AB InBev buys London craft beer maker Camden Town Brewery December 21, 2015 Drinks giant AB InBev has snapped up London craft brewer Camden Town Brewery. The north London brewer is the second craft beer maker in the capital to be bought up this year, after Meantime in Greenwich was acquired by SABMiller this summer. The two may will be drinking buddies however, after a £71bn brewing mega-deal between AB [...]
Toshiba share price topples as electronics giant reveals restructuring plans, including thousands of job losses December 21, 2015 Shares in Toshiba toppled today after the electronics giant revealed its revitalisation action plan, designed to shakeup the structure of the company. The plans included cutting 6,800 jobs from its lifestyle business division, which deals with PC, visual products and home appliances, by next March, and focusing more on cash flow, rather than profit, for the company's mid-term [...]
Standard Chartered share price rises as Ruth Markland and Paul Skinner announce plans to step down from board December 21, 2015 Standard Chartered has revealed a number of changes to its board of directors, including departures of two of its longest-standing members. Non-executive directors Ruth Markland and Paul Skinner will both step down on 31 December this year, following the bank's decision in February to cut its total number of board members to 14. In addition, independent non-executive director [...]
All change on the FTSE: Morrisons joins the FTSE 250 and Worldpay moves up into the FTSE 100 December 21, 2015 Worldpay's share price rose, though not by much, on its first day of trading on the FTSE 100. Shares were up 0.97 per cent to 300.9p. The payments processor was bumped up in the quarterly review just a couple of months after floating in one of the most successful IPOs of 2015, claiming a market capitalisation of £5.28bn after its [...]
SpaceX is about to launch its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket – but will it be successful this time? December 21, 2015 Elon Musk's SpaceX is getting ready to launch its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station, after a series of delays. It's the first time the rocket is being used in a mission, and will be a crucial test for SpaceX – when it launched the older version of the Falcon 9 in [...]
FTSE 100 index opens up as miners and ITV make gains while Associated British Foods, Rolls-Royce and Smith and Nephew fall December 21, 2015 The FTSE 100 index opened up this morning, as losses from Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) and Rolls-Royce were compensated for by gains at miners, BG Group and ITV. The UK's top blue-chip index was 0.64 per cent up at 6,052 points in early morning trading. BG Group was 0.97 per cent higher at 916.85p per share [...]
Beyond boom and bust: Interview with Herbert Smith Freehills’ UK head of corporate Ben Ward December 21, 2015 Ben Ward is not cautiously optimistic about the markets in 2016. He says that’s not positive enough – he’s really very optimistic, but insists that “sustainable growth” are his watchwords for 2016. Spoken like a true lawyer. Ward has just taken over as Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF) head of corporate in the UK, overseeing everything [...]
UK footfall slumps on Panic Saturday as online retailing wins over high street December 21, 2015 Footfall slumped across high streets and shopping centres this weekend as consumers took advantage of retailers offering even later deadlines for Christmas deliveries to shop online rather than venturing out in stores. The traditional stampede of customers on so-called Panic Saturday failed to materialise to the same extent as last year, with footfall down by [...]
Row breaks out over closure of Redcar steel plant December 21, 2015 The government's handling of the closure of the Redcar SSI steel plant earlier this year has become the source of a row in the halls of Westminster. A report out today from the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committee found the government did not do enough to save the plant from closure at the [...]
Miner BHP Billiton considering dividend cut in face of continuing commodities rout December 20, 2015 Mining giant BHP Billiton is considering slashing its dividend in the new year, as the commodities rout shows no sign of abating. The Anglo-Australian group was placed on review facing a possible downgrade by ratings agency Moody’s, prompted by “the precipitous decline and persistent weakness in commodity prices”. Moody’s said it will specifically review BHP’s [...]