The National Living Wage is having an unexpected effect on salaries, according to this research May 3, 2016 The chancellor's recent decision to hike the National Living Wage may have been widely praised by equality campaigners – but it turns out it could be having an unexpected effect on salaries. Research by CV-Library has suggested the average UK salary for new jobs actually fell in April, when the minimum wage became the National [...]
Bored at work? This man is suing over it May 3, 2016 Bored at work? It's probably better than being over-worked, unless you happen to be Frederic Desnard. The Frenchman is suing his former employee over a "descent into hell" he claims was caused by sheer office boredom. Desnard worked as a manager at a perfume company and is seeking more than a quarter of a million pounds in compensation after suffering [...]
Aberdeen Asset Management’s profits have gone south, as investor battles with emerging markets May 3, 2016 Profits for Aberdeen Asset Management have almost halved, it revealed in its half-year results today. Shares in the company were trading down 7.7 per cent at 275.7p shortly before 9:30am London time. The figures The investment manager reported profits before tax of £98.8m for its six-months ended March 2016, down 46.7 per cent from £185.4m the year [...]
How to make every you meeting you have an absolutely joy – all you need is a Mote May 3, 2016 Meeting? Joy? The two words don’t sit easily together for any of us. And imagine being in the shoes of chief executives like Bob Dudley, facing down shareholder opprobrium in that most formal of meetings, the AGM. At least these happen only once year. If only that were the case for the many other meetings [...]
Why are car-makers getting the cold shoulder from investors? Well, why not? May 3, 2016 What is the most unloved sector in the global equity market? First off, you might think of oil, which is beset by huge oversupply imbalances despite the recent bounce inspired in great part by bullish financial speculators. Possibly you might plump for banks, which are seeing their net interest margins scythed by increasingly desperate central bankers [...]
A Spring is in the air this May – Shareholder revolt set to build with Aviva and Reckitt Benckiser meetings May 3, 2016 Company bosses are braced for further uprisings this week. Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, insurance giant Aviva, and FTSE 250 hedge fund Man Group all host shareholders for their annual general meetings. Last week the shareholder spring picked up pace as investors voted against boardroom pay rewards for engineering firm Weir Group and Shire, the FTSE [...]
London’s Crossrail and HS2 projects helps drive UK’s attractiveness for infrastructure investors May 3, 2016 London schemes such as Crossrail and High Speed 2 have helped drive the UK to greater attractiveness for infrastructure investment. The Global Infrastructure Investment Index, published today by Arcadis, puts the UK in ninth place globally, up from 10th in 2015 and 13th in 2012. This makes it one of the fastest-growing of the 41 countries [...]
How institutional investment and crowdfunding are dominating the growth capital market and making individual investors a distinct minority April 30, 2016 In the first quarter of this year we saw strong activity in growth capital raising with institutional investment, including crowdfunding, dominating over direct investment. This is largely due to the increasing sophistication and specialisation of institutions in providing growth capital, coupled with the increasing activity of crowdfunding platform operators over the last few years. Read [...]
Peer-to-peer securitisation has arrived with “landmark” crowdfunding deal April 30, 2016 Securitisation has arrived in the peer-to-peer market, with lending platform Funding Circle announcing a "landmark transaction". The European Investment Fund, part of the European Investment Bank Group, and KfW, a German government-backed bank, are investing in the securitisation of loans originated on the crowdfunding platform. Read more: P2P securitisation is coming Securitisation is used to transform illiquid financial [...]
How established firms can fight back against fintech startups and being “uberised” April 29, 2016 When a new species enters an ecosystem, it can be disastrous for the existing inhabitants. The same is true in business. Financial markets are awash with innovation – fintech rules the day. Established players, worried that they may suddenly get ‘uberised’, have been forced to sit up. Read more: Fintech is coming to take your banking [...]
