Not lovin’ it: Standard & Poor’s downgrades McDonald’s over debt plans November 10, 2015 Fast food giant McDonald's has been downgraded by ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P), after announcing plans to increase debt in order to return $10bn (£6.6bn) of cash to investors by the end of 2016. S&P has lowered the firm's credit rating to BBB+ from A, “since the company's various credit metrics will now be [...]
Support for remaining in the EU at strongest since the start of October, says new ICM poll November 10, 2015 British support for remaining in the EU is at its strongest since the beginning of October, according to a weekly poll published today. ICMs poll showed 46 per cent of people would vote to stay while 38 per cent would vote to leave – the rest said "don't know". The robust support for staying in the EU comes [...]
Small gains on Wall St as rate hike is eyed – New York Report November 10, 2015 Gains in Walt Disney and Amazon.com yesterday were offset by a drop in Apple as investors hunkered down for a potential interest rate hike next month. Still, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.16 per cent to finish the day at 17,758.21 points. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.24 percent to 5,083.24. Apple’s shares fell 3.15 [...]
AB InBev has until 5pm tomorrow to make a firm offer for SABMiller November 10, 2015 Brewing giant AB InBev is expected to announce tomorrow that it has struck a deal to buy competitor SABMiller and create the world’s biggest brewer after months of negotiations and extended deadlines from regulators. AB InBev is also likely to announce that it is selling SABMiller’s stake in MillerCoors, a US joint venture, to Molson Coors, in order to ease [...]
McDonald’s share price ticks up as company dismisses real estate plan and lifts dividend November 10, 2015 Mcdonald's shares edged up as the company announced a menu of items to satisfy investors. The company said that REIT transactions – turning some of its vast real estate portfolio into a real estate trust – were not in the interest of shareholders. Karen Short, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, believes the company's real estate is valued [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: John Lewis and Sainsbury’s leaders meet with Treasury ministers over £8bn business rates burden November 10, 2015 The leaders of two of Britain’s biggest retailers have held talks with the government to demand for urgent reforms to the burdensome business rates regime ahead of the chancellor’s Autumn Statement. Sir Charlie Mayfield, the chairman of John Lewis Partnership, Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe, and Helen Dickinson, the director general of the British Retail Consortium [...]
Rental rates on Central London office space soars at fastest pace since the financial crisis November 10, 2015 London office rents are climbing at their fastest pace since the financial crisis, according to figures published today by a commercial real estate company. Rental values in Central London rocketed 10.3 per cent in the year to October, CBRE said, the first double-digit growth since April 2008. Demand for office space is high with 3.6m [...]
At the close: FTSE 100 index closes slightly down on miners November 10, 2015 The FTSE 100 fell marginally again today as miners continued to suffer losses. The blue-chip index closed the day 0.32 per cent down at 6,275 points. Tuesday's largest faller was Anglo American, which saw its share price fall 4.54 per cent to 492.22p per share. Glencore also shed 4.15 from its share price to close at 105.15 [...]
Pandora sales sparkle as Danish jeweller charms UK shoppers November 10, 2015 Danish jewellery brand Pandora has posted a 50.5 per cent jump in UK sales in the third quarter, after its rings, necklaces and charm bracelets flew off the shelves. The listed company, which has opened 179 stores in the UK over the last seven years, said like-for-like sales increased by 17.5 per cent compared to [...]
Ethnic minorities substantially more likely to go to university than their White British peers, says the Institute for Fiscal Studies November 10, 2015 Ethnic minority groups in England are now more likely to go to university than their White British peers, according to new research published today. Overall, 32.6 per cent of White British students end up at university, a lower rate than any ethnic minoritiy group. Indian and Chinese pupils are twice as likely to go to [...]