Motor insurer’s IPO could ignite the market September 16, 2015 Hastings’ float is putting the spark back into personal lines THE PERSONAL lines insurance market has been the less sexy relation to its commercial cousins in recent months. Zurich and RSA are dancing around the idea of a union, following the marriage of Aviva and Friends Life, not to mention XL Group’s successful play for [...]
Glencore share price rises with $2.5bn placing, climbing back from record low September 16, 2015 Shares in Glencore opened up by as much as four per cent on Wednesday morning, pleasing investors with a new share placing. The debt-stricken company is seeking to reverse its fortunes with the emergency share placing, which raised the $2.5bn (£1.63bn) it had promised investors. The commodities trader and mining company saw its shares plummet [...]
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has unveiled his space travel company Blue Origin’s new rocket – as well as launch plans from Cape Canaveral September 15, 2015 Amazon’s Jeff Bezos unveiled his space exploration company Blue Origin’s new rocket, announcing plans to fly from a classic launch pad in Cape Canaveral in Florida. The space travel startup announced a $200m investment to build a rocket manufacturing plant in the area, with plans to launch them from a pad that hasn’t been used [...]
Telecoms and energy companies come out bottom for customer satisfaction – finance sector most popular September 15, 2015 Hate your mobile phone provider? Join the crowd. Telecoms and energy companies have come out bottom in a customer satisfaction survey, and with average approval ratings of 69 and 68 per cent, respectively, the sectors are clearly failing to impress customers. BT clocks in at 63 per cent, TalkTalk at 64 per cent, Vodafone at [...]
Red tape drives up costs for small businesses ahead of inflation September 15, 2015 The cost for small businesses of complying with regulations is soaring ahead of inflation, despite improvements in the economy and pledges by the government to cut red tape, a leading business group has warned. The Forum of Private Business, which represents thousands of small businesses across the UK, said that 86 per cent of members [...]
Reports: Deutsche Bank cutting 23,000 jobs September 15, 2015 Deutsche Bank is laying off a quarter of its workforce, according to news agency Reuters. Some 23,000 jobs are affected, mostly in the bank’s technology and back office operations and through selling its PostBank unit, sources have said. The layoffs come just three months after new chief executive John Cryan took over the helm of [...]
Peckham High Line: Boris Johnson backs plans for Peckham rails tracks to be turned into New York’s High Line-style urban park September 15, 2015 Boris Johnson has thrown his weight behind a project to turn disused railway tracks in Peckham into an “elevated urban park” to rival New York’s High Line. The London mayor said he will invest £285,000 in 20 local community projects across 15 boroughs as part of his £9m High Street Fund set up last year [...]
British Land’s Leadenhall Building Cheesegrater has two new tenants Petredec and Fidelis Insurance September 15, 2015 The City's iconic Cheesegrater has two new tenants, leaving just five floors available at the Leadenhall Building. British Land and Oxford Properties, the developers behind the Cheesegrater (aka Leadenhall Building), today announced that global energy company Petredec and Fidelis Insurance were moving in. Oil and gas company Petredec, which will use the office space for its European [...]
Aberdeen Asset Management buys Advance Emerging Capital September 15, 2015 FTSE100-listed Aberdeen Asset Management is to buy investment manager Advance Emerging Capital outright. The deal for AEC – which currently has £409m assets under management across a range of funds, including the Advance Developing Markets fund and the Advance Frontier Markets fund – is expected to complete during the fourth quarter. The [...]
iPhone 6s sales on track to beat Apple’s records September 15, 2015 Apple said yesterday that sales of its new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are on track to beat last year’s record-breaking iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales on the first weekend they hit the shops. “Customer response to iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus has been extremely positive and pre-orders this weekend were very strong [...]