Fintech boom means Brexit won’t hurt exports June 14, 2016 Exporting can be a powerful driver of business growth, and small and medium-sized enterprises that sell overseas often find themselves more successful in their domestic market as a result of what they learn from exporting. So, I was disheartened to see at a recent seminar hosted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, that only around 20 per [...]
Microsoft’s LinkedIn deal is right connection June 14, 2016 Microsoft's $26bn bid for LinkedIn is certainly punchy. The company founded by Bill Gates will pay $196 per share, a near 50 per cent premium on Friday's closing price. Analysts see the value in the deal. With the acquisition, Microsoft is delving deeper into the “world of work” according to Martin Garner of CCS Insight. [...]
Leaving the EU is a walk into the unknown that would put our prosperity at risk June 14, 2016 As arguments on either side of the EU referendum debate are increasingly cast as products of fear or fantasy, an objective assessment is becoming, for the many in the undecided camp, increasingly difficult. I appreciate that there are emotional and political considerations in this important debate. But I prefer to see it in purely business [...]
The Fed’s dangerous monetary experiments will continue whoever wins the US election June 14, 2016 The Federal Open Market Committee will be gathering in earnest today, but this hotly-anticipated event now looks like a damp squib after Janet Yellen all but ruled out an immediate rate rise last week. No doubt Fed watchers will revive their usual excitement and frenzy in the coming months, but a potential 0.25 per cent rise [...]
How the Treasury’s dodgy dossiers grossly exaggerated the economic impact of Brexit June 14, 2016 With just over a week to go before Britain votes, the Remain campaign is relying heavily on analysis produced by the Treasury which claims a variety of extremely negative impacts in both the short and the long term from the UK leaving the EU. Having reviewed the two models used by the Treasury, however, it [...]
Are leading investors wrong to criticise house-builder Persimmon for its £600m executive bonus pot? June 14, 2016 Rachel Cunliffe, deputy editor of CapX, says Yes. Persimmon’s aim was simple: incentivise executives to develop land in the most profitable way. The bonus scheme it established rewarded managers if they hit ambitious targets over a 10-year period – targets they have outperformed dramatically, building more homes more efficiently. Investors should be thrilled. The share price [...]
Dwindling bank profits may be the death knell for City jollies June 14, 2016 So how about Centre Court tickets, a stay at a top hotel in Wimbledon Village, and a couple of lovely meals thrown in? All on the house, of course. Just call it relationship building between an appreciative City of London institution and its valuable client. Ordinarily it would be a no-brainer. “Of course we’d love [...]
What will central banks do next? Prepare for more unconventional monetary policy, experts warn June 14, 2016 Eight years since the global financial crisis, and central banks are still experimenting with ever-more unusual ways to fire up their economies. “We have had QE money printing, QE involving corporate bonds, very cheap loans to banks, and in the US they have been buying up troubled assets,” explains Jim Leaviss of M&G Investments. But despite [...]
Apple had plenty of “I’d definitely use that” moments at WWDC June 13, 2016 Once again the Apple faithful dutifully attended or watched its annual developer update to see what the company had in store. Apple’s momentum with developers is staggering. It claims to have over 30m developers and since the iPhone launched, the company claims to have shared nearly $50bn (£35bn) of shared revenue with app makers. It remains the [...]
The Eurozone’s winners and losers – and how to close the gap June 13, 2016 While helpful in addressing the symptom, deflation, Mario Draghi’s quantitative easing cannot be expected to solve the Eurozone’s underlying problem – a monetary union devoid of economic union. Solving this will take years. The chart below tracks the winners and losers of the euro, since its introduction. It highlights how real unit labour costs have [...]