Music industry body IFPI moves into The Crown Estate’s Regent Street scheme February 11, 2016 The Crown Estate has secured another letting at its newly refurbished Grade II listed building at the south end of Regent Street. The world’s recording industry body, the IFPI, has agreed to move its London headquarters from 10 Piccadilly to 7 Air Street, taking the entire third floor spanning 9,000 square feet. It is understood to be paying in [...]
UK government borrowing costs hit record low as markets start to price in stronger chance of interest rate cut February 11, 2016 UK government borrowing costs have fallen to record lows as investors ditch risky stocks and flock to the safety of the bond market. The interest on a 10-year UK government bond dropped to 1.275 per cent today. It was just shy of two per cent at the turn of the year and nearly a full [...]
Cable & Wireless reports double-digit earnings growth ahead of merger with Liberty Global February 11, 2016 Cable & Wireless’ earnings soared by double digits as the telco firm prepares for a merger with Liberty Global. The figures Cable & Wireless reported sales of $595m for the quarter ending 31 December 2015. This marks a growth of one per cent, or three per cent on a like-for-like basis. The firm’s quarterly earnings [...]
SocGen leads European banks lower at the close as rout resumes on Deutsche, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS share prices and Credit Suisse hits 27 year lows February 11, 2016 Well that didn’t last long. Europe’s bank shares closed down this evening, led by French bank Société Générale after it announced earlier it may struggle to meet its profitability targets this year. The bank, whose share price slumped over 13 per cent in early trading but managed to scale back loses to end the day down just over 12 [...]
Henderson Group share price falls despite investment company reporting record net inflows and double digit underlying profit growth for its full-year 2015 results February 11, 2016 Share price in Henderson Group fell today despite the company posting record net inflows and a boost to its profits in its full-year results. The investment management company reported net inflows of £8.5bn for its year ended December 2015, up from last year's £7.1bn, and an underlying profit before tax from continuing operations of £220m, [...]
Glencore share price falls as copper production slides, ramps up debt-reduction February 11, 2016 Shares in Glencore fell today after the commodities miner and trader reported a drop in production of its most lucrative product, copper, as it pressed ahead with plans to whittle down its debt by selling $500m (£347m) of precious metals output. Shares in the Swiss-based company fell as much as 6.67 per cent to 87.26p per [...]
Sainsbury’s to phase out Bogof and other multi-buy grocery deals from August February 11, 2016 Sainsbury's has become the latest supermarket to announce it is phasing out multi-buy deals in favour of lower everyday prices instead. The move, which will see the end of buy one get one free (bogof) and other such deals comes after Tesco announced similar plans last month, bring both chains closer in line with practices of the discounters Aldi and [...]
Emerging market fund Ashmore hit by global growth fears as profits and assets plummet February 11, 2016 Warnings over the health of China and emerging markets has taken its toll on the emerging markets focused fund Ashmore Group. Assets under management fell by 16 per cent to $49.4bn, from $58.9bn in June 2015. The decline was due to a combination of net outflows of $5.7bn and an investment loss of $3.8bn. Profits [...]
HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver cancels pay freeze after two weeks and raids 2017 bonus fund to cover the cost February 11, 2016 HSBC has cancelled plans for a pay freeze this year, according to a new memo from chief executive Stuart Gulliver. Less than two weeks ago, it was revealed the bank planned to impose a pay freeze and a hiring freeze across its global business in an effort to save up to $5bn by 2017. However, in [...]
British Gas and EDF become last of the ‘Big Six’ to cut energy prices February 11, 2016 British Gas and EDF Energy have announced price cuts of 5.1 per cent and five per cent, respectively. The energy giants have become the last of the ‘Big Six’ to offer reductions to their customers in recent weeks, following Npower, E.ON, SSE and Scottish Power. This is the third time that British Gas has lowered its [...]