Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance and Tom Clancy’s The Division publisher Ubisoft share price up as company reveals less is more approach to games for revenue growth with focus on digital and DLC February 18, 2016 Share price in Ubisoft rose today as the software company unveiled a quality over quantity approach to video games to boost revenue. At an investor day, the French-headquartered company revealed that it intended to boost its revenue by 60 per cent over the next three years to reach €2.2bn (£1.7bn) by fiscal year 2018-19. To do this, the company said [...]
Four great books to super-charge your brain in 2016 – we review the best from commodities to effective investing and The Big Short February 18, 2016 THE SECRET CLUB THAT RUNS THE WORLD by Katie Kelly Commodity prices have crashed, with everything from oil and metals to grains at multi-year lows. It seems like the end of the “commodity supercycle”, the post-millennium boom when prices of all base goods were soaring. But how did they become so expensive in the first place? [...]
Accor Hotels sales and profits rise despite France slowdown following Paris attacks February 18, 2016 French hotelier Accor has posted a rise in full-year profits as a strong performance in the Middle East and Africa helped offset a sharp fall in sales in its home market following the Paris attacks. Accor is Europe’s largest hotel owner with nearly 3,900 hotels that it either operates or owns and 17 brands including [...]
Oil prices: Is the age of oil coming to a close? Some say Saudi Arabia’s pumping out black gold because it knows its days are numbered February 18, 2016 It's the conspiracy theories around why Saudi Arabia is keeping oil prices low that make the saga so intriguing. Data shows the Saudis have raised their monthly production levels throughout this spell of cheap oil. The desert kingdom has been blessed with abundant, easy to access reserves of black gold, which are believed to cost around [...]
Financial Times to move back to its former City headquarters at Bracken House February 18, 2016 The Financial Times is moving back to its original home in the City after almost 20 years at their current offices on Southwark Bridge. Bracken House at 10 Cannon Street was built in the 1950s and served as the FT’s headquarters and printing works until 1989, when the newspaper group moved across the River Thames to [...]
Tesco will stop selling curvey croissants in favour of straight ones because Brits have trouble spreading them with jam and butter February 18, 2016 Prepare to say au revoir to curvy croissants. The delicious pastry will no longer be sold at Tesco in its traditional form because apparently us Brits find it just too much of a faff. Such a hassle is the croissant curve that demand for them has fallen as we settle for the straight version instead, and [...]
Lloyds Banking Group’s private equity arm buy stake in same-day delivery firm CitySprint February 18, 2016 A private equity firm owned by Lloyds Banking Group has bought a stake in same-day delivery firm CitySprint in a deal valuing the business at £175m. LDC said the secondary management buyout will see CitySprint's current private equity owner Dunedin retain a stake in the courier while the management team led by chief executive Patrick Gallagher, retains [...]
Asda owner Wal-Mart Stores share price falls as constant currency revenue inches up for fourth quarter and fiscal year 2016, after firm closes more than 250 stores worldwide February 18, 2016 Share price in Wal-Mart Stores fell today after the US retail giant revealed constant currency revenues had inched up only slightly for both its fourth quarter and its fiscal year 2016. Total revenue for the year ended January 2016 was $499.4bn (£347.7bn) on a constant currency basis, up 2.8 per cent on the year before, while [...]
Twitter chairman Omid Kordestani just bought $2m worth of shares increasing his stake by 30pc and with finance chief Anthony Noto is first Twitter exec to buy this year February 18, 2016 Twitter has received a much needed vote of confidence from its chairman Omid Kordestani who yesterday picked up almost $2m worth of shares increasing his stake by 30 per cent, it's been revealed. Filings with the SEC show he purchased more than 122,000 shares at $16.34 per share. It takes the total value of his investment in the company to just over [...]
SodaStream International share price fizzes up as profit rises for fourth quarter but revenue falls, thanks to unfavourable foreign exchange movements February 18, 2016 Share price in SodaStream International rose today after the company revealed a fall in revenue but a rise in profits for its fourth-quarter results. The Israel-based company reported revenue for the quarter ended December 2015 of $112.9m (£78.6m), down 10.7 per cent compared with $126.5m for the same period in 2014, with the company blaming unfavourable foreign exchange movements as [...]