Admiral Group share price soars as first half profit inches up August 19, 2015 Insurer Admiral climbed to the top of the FTSE 100 today after its shares jumped 4.6 per cent to 1,534p per share in early afternoon trade. The Cardiff-based group reported pre-tax profit rose one per cent to £186.1m in the six months to 30 June 2015, from £184.9m during the same period a year earlier. This smashed analysts' [...]
Construction drop casts more doubt on Eurozone growth August 19, 2015 The Eurozone's construction sector stumbled in June, with output down 1.9 per cent compared with May. On the year, construction was down 2.4 per cent, according to the figures released this morning by Eurostat. The sharpest monthly fall in the 19-member currency-bloc was in Germany at 4.5 per cent, which was followed by France. Greece [...]
Over-qualified and under-employed: The majority of graduates are “in non-graduate jobs”, says the CIPD August 19, 2015 New graduates are being massively under-employed when they try to join the labour market, with thousands taking their first step in their career in jobs that don't require their hard-won degrees, a new study has found. The research, by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), found graduate over-qualification has reached “saturation point”, with [...]
Walmart’s Asda has reached its “nadir” says chief Andy Clarke as supermarket chalks up more declines August 19, 2015 Asda boss Andy Clarke has said the troubled supermarket's “nadir” has been reached, as the Walmart-owned retailer revealed yet another slump in sales. Second quarter like-for-likes were down 4.7 per cent, while profits were flat. Clarke described the figures as “disappointing, but a short-term picture”. “We've hit our nadir,” Clarke said insisting there was [...]
Hackers expose details of 37m users of cheating website Ashley Madison August 19, 2015 Hackers appear to have followed through on their threat to expose the details of millions of users of the extramarital affair site Ashley Madison, which is soon to embark on a multimillion-pound float in London. Almost 10 gigabytes of user data were posted to the “dark web” overnight, according to reports, and have since been [...]
Outgoing BoE official says interest rates to rise “pretty soon” August 19, 2015 Outgoing Bank of England (BoE) rate-setter David Miles has said that the time for interest rates to rise from the record low is drawing closer. Speaking during an interview on BBC Newsnight Miles, who has already cast his final vote as member of the monetary policy committee (MPC), said that rates would rise "pretty soon", adding: "I don't think it's [...]
Cost of renting a room in London rises to an all-time high August 19, 2015 Renting a room in the capital costs more than ever before, according to a new report out today. SpareRoom, the flat and house share website, said that the average monthly rent for a lodger in London in the first six months of this year was £694, a 5.3 per cent increase over last [...]
Jeremy Corbyn slams rail fare rise as “rip off” August 19, 2015 Regulated rail fares may be set to rise by just one per cent next year, but Labour leadership front-runner Jeremy Corbyn has called them a “rip off”, insisting only his plan to renationalise the railways will deliver savings for consumers. Speaking at a rally at Kings Cross Station yesterday, Corbyn said that “extricating the [...]
Light at the end of the North Sea oil pipeline: Oil firms have all taken a hit by the decline in global crude prices. But has it hit rock bottom? August 19, 2015 The affect of fraught conditions in oil markets on North Sea companies was revealed yesterday as John Wood Group and Cairn Energy announced their half-year results. Wood Group revealed it has axed around 5,000 jobs in response to the decline in crude oil prices, with 1,000 of them coming from North Sea operations. The company’s [...]
George Osborne facing pressure from UK building societies over ‘perverse’ bank surcharge August 19, 2015 The Treasury is under fire from Britain’s building societies, who say that a new tax will cost them at least £630m over the next five years – and choke off £20bn worth of lending. Mortgage lenders want the government to think again. “As you would expect the sector is positively engaging with HM Treasury,” Building [...]