Asda owner Walmart goes head-to-head with Amazon as it requests permission to test drones for delivery October 27, 2015 Could your next Asda shop be delivered by drone? The supermarket's parent company, Walmart, has entered the drone wars, it's been reported, applying to US regulators to request permission to test out drones for delivery. Reuters reported that the company hopes to use drones for "home delivery, curbside pickup and checking warehouse inventories". That pits Walmart [...]
African art collection of collapsed oil producer Afren goes on sale at Bonhams October 27, 2015 Afren, the former stock market darling which collapsed into administration earlier this year, is selling its art collection at Bonhams' auction house in London. The collection of 97 works, amassed by Afren over the years, includes pieces from primarily Nigerian artists, with estimated values of up to £8,000. "The story relating to the demise of Afren has ensured that this dispersal has [...]
BP share price rises despite earnings slide – but it can break even if oil prices hit $60 per barrel October 27, 2015 A mammoth dip oil prices, now at $47.14 per barrel, during the third quarter was not all bad news for BP as outdid analysts' expectations, and the company predicts it can break even by 2017 based on oil prices of $60 per barrel. The figures BP reported a 40 per cent drop in underlying replacement cost profits (a measure of profitability [...]
India’s biggest airline IndiGo launches $465m IPO October 27, 2015 IndiGo, India's biggest airline, has begun proceedings for a $465m (£302m) initial public offering. The budget airline is India's largest by passenger numbers – in one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets. Read more: AirAsia inks £11bn deal with Airbus "They have figured out that people are more focused on getting to their destination on time than anything else. And they [...]
Ferrari IPO exuberance leaves sanity in the dust – CNBC Comment October 27, 2015 What do Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti and Rolls Royce have in common? Well they are all top end luxury motors with eye-watering list prices, so the answer is, I guess, lots. And yet in terms of the value the stock market is placing on them, Ferrari is priced, well, like a Ferrari, while the rest [...]
Currency wars will continue: Europe and Japan are gearing up for stimulus, and some investors are betting their currencies will fall October 27, 2015 Currency wars are still underway as both the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan prepare new rounds of QE which could weaken their currencies, experts say. Last week the euro fell against the dollar – reversing a trend in recent weeks – as ECB president Mario Draghi hinted he may ease monetary [...]
Criminal prosecutions brought by Health and Safety Executive more than doubled in 2015 – Cerico October 27, 2015 The number of criminal prosecutions for serious wrongdoing brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has jumped from 24 in 2012 to 52 in 2015, according to data obtained by online compliance business Cerico. Cerico also found that number of appeals received by the HSE had gone up from 13 to 20. “The problem for [...]
UK R&D spend dropped by 52 per cent between 2007 and 2015 – PwC October 27, 2015 Spending on research & development (R&D) in the UK dropped by 52 per cent between 2007 and 2015, according to research from PwC's Strategy& business. The financial services firm said this shift had come about as a result of globalisation making it “increasingly attractive for UK companies to redeploy their R&D spend globally instead of investing domestically”. [...]
Boardroom battle between Electra and Sherborne Investors boss Edward Bramson continues October 26, 2015 The boardroom cat-fight between Edward Bramson and Electra rumbles on, with yet more letters when Electra released its full year results yesterday. Electra reported net asset value (NAV) per share return of 25 per cent in the year to September 30, with £259m realised from the portfolio. NAV per share return (the best measure of [...]
Apple weighs on Wall Street before results – New York Report October 26, 2015 Energy shares dropped with oil prices yesterday and Apple retreated a day before its quarterly results as the Dow and the S&P 500 edged lower. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 23.65 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 17,623.05, the S&P 500 lost 3.97 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 2,071.18 – but the Nasdaq [...]