Aveva’s share price plummets 36 per cent as it calls off talks with Schneider Electric saying £550m merger would create “significant” challenges December 15, 2015 Aveva's share price plummeted more than 36 per cent this morning after the engineering group called off talks with Schneider Electric, saying a merger would create "significant" challenges "that could not be overcome without considerable additional risk and cost". The two businesses had announced a merger this summer, in which Schneider would have paid £550m for a 53.5 [...]
UK wages unlikely to rise next year, think tank warns December 15, 2015 Workers in the UK are unlikely to experience a rise in their wages next year, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation. The think tank said pay will stagnate in 2016, unless productivity is steady and inflation goes up quicker than expected. Their current estimate is a pay increase of just one per cent. [...]
From the UK general election to Greek debt fears it was an obstacle course for cross-border IPOs in 2015 December 15, 2015 It may have been the year of the mega deal, but the capital markets have suffered in 2015, and it’s been a decidedly poor year for cross-border IPOs. Fears over China’s growth, elections, referendums, and defaults in Europe, as well as uncertainty over the Fed’s rate hike all contributed to a 39 per cent drop [...]
Good news for UK consumers as research reveals food prices are expected to stay frozen in 2016 December 15, 2015 UK food prices will fail to grow again next year in a further boost to consumers, according to a new forecast. Food prices dropped 1.5 per cent in 2014 and are expected to fall again 3.1 per cent this year, Prestige Purchasing, a foodservice supply chain consultant, said today. Annual food price inflation had not been negative [...]
London rents cool off as tenant demand softens December 15, 2015 London rents dropped in November as the market was hit by a seasonal slowdown. Figures published this morning by peer-to-peer mortgage lender Landbay show rents dropping 0.6 per cent compared with October. The monthly drop took annual London rental growth down to 3.1 per cent in November from 4.3 per cent. The dip in rental [...]
The gap between England’s largest cities and neighbouring towns is widening, think tank warns December 15, 2015 A leading independent think tank has warned of a widening divide between England’s largest cities and nearby towns, with three in five towns falling behind their bigger neighbours. A report released today by Demos has identified 21 largest cities and compared their performance with that of two towns closest to each city using 30 different [...]
Oil price slide casts shadow over Shell’s £47bn takeover of BG Group December 15, 2015 Shell's mega merger with BG Group was given the green light by Chinese regulators yesterday, but the deal has been rocked after tumbling oil prices led to a major shareholder questioning its viability. The price of international benchmark Brent crude oil yesterday fell to fresh lows of $36.33 per barrel before a rally in early evening [...]
Tech giant patent wars heading for Supreme Court: Samsung appeals patent ruling in Apple and iPhone’s favour over smartphone design December 14, 2015 The latest chapter of the tech giant patent wars sees the drama heading all the way to the US Supreme Court. Samsung appealed a patent ruling in Apple’s favour in a last-minute bid to minimise the over $500m in damages it’s been forced to pay its rival. The Korean tech giant paid $548.2m to Apple [...]
Government advisers back calls for an investigation into ex-HBOS directors December 14, 2015 Two independent government advisers have backed calls for ex-HBOS directors to be investigated by the regulator. Last month the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) released a report into why HBOS failed. Iain Cornish and Stuart Bernau told the Treasury Select Committee they supported the conclusions that Andrew [...]
US growth slowdown may delay second Federal Reserve interest rate hike December 14, 2015 The US economy is contracting this month, according to a survey of businesses, and is likely to prevent the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates quickly next year. The sales managers’ index published today by World Economics dropped to a score of 48.9 for December from 52.4 in November. Any score below 50 indicates a contraction [...]