Shell confident BG deal will get rubber stamped as investors asked to vote on Wednesday January 24, 2016 Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group shareholders will vote this week on whether to approve the proposed tie-up between the two companies. The acquisition is widely expected to go through, needing 50 per cent approval from Shell shareholders and 75 per cent from BG, though there has been speculation that the falling oil price would derail the deal. [...]
Cross-party report says BT should be forced to sell Openreach January 23, 2016 A report backed by 121 cross-party MPs says that BT should be forced to sell Openreach due to poor performance. The report, published by the cross-party British Infrastructure Group (BIG), said that Openreach, the country's leading broadband provider, had only partially extended superfast broadband, despite £1.7bn of government money. Read more: BT Openreach boss Joe Garner steps down [...]
Unilever is going to make Magnum and Cornetto ice creams smaller to help consumers “make healthier choices” January 23, 2016 Unilever is going to cut the size of its ice cream products aimed at adults, just in time for spring and summer. The multinational firm, which produces Magnum and Cornetto, as well as Ben & Jerry's, said it would be shrinking its ice creams to help consumers "make healthier choices". Read more: I scream, you scream, which [...]
Google agrees to pay £130m in back taxes in deal with HMRC January 23, 2016 Google has agreed a deal with HMRC in which it will pay £130m in back taxes after an "open audit" of its accounts by the UK tax authorities. The £130m covers corporation tax owed since 2005, and senior figures at Google have said it would follow rules which will result in it paying more tax [...]
Apple hires VR researcher Doug Bowman to catch up with Facebook, Google and Microsoft in Silicon Valley virtual reality race January 22, 2016 Apple has hired a leading VR researcher in a bid to catch up to its rivals in the great Silicon Valley virtual reality race. Doug Bowman can now add Apple employee to his cv, joining the company from his current role as the director of the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech, reports the [...]
Petroceltic share price soars on buyout interest from shareholder Worldview January 22, 2016 Shares in Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic leapt this morning on the news it could be bought out by its biggest shareholder, hedge fund Worldview Capital. Petroceltic shares rose as much as 108.69 per cent to 24p per share after activist investor Worldview confirmed its interest in the London-listed company. They'd had fallen from £2.21 in October 2014, in the wake of a [...]
Tesco to drop diesel prices further to 97.7p from today January 22, 2016 Tesco has said it will drop its diesel prices even further, committing to lowering the price of the fuel to 97.7p at all of its 500 filling stations from midday today. The supermarket was one of many to bring the price of diesel below £1 at the start of the year, alongside Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons, [...]
Moody’s puts 120 energy firms on downward review as oil prices tumble January 22, 2016 Moody's is reviewing the ratings of 120 oil and gas companies after it lowered its price forecast for oil this year. The credit ratings agency cut its forecast for Brent and West Texas Intermediate to $33 per barrel, rising by $5 per barrel in 2017 and 2018. Some analysts, including those at StanChart, have warned oil could fall [...]
Google has paid Apple $1bn to keep its search on iPhones – and has generated over $36bn from Android January 22, 2016 Google is paying a pretty penny to remain the default search bar on Apple’s iPhones. The tech giant paid its rival $1bn in 2014 to keep its search engine on iOS products like iPhones and iPads, court records have shown. Apple was also reportedly raking in a 34 per cent slice of Google’s sales through iOS devices [...]
Amazon to create thousands more jobs in Europe and UK in fulfillment, R&D and software development January 22, 2016 Amazon is going on a major hiring spree as the etailer ramps up its operation across Europe and the UK. The retailer said many of the new jobs – of which 2,500 will be in the UK – will help expand its European fulfilment network, as well as focusing on EU-based research and development. The new roles [...]