Wall St stays flat despite tech advances – New York Report October 19, 2015 Cautious investors at the start of a heavy week of earnings helped Wall Street stay flat yesterday, but advances in top tech names gave some support. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 14.57 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 17,230.54, the S&P 500 gained 0.55 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 2,033.66 and the Nasdaq [...]
Aldi, M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s rocked by investigation revealing dire working conditions October 19, 2015 Three UK supermarket giants are launching inquiries into working conditions at fruit packaging plants and another has suspended all its orders after a Channel 4 news investigation revealed harsh conditions for migrant workers at an FW Mansfield plant in Kent. Aldi has suspended all orders from one plant. An Aldi spokesperson said: Our terms and conditions clearly state that growers [...]
London Paramount resort and theme park in Kent gets £100 million after Chinese investor hops on for the ride October 19, 2015 A little known Chinese construction firm has agreed to inject £100m funding into the development of a new £3.2bn Hollywood theme park in north Kent. The developers behind Paramount Entertainment resort – which will have over 50 rides when it opens based on TV shows and popular Hollywood films – said China’s SinoFortone Group has thrown [...]
London house prices: The capital leads the way with Build to Rent scheme October 19, 2015 Calls for more properties to be built in London to slow rampant price growth are being partly answered. The capital is leading the way in the Build to Rent scheme, with the number of rental developments in the pipeline more than double that in the rest of the UK. The scheme allows developers to build properties for rent [...]
Jamie Oliver gets bitter about fizzy drinks as he calls for a 20 per cent sugar tax October 19, 2015 Prime Minister David Cameron needs to be “brave” and back a tax on sugar, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has said. Oliver told MPs on the House of Commons’ Health Committee: "We should be big and bold. Who is running the country? The businesses who are profiting from ill health or is it us?" He believes [...]
Asda backtracks on London expansion plans as it seeks to revive flagging sales October 19, 2015 Asda has become the latest supermarket to backtrack on store opening plans after scrapping ambitions to expand in London in favour of reviving deteriorating sales at existing stores. US-owned supermarket chain said it is “temporarily” slowing down the planned expansion of smaller format stores in London as well as its programme to develop more stand-alone petrol [...]
Barclays settles US mortgage claims for $325m with National Credit Union October 19, 2015 Barclays has agreed to pay $325m (£210m) to settle two civil lawsuits with the National Credit Union in the US relating to mortgages. The bank will include the provision in its third-quarter results, due at the end of October. The claims are related to residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) sponsored or underwritten by the bank between 2005 [...]
Dairy Crest share price rises as CMA approves Muller takeover October 19, 2015 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the £80m sale of Dairy Crest's dairy operations to Muller UK. The sale was referred to the CMA earlier this year over concerns there would be loss of competition to supply fresh liquid milk in the catchment area of Dairy Crest’s Severnside dairy, especially in the South West and Wales. Muller has [...]
Vodafone upgraded to “outperform” by Australian bank Macquarie October 19, 2015 Looks like Vodafone is turning a corner. At least according to Australian bank Macquarie, which has upgraded the British telecoms giant from “neutral” to “outperform”, suggesting a 235p price target. This will come as welcome news for Vodafone’s shareholders, as stocks have fallen 3.4 per cent in the year to date, with the company facing [...]
The US economy is losing momentum, according to businesses October 19, 2015 The US economy has taken its foot off the gas and is headed for a slowdown in the final three months of the year, new survey data reveal today. The sales managers’ index compiled by World Economics slid to a score of 55.6 in October from September’s 57.9. While the score is above the 50 [...]