Bristol ‘virtual touch’ firm raises £35m December 3, 2018 Virtual touch technology company Ultrahaptics has raised £35m in a new funding round and brought in a major new backer. The University of Bristol spin-off has developed technology that projects the feeling of an object like a switch or a knob into a users’ hand. This is done by speakers sending out sound waves from black [...]
British tax burden at 50-year high, according to TaxPayers’ Alliance December 2, 2018 The TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group has called for lower taxes as ‘poorest’ families struggle with current levels. The TPA, linked to the Atlas Network of free market advocates, said the UK’s tax take was at a 50-year high of 34.6 per cent of GDP. National current receipts are at a 21-year high as a proportion [...]
Macron feels the heat as protests ramp up December 2, 2018 When Emmanuel Macron landed in Paris after the G20 summit in Argentina his motorcade delivered him straight to the Arc de Triomphe, where he was confronted with a vivid depiction of the anger felt by many of his citizens – and of his own place in this crisis. One of the country's most famous monuments [...]
Trump cancels new tariffs as China pledges to reduce trade gap December 2, 2018 US president Donald Trump has scrapped plans to increase tariffs on Chinese goods, in an announcement that sees the year-long US-China trade war cool considerably. The White House announced it would hold fire on raising tariffs on $200bn (£156bn) worth of goods from China. They had been scheduled to increase to 25 per cent from 1 [...]
Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman drives away with £30m funding for used car startup December 2, 2018 Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman wants to cut out the awkward tyre-kicking from buying a used car with a new startup. Chesterman, who sold Zoopla for £2.2bn earlier this year, said Cazoo aimed to make buying a car “no different to buying any other product online today”. The entrepreneur, who will serve as Cazoo’s CEO, has [...]
FTSE 250 outsourcer Kier sees shares plummet as it asks shareholders for £264m to slash debt November 30, 2018 Construction services company Kier Group’s share price plummeted to its lowest point for a decade this afternoon as it announced a plan to raise £264m to pay off debts. The FTSE 250 firm said the rights issue would give existing shareholders the chance to buy its stocks for 409p each, a 34 per cent discount [...]
Junk corporate bond outflows of $2.9bn fuelled by falling oil prices November 30, 2018 The junk corporate bond market has seen outflows surge this week fuelled by a drop in oil prices. High-yield bonds saw outflows of $2.9bn (£2.27bn) in the week to Wednesday, bringing the three-week total outflows to $8.8bn. Outflows in investment grade corporate bonds hit $2.5bn, reaching $8.8bn over the last three weeks, according to research [...]
Oil prices hit one-year low after worst month since financial crisis November 30, 2018 Oil prices are struggling at more than a one-year low following its worst month since the financial crisis ten years ago. It has plunged 21 per cent during November, losing the returns it made throughout the year. Europe’s main share indexes in London, Frankfurt and Paris all sank, and Wall Street futures were pointing down [...]
Our broken university system is setting future Britain up to fail November 30, 2018 Two news stories this week should strike terror into the hearts of anyone concerned with the British higher education system. First, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) released figures on the impact of a university degree on earning potential, and found that sometimes it just isn’t worth it. By the age of 29, men who studied [...]
The activist investor revolution has begun November 30, 2018 A year ago, anyone attempting to name a FTSE 100 stock that was likely to chart a double-digit share price rise would have been unlikely to name Whitbread. With a big exposure to the British consumer, the owner of Costa Coffee and Premier Inns seemed to have too many chips stacked on the wrong part [...]