Premier Oil share price falls as losses widen on oil price rout February 25, 2016 The figures The UK-based Premier Oil's pre-tax losses swelled by 128.9 per cent to $829.6m in the year ended December 31st, up from $362.5m in 2014. The independent oil and gas company also announced $583.5m of impairment charges on lower near-term oil price assumptions, mainly relating to its North Sea Solan field project. Revenue fell 35 per cent to $1.1bn while oil [...]
More and more people are planning ahead for their death by looking for ways to cover funeral costs February 25, 2016 More and more people are planning ahead for the financial costs of their final days, according to analysis from a funeral plan provider. According to Golden Charter, the number of sales for pre-paid funeral plans shot up by nearly 25 per cent in 2015. Collectively across the UK people now hold more than a million pre-paid [...]
Fed Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Why oil prices could fall to zero by mid-2019 despite markets predicting $50 per barrel February 25, 2016 One calculation suggests oil prices could fall to zero by mid-2019. Two St. Louis Fed analysts looked at how low oil prices could fall given tumbling inflation expectations, and found it's largely out of whack with market expectations for the black stuff to recover to $50 per barrel in around three years' time. "According to our calculations, oil prices would [...]
The 10 locations where homes earn more than you because house price growth is higher than wages February 25, 2016 Time to give up the day job? If you live in some of these locations, that might just be a possibility because your home is earning more than you. Three Rivers, Harrow and Greenwich are the three locations where rising property prices outstripped average earnings more than anywhere else. The spots in Hertfordshire and north west London earned almost [...]
Meh: UK GDP growth unchanged for the fourth quarter of 2015 February 25, 2016 UK GDP growth was 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the same period in 2014, according to a second estimate by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – bang on expectations, and the same as previous estimates. The ONS said that while there had been speculation the figure could [...]
Lloyds Banking Group cuts bonuses after PPI hits profits again February 25, 2016 Lloyds Banking Group may have hiked its dividends, but its workers are in for less of a treat. In a statement today the lender said its 2015 bonus has been cut to £353.7m. That figure is 4.3 per cent lower than last year's £369.5m. As a percentage of pre-bonus underlying profit, the bank's total bonus [...]
Zoopla share price rises as it shrugs off competition from OnTheMarket.com to post ninth month of growth February 25, 2016 It could have been a difficult day for Zoopla, which faced tough competition in the form of estate agent-run rival, OnTheMarket.com, when it launched at the beginning of last year. But this morning the property portal said it had a "solid start" to 2016, with a record 58m visits in January, and an average 47m monthly visits [...]
Coca-Cola loses Community trademark case, as European court decides the bottle design does not have distinctive character February 25, 2016 The Coca-Cola Company has today lost a legal battle to trademark for its bottle design. The General Court of the European Union rejected the soft drink brand's request to register a contour bottle without fluting as a Community trademark because the design does not have any characteristics to make it stand out from other products in [...]
RSA Group reveals boost to profits despite drop in net written premiums and being hit by Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank February 25, 2016 RSA Group has this morning announced a rise in profits for its year ended December 2015, despite a fall in net written premiums. The insurer revealed profits before tax of £323m, up from £275m in 2014, while operating profits were also strong at £523m, up 43 per cent compared with £365m in 2014. However, group net written [...]
Surprise: Lloyds Banking Group share price leaps as it hikes dividend – but profits are hit by PPI charges February 25, 2016 Lloyds Banking Group shares leaped this morning as it hiked its dividend – but more PPI charges dented its pre-tax profits. Read more: Lloyds cuts bonuses for 2015 The figures Lloyds said underlying profits rose five per cent on last year to £8.1bn in 2015, while total income rose one per cent to £17.6bn. Operating costs fell to £8.3bn, while impairment charges fell 48 per cent to £568m. [...]