Mortgage lending shoots up in August hitting a five-year high, BBA figures reveal September 24, 2015 Mortgage lending rose at its fastest rate for five years in august, according to figures published by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) this morning. Net mortgage lending was £2bn in August, the highest monthly figure since August 2010. Lending has been spurred on by a combination of factors including intense competition between lenders, low Bank of England [...]
Standard Chartered gifts Bill Winters £6m golden hello September 24, 2015 Standard Chartered is clearly pinning its hopes on knight in shining armour Bill Winters, gifting its new chief executive more than £6m in shares. The golden hello of just over 899,000 shares is being paid as compensation for "the value of share interests" in Renshaw Bay, the hedge fund he founded after leaving JP Morgan [...]
Volkswagen emissions scandal: Car giant’s share price rises after Martin Winterkorn resigns as class action law suit filed September 24, 2015 Volkswagen's share price opened higher this morning after embattled chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned yesterday afternoon in the wake of the emissions cheating scandal. Winterkorn, who has been at the helm of the car giant since 2007, said he had been "shocked" by the scandal – but insisted he knew nothing about the "misconduct". “I [...]
Are boring bosses the culprit behind the UK’s productivity problem? September 24, 2015 As UK productivity figures continue to slump, new studies suggest that more inspiring bosses could be the key to reviving the country’s production. What affects your productivity at work? More than half of UK employees say feeling inspired and engaged makes them work better. Six in 10 agreed with this statement when surveyed by Oracle, [...]
Emerging markets deal blow to Diageo September 24, 2015 Drinks giant Diageo said the weakness of emerging-market currencies would cut its full-year profits by £150m. The owner of the Baileys, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker brands said its earlier warning that North American sales would decline by two per cent was unchanged, and that emerging market demand for premium spirits was likely to fall. Phil [...]
Government’s public land sell-off needs transparency says Labour MP Meg Hillier September 24, 2015 Members of the influential public accounts committee have slammed the government’s land disposal policies, saying that ministers should be “embarrassed” by the backbenchers’ findings. Meg Hillier, the MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch who recently took the reins of the public spending watchdog from Barking MP Margaret Hodge, said today that the government’s “entire approach has been [...]
Oil prices: UK supermarkets Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s in petrol price war as they match crude oil price decline September 24, 2015 The UK’s supermarkets kicked off yet another price war yesterday, with Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s all slashing petrol prices by up to 2p per litre (ppl). Morrisons, which has 336 petrol stations in the UK, announced that it was making its third petrol price cut in four weeks. “The falling wholesale price of [...]
Output up for UK car manufacturers September 24, 2015 British car manufacturers built just under 100,000 cars last month – a 40.6 per cent jump from the same month last year. UK manufacturers rolled out 99,910 cars in August, exporting 73,219 of them and keeping 26,691 in the country for domestic consumption, according to new figures out today from SMMT. The output pushed year-to-date [...]
National living wage to hit convenience stores including Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s September 24, 2015 Convenience retailers warned today that they may have to reduce staff hours or cut jobs entirely to fund George Osborne’s national living wage of £9 for over-25s by 2020. Britain’s convenience sector employs around 407,000 staff and consists of around 50,000 stores – of which fewer than 2,500 are run by Tesco, Morrisons and [...]
PPI mis-selling claims deadline: Britain’s biggest banking scandal could soon be coming to an end September 24, 2015 The end of the £25bn payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal could be in sight, with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set to meet today to discuss potentially imposing a deadline for claims. The regulator’s management will discuss the possibility of a ‘time-bar exercise’ during a board meeting today, according to Sky News. Banks will [...]