The rubbish revolution: How to profit from plastic policy changes February 21, 2019 It is estimated that eight million tonnes of plastic packaging end up in the world’s oceans every year. The plastic problem has jettisoned into social consciousness over recent years, helped by TV programmes like Blue Planet and Plastic Ocean. Now our lives are littered with concerns about the impact of this material on the environment. [...]
Silver prices hit Hochschild profits despite record production February 20, 2019 Hochschild saw good results last year, but struggled with the market conditions as silver prices faltered. The London-listed gold and silver miner, which operates in South America, increased gold production by two per cent to 260,000 ounces, while silver output was up three percent to nearly 20m ounces. Read more: Hochschild falls as miner sees [...]
Bitcoin set to match longest winning streak of 2018 February 20, 2019 Bitcoin is on course to match its longest winning streak of the past twelve months, gaining 10 per cent since last Wednesday. The cryptocurrency has had six consecutive days of gains – a rarity that it saw in July last year, a bright patch in a year when its value crashed by three-quarters. Prices are [...]
Shareholder reaches deal with Tanzania over Acacia Mining tax spat February 20, 2019 Acacia Mining saw the light today as its largest shareholder Barrick Gold said it had reached a proposal with the Tanzanian government over a longstanding spat. The deal would see Acacia sharing half the economic benefits of their operations in the country with the regime. Read more: Acacia boss: 'No winners' from spat with Tanzanian [...]
Interserve’s rebel shareholder Coltrane ups stake in struggling outsourcer February 20, 2019 The rebellious shareholder trying to thwart outsourcing giant Interserve’s rescue deal has upped its stake in the firm, "putting its money where its mouth is" and piling more pressure on the contractor. Coltrane Asset Management, a 27.3 per cent stakeholder which previously owned only 17.5 per cent through shares and 9.8 through other financial instruments, launched [...]
Brexit clock ticking towards ‘crisis point’ for manufacturers, CBI warns, despite strong factory orders February 20, 2019 The Brexit clock is “ticking towards crisis point” for the UK manufacturing sector despite factory orders rebounding strongly this month, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned. The CBI’s survey of manufacturers revealed that output growth slowed in the three months to February but would remain solid over the next quarter as the UK [...]
Why investors should beware increasingly unforgiving debt markets February 20, 2019 | City Talk Last year may have been a tricky one for US markets and investors but it was less so for the country’s businesses – at least, that is, to judge by the headline numbers on US companies filing for bankruptcy. According to figures from BankruptcyData.com, 58 companies totalling $52bn (£40bn) of assets declared themselves bankrupt in [...]
The Eurozone’s push for unified fiscal discipline is doomed to fail February 20, 2019 It is widely acknowledged that, under a monetary union, fiscal and monetary discipline have to go hand in hand in order to maintain financial and macroeconomic stability, and thus ensure that the currency remains sound. For a monetary area with such diverse economies as the Eurozone, establishing the right legal architecture and operational rules to [...]
Why we should allow second-rate universities to go bankrupt February 20, 2019 The political spotlight remains focused on Brexit, but an important dogfight is developing in the area of higher education. The specific issue is whether universities in the UK should be allowed to go bankrupt. It is not merely a theoretical question. In the past year, a number of universities have announced deficits running well into [...]
WTO blames trade war tariffs for weakest global trade in nine years February 19, 2019 Global trade is about to hit its lowest level in nearly nine years, warned the World Trade Organization (WTO) today, as international tensions and political uncertainty weigh on countries . The WTO's latest forecast warned that trade would fall below its baseline index value of 100 to 96.3 in the first quarter of 2019, the lowest reading since [...]