US Treasury Department shakes up inversion rules to deter companies moving to lower tax jurisdictions, but may not present risk to Pfizer and Allergan deal November 20, 2015 The US Treasury Department late last night revealed new measures to limit the tax benefits of corporate inversions, which companies were using to move their residence into a lower tax jurisdiction when acquiring an overseas business. The notice issued last night curbs companies’ ability to combine their assets with an overseas entity they are merging [...]
Investec profits soaring despite crashing South African rand November 20, 2015 Investec, the dual-listed British-South African bank and asset manager, managed to beat forecasts and report 16.5 per cent operating profits,despite the falling South African rand. The bank said its profits, which were at £315m for the six months to the end of September, would have been 22 per cent, were it not for the rand falling 8.2 per cent against the [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Why here at very.co.uk we can’t wait for Cyber Week’s big shopping day November 20, 2015 Black Friday was our biggest trading day last year, and we can't wait for it again this year. We're planning bigger and better deals over a longer period to make this Black Friday our best ever. Over Cyber Week last year we got nearly 50,000 new customers and we were delighted almost half of them [...]
ABN Amro share price rises after it sets IPO price at €17.75 per share November 20, 2015 Bailed-out bank ABN Amro priced its shares at €17.75 (£12.42) per share, the mid-point of its proposed range, giving it a market capitalisation of €16.7bn. The dutch government sold 188m shares, amounting to a 23 per cent stake, at €17.75 (£12.42) per share, helping it re-coup €3.3bn. "The stock market lising is an important milestone," Gerrit Zalm, chief executive of ABN [...]
Nationwide continues run of good form as it reports pre-tax profits up a third November 20, 2015 Nationwide building society continues to benefit from a strong housing market and customers switching current accounts, posting pre-tax profits up by a third. The figures Pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 September rose by 34 per cent to £802m, up from £598 in the same period a year ago. There were more than [...]
Boards must be the voice of reason for young entrepreneurs like Tinder’s Sean Rad November 20, 2015 An interview given this week by Sean Rad, the founder and chief executive of dating site Tinder, was eyebrow-raising for several reasons. First was the description of a woman “begging” him for sex and an admission that he conducted rather ominous-sounding “background research” on a female journalist who was critical of Tinder. But more importantly, Rad [...]
John Lewis tills ring with £100m of weekly sales in countdown to Christmas as Black Friday 2015 draws near November 20, 2015 John Lewis has posted a jump in sales to deliver its first £100m week of the festive season, the department store group revealed today. Sales in the week ending 14 November increased by 1.5 per cent on last year and by 15.8 per cent on the previous week, boosted by its Man on the Moon [...]
Public Accounts Committee slams Network Rail for serious planning and budgeting failures, including an “unacceptable” £1.2bn overspend on Great Western Main Line project November 20, 2015 Network Rail's five-year investment programme contains serious planning and budgeting failures, according to a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report released today. In particular, the report calls the projected £1.2bn overspend on electrifying the Great Western Main Line between London and Cardiff “staggering and unacceptable”, and says there is “far too much uncertainty” about costs and delivery [...]
Ted Baker posts dramatic jump in third quarter sales November 19, 2015 Retailer Ted Baker's sales soared double-digits in the third quarter thanks to a popular autumn/winter line and international store openings, the company reported in an statement this morning. Sales rose 20.5 per cent in the last three months while store sales jumped 18 per cent with openings in Stansted Airport, Amsterdam, Malibu, Toronto and Hawaii. [...]
Mothercare more than doubles profits as UK turnaround plan pays off November 19, 2015 Baby goods chain Mothercare more than doubled profits in the first half of the year, in a sign that a revamp of its struggling domestic business is on track. Underlying pre-tax profits rose by 112 per cent to £7m in the six months to 10 October, thanks to a pick-up in trading at its UK [...]