Christine Lagarde is wrong: Here are four economic positives from Brexit May 17, 2016 IMF chief Christine Lagarde said last week she has “not seen anything positive” about Brexit in terms of economics. Even for the head of a global body which we might expect would dislike major political disruption to the international order, and a good friend of the chancellor, this shows a remarkable lack of imagination. Suffering [...]
British banks are chalking out strategies to deal with Brexit fallout, says BoE’s Andrew Bailey May 16, 2016 Bank of England Deputy Governor Andrew Bailey is having “daily” conversations with British banks to chalk out coping mechanisms in the face of a Brexit. Analysts expect that Britain voting to leave the EU is likely to result in sterling losing up to a fifth of its value. "All the banks are looking at this [...]
British Gas owner Centrica purchases ENER-G Cogen for £145m May 16, 2016 British Gas-owner Centrica has announced that it has agreed to buy ENER-G Cogen International from ENER-G Holdings PLC for £145m. ENER-G Cogen is a supplier and operator of combined heat and power products. It has around 1,400 units totalling over 500 megawatts under contract with a growing customer book, Centrica said. The firm operates predominantly [...]
Steel crisis: Small business ministers Anna Soubry slammed for saying steel sector not “totally” free market May 16, 2016 Small business minister Anna Soubry has come under fire from two influential think tanks after she suggested that the UK's steel sector should not be treated as a "totally" free market. Writing in the Sunday Times Magazine, Soubry recalled her early discussions with Prime Minister David Cameron: “Like him I believe the blast furnaces at [...]
“Persistent” poverty rates show UK citizens among the least likely in the EU to be trapped in poverty May 16, 2016 People living in the UK are among the least likely in the European Union to be trapped in poverty, new numbers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released today have shown. Between 2011 and 2014, 6.5 per cent of the UK’s population were classified as being in “persistent poverty”. The number – which equates to [...]
The UK stock market is an “over-leveraged disaster” according to Societe Generale May 16, 2016 The UK equity market has been a "disaster for the best part of a decade" and is dangerously "over-leveraged" according to analysts at Societe Generale. The investment bank issued a hard-hitting note this afternoon warning that firms may be paying out dividends at an unsustainably high rate, and said this was coming at the expense of [...]
Philips Lighting ready to shine with IPO worth up to £665m May 16, 2016 Philips today announced it expects to raise up to €844m (£665m) with an initial public offering (IPO) of its lighting division. The Dutch electronics company expects to sell 37.5m, or 25 per cent, of Philips Lighting shares at between €18.50 and €22.50. This would give the division a market capitalisation of between €2.78bn and €3.38bn. [...]
EU referendum: Fitch warns that protracted post-Brexit negotiations could trigger recession May 16, 2016 The stakes of any post-Brexit negotiations were laid bare today in a new report from ratings agency Fitch, which assesses how the UK economy will perform if it were to secure different terms of exit after voting to leave the EU. In its worst scenario – in which Fitch predicts at least two years of political wrangling along with [...]
Ratings agency Fitch thinks Brexit will make Europe weaker, poorer and more populist May 16, 2016 Europe could become weaker, poorer, more politically fractured and less secure if the UK votes to breakaway from the European Union, according to ratings agency Fitch. "An exit from the EU by the UK would weigh on the economies of other EU countries and increase political risks in Europe," the group said in a new report [...]
Two killer reasons why Moody’s upgraded Ireland’s debt rating May 16, 2016 Irish political stability and positive economic fundamentals were the two reasons cited for a rating upgrade over the weekend. Moody’s raised the long-term bond ratings one notch from Baa1 to A3 and reaffirmed a positive outlook. Despite fears over the implications for Ireland of a Brexit, 10-year bond yields were at a one-month low last [...]