The rise of the posh burger: How London has fallen for Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Byron, Honest Burger, Five Guys and Shake Shack August 7, 2015 We’ve all seen them: on busy streets and in trendy back alleys, London has been invaded by posh burger joints. When did this invasion start? And who are the main protagonists? We’ve chosen five players in the influx and charted their progress in the capital. Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK), Byron, Five Guys and Shake Shack. [...]
UK exports hit by strong pound as trade deficit widens August 7, 2015 The UK's trade deficit widened in June as the strong pound hit exporters – although the £1.6bn figure was still considerably lower than the March's six-month high of £3.2bn. Exports fell £300m to £24.9bn, while imports rose £500m to £34.1bn, a release by the Office for National Statistics showed today. As the Eurozone continued to [...]
Deal bonanza as global mergers and acquisitions hit post-downturn high August 7, 2015 For deal junkies, it's hardly surprising – but now new figures have proved that the summer lull failed to materialise in July, with global M&A volume hitting $549.7bn, the highest figure since the global financial crisis. The figures, by Dealogic, showed deals peaked at $559.2bn – but that was in April 2007, shortly before the [...]
William Hill share price dives as it takes a punt on lottery software maker NeoGames August 7, 2015 Shares in bookies William Hill fell almost 5.5 per cent to 388.3p this morning, after it revealed it had taken a gamble on online lottery software maker NeoGames, spending $25m (£16m) on a 29.4 per cent stake. Luxembourg-based NeoGames is a "pioneer of online scratch cards", William Hill said, but has moved into online lotteries. [...]
Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent says “no urgency” to raise rates; would be “foolish” to pre-announce interest rate hike date August 7, 2015 Bank of England (BoE) deputy governor Ben Broadbent has played down expectation that there could be a rate rise by the end of 2015. Mark Carney's second-in-command this morning said his boss's speech "did not say we can expect a rate rise around the turn of the year", adding it was "impossible" and "foolish" to pre-announce [...]
Zynga increases revenue despite losing more gamers August 6, 2015 Zynga's revenue rose in the second quarter of 2015 as net losses narrowed despite a fall in users. The figures The gaming company’s net loss narrowed to $26.9m, or $0.03 per share, 57 per cent down from a year earlier when it stood at $62.5m. This also improves upon the $0.07 loss per share a [...]
Twitter share price swoops lower and edges closer towards IPO price August 6, 2015 Twitter shares have closed 3.27 per cent down at $27.55 after having fallen more than four per cent, touching a new record intraday low of $27.29 per share in Thursday trading, hot on the heels of record low close of $28.48 per share yesterday. The social network's share price is edging ever closer towards its [...]
Quindell share price plummets by a third on its first day of trading since June August 6, 2015 The share price of troubled insurance claims processor Quindell fell almost 40 per cent to 79p this morning as trading in the company's shares resumed for the first time since it suspended them in June. The news came the day after the the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched an investigation into the company, following a [...]
New car registrations climb in July for 41st month in a row August 6, 2015 UK car sales grew for a 41st consecutive month in July, new data shows, but market analysts expect the purchases to decelerate toward the end of the year. UK firms and consumers bought 178,420 new cars in July, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). It is 3.2 per cent more [...]
Traditional banking needs to act fast to survive Google’s predictive power August 6, 2015 The options we have for our everyday bank accounts are increasing. Virgin Money, Tesco Bank and the Post Office have recently entered the personal current account market, and prospective entrants include Atom, Starling, Civilised Bank and OakNorth. But could the biggest competition to our traditional banks be hiding in plain sight? There are various factors [...]