Apple hires BBC DJ Zane Lowe as tech giant bolsters its Beats team February 15, 2015 Veteran BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe is heading to the US to join the growing music team at iPhone-maker Apple. Lowe, who joined Radio 1 in 2003, will join Apple next month following his last show on 5 March. “The station has allowed me to share incredible music with the country’s best music fans. [...]
Afren in talks to recapitalise as Seplat deal fails February 15, 2015 Struggling oil firm Afren is in rescue deal discussions with bondholders and other lenders after announcing at the end of last week that it had terminated talks with Seplat Petroleum over a potential combination. The company said it was continuing discussions with the advisers to its largest bond holders “regarding the immediate liquidity and funding [...]
Tesco Bank moves into new mortgage territory with independent brokers February 15, 2015 Tesco Bank is extending its mortgage offering to include independent brokers, with the hope of dramatically increasing its customer base. In an interview with The Telegraph this weekend, the business said it would start selling the loans through intermediaries in 2016. The bank has already shown promise in the property market – [...]
Inflation worries shaped Bank of England interest rate vote February 15, 2015 Worries about the UK’s economy entering into a deflationary spiral stayed the hand of two Bank of England board members who had wanted an early interest rate rise. Martin Weale, an inflation hawk and independent member of the monetary policy committee, wrote an article for the Observer, in which eh explained the reasons for his [...]
Could Archie Norman be Tesco’s new chairman? These are the runners and riders for the supermarket’s top job February 14, 2015 Archie Norman is the latest City boss to be touted as Tesco’s successor to Sir Richard Broadbent who left last year in the wake of a profit scandal. The current chairman of ITV and former boss of rival supermarket Asda where he gained the reputation of being the turnaround king, is in “active talks” with [...]
Could Archie Norman be Tesco’s new chairman? These are the runners and riders for the supermarket’s top job February 14, 2015 Archie norman is the latest City boss to be touted as Tesco’s new top boss and a successor to Sir Richard Broadbent who left last year in the wake of a profit scandal. The current chairman of ITV and former boss of rival supermarket Asda where he gained the tag of being the turnaround king, [...]
Afren ends takeover talks with Seplat after unsatisfactory offer February 13, 2015 Embattled oil producer Afren, which has been rocked by crumbling oil prices and corporate governance scandals, has ended talks with rival company Seplat after it failed to make an offer that's "satisfactory for all stakeholders". Seplat first made a play for Afren in December but it has since extended the deadline for it to make [...]
Virgin Media plans billion-pound broadband investment in “£8bn boost” to UK economy February 13, 2015 Virgin Media has unveiled major plans to invest in its broadband network which it says will benefit the UK economy by £8bn. The £3bn of investment will also create 6,000 jobs over the next five years, 1,000 of which will be apprenticeships, the Liberty Global-owned company has said. Virgin will increase by a third the number [...]
Bank of England’s Mark Carney: Interest rate cut is possible as UK heads toward deflation February 12, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney revealed yesterday that interest rates could drop even further below their historic low of 0.5 per cent, as the collapse in global oil prices drags Britain towards deflation. In a mandatory letter to chancellor George Osborne, Carney said that if “global activity continues to disappoint, or if low inflation [...]
Bank of England inflation report: UK inflation rate could slide into negative February 12, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned UK inflation could slip into negative territory this spring, but he also upgraded the economy's growth forecasts on the belief it's most likely to be benign. Threadneedle Street warned it was "more likely than not that headline inflation would turn negative this year". In such a scenario, it would [...]