to popular demand from "a number of investors and analysts" apparently, the unexpected update details February's performance. "For the month [...]
FTSE 100 opens lower as miners’ share prices including Anglo American, Glencore and BHP Billiton fall after weak Chinese trade data March 8, 2016 The FTSE 100 index opened down this morning, following Asian markets lower after Chinese trade data declined by more than expected. The UK's blue-chip index fell 0.71 per cent to 6,136 points in early morning trading. "This morning’s latest Chinese trade numbers for February speak to that concern about the Chinese economy as imports declined 13.8 [...]