Auto Trader share price rises to all-time high after first dividend announced November 13, 2015 Shares in Auto Trader leapt to an all-time high this morning after the company announced its first dividend payment. The online car marketplace announced it will pay a maiden dividend of 0.5p in January 2016 after driving half-year profits to over four times those made during the same period in 2014. The UK's biggest car classifieds website revved pre-tax profits up to £74.7m [...]
Legal & General chairman John Stewart to retire next year November 13, 2015 John Stewart, chairman of financial services company Legal & General, is stepping down after six years at the business. In a statement today, Stewart said he will leave next year, once a replacement has been appointed. "We are now coming to a stage where the post-financial crisis work has been successfully delivered: the company is now [...]
Syngenta share price soars on rumours of takeover offer from China National Chemical Corporation November 13, 2015 Shares in Swiss agrichemicals company Syngenta received a big boost this morning, after rumours circulated that it is in takeover talks with China National Chemical Corporation. According to a Bloomberg report, the Chinese state-owned company approached the European firm with an offer of $42bn (£28bn). Although this was rejected because of potential regulatory issues, the companies [...]
Apple closing down Beats Music after Apple Music’s success against rival Spotify November 13, 2015 Apple’s music-streaming service Beats Music is no more, muscled out by the newer and shinier Apple Music. The tech giant announced late last night that Beats Music would be shut down at the end of the month, just six months after Apple Music was launched on trial subscriptions. The new music service attracted 11m subscribers [...]
TalkTalk share price plunges twice as deep as Sony, Carphone Warehouse, Barclays and EBay after cyber attacks November 13, 2015 Investors may have begun flocking back to crisis-struck TalkTalk after better-than-expected quarterly results, but the company’s shares have still plunged twice as deep as other hacked companies. Over 150,000 of the embattled telco firm’s customers had their personal data exposed in a hack that was made public on 22 October. In the weeks that followed, [...]
FTSE 100 index opens down on G4S, Rolls-Royce and Glencore November 13, 2015 The FTSE 100 opened marginally lower this morning, led by falls in G4S and Rolls-Royce, while miners regained some ground. The UK's top blue-chip index was down 0.32 per cent at 6,158 points, led by security company G4S, which opened 3.18 per cent down at 228.9p per share after it was downgraded by a broker. "G4S [...]
Tech firm Softcat prices London Stock Exchange IPO at 240p a share November 13, 2015 UK IT infrastructure and services provider Softcat has priced its IPO at 240p a share, giving the firm a value of £472.3m, a month after announcing its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange. Softcat’s flotation will raise £153.4m, which could rise as high as £176.4m if additional shares are sold. Conditional dealings will [...]
British Bankers’ Association: London is losing its edge as a financial centre November 13, 2015 London is losing its edge as an international banking centre, a new report out today has warned, saying that “urgent action is needed if the UK is to remain an attractive location for foreign banks and provide a competitive business environment for UK wholesale banks to challenge overseas”. The report, produced by the British Bankers’ [...]
Suburbs lag behind inner London boroughs in housebuilding drive November 13, 2015 Inner London boroughs are granting planning permission for more new homes than the all of the surrounding outer boroughs put together, according to a new report that warns of a growing prosperity divide within the capital. Stirling Ackroyd’s latest New Homes Monitor showed London’s thirteen Inner boroughs approved a total of 11,970 new homes throughout [...]
Over £1bn of masala bonds to be issued in London, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces November 12, 2015 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has marked the beginning of his trip to the UK by announcing today that the country’s railway network will issue so-called masala bonds in London to raise cash for its expansion. Masala bonds are rupee-denominated bonds issued outside of India. Over £1bn masala bonds will be issued including the first private [...]