July Budget 2015: FTSE rises ahead of George Osborne’s announcement July 8, 2015 After a disappointing few days in the wake of the Greek crisis, this morning the FTSE 100 woke up in a more optimistic mood, rising 0.52 per cent in early trading in anticipation of encouraging announcements from George Osborne during today's summer Budget. Read more: July Budget – Here's what to expect Sterling was 0.23 [...]
Monitise share price plummets as Visa announces plans to cut its stake July 8, 2015 Shares in mobile payments company Monitise plummeted 21 per cent to 7.8p as the market opened this morning, as one of its backers announced plans to cut its stake. In a statement to the stock exchange, Monitise said it had been notified by Visa, which owns 5.3 per cent of the company, that it planned [...]
Good news for housing market: Galliford Try expecting record results again July 8, 2015 The figures Construction group Galliford Try is expecting record results once again, according to a trading update released today. The housebuilder expects pre-tax profits for the full year to the end of June to be in the “upper range” of analysts’ range, while net debt will fall to less than £20m. Completions in its housebuilding arm [...]
SABMiller appoints Domenic De Lorenzo as new finance chief July 8, 2015 SABMiller has appointed Domenic De Lorenzo as its new chief financial officer . De Lorenzo has been acting chief financial officer for the beer giant since February – his permanent appointment was announced in a statement this morning. The company’s chief executive Alan Clark called De Lorenzo an “outstanding candidate”. He has quickly made a positive impact [...]
Barclays share price climbs after board sacks Antony Jenkins in favour of boss with “new set of skills” July 8, 2015 Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins has been sacked, with the bank's board saying it seeks a leader with "a new set of skills". Jenkins – who some dubbed the "nice guy of banking" – will leave the business on 17 July, when John McFarlane picks up the reins as executive chairman. A search [...]
July Budget 2015: George Osborne set to push up tax thresholds but ease back on Conservative plans to slash welfare bill July 7, 2015 George Osborne will today use the first Tory Budget in 19 years to deliver on his party’s pre-election pledge to slash taxes for millions of workers. Yet the chancellor will also row back on the Conservatives’ manifesto commitment to find £12bn of savings from welfare payments by 2017-18 – instead taking an extra year to [...]
David Cameron backs transitional price cap as part of energy market shake-up after CMA report July 7, 2015 David Cameron said yesterday that he supported plans for a “transitional” energy price cap. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has called for changes to be made to companies’ standard variable, or default, tariff – the tariff that energy customers pay if they have not made an “active decision” to change. The CMA said [...]
Shanghai stocks suspended amid crash fear July 7, 2015 Chinese stocks fell yesterday, taking little comfort from support measures from Beijing in recent days. Almost 200 stocks halted trading after the close on Monday, bringing the number of suspensions to 745, or 26 per cent of listed firms on mainland exchanges in areas such as Shanghai (pictured). Investors are increasingly worried about a full-blown [...]
Red tape to blame for City skills shortage: Demand for professionals stays strong but supply hampered by UK immigration rules July 7, 2015 Tough immigration rules and excessive regulatory standards has left City firms with severe skills shortages, according to new surveys. Growth in the number of jobs secured dropped to a two-year low in June, data released today by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation revealed. Demand for professional workers – which covers finance, law and IT among [...]
Sterling strength puts dent in annual results for law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer July 7, 2015 International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer saw revenues increase just one per cent for the year ending 30 April. The London-based legal practice blamed strong currency headwinds for the results, saying today that revenues increased by four per cent on a constant currency basis. Freshfields also reported a drop of one per cent in net [...]