Kenmare shareholders set to reap dividends in October as company shows strong profits March 13, 2019 Kenmare Resources is set to pay out its first ever dividend this October, the company's chief executive said today as he showed strong results for the full year. The figures Revenues increased 26 per cent to $262m (£200m), while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew 54 per cent to $93m. Read more: Aim-listed [...]
DEBATE: With just 16 days to go until Brexit, is there any point to the Spring Statement? March 13, 2019 With just 16 days to go until Brexit, is there any point to the Spring Statement? Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, says YES. While Brexit is likely to dominate minds again this week, and continue to bring a fog of uncertainty over the outlook for the UK economy, the Spring Statement is still important. [...]
Economics could teach Theresa May a thing or two about tackling knife crime March 13, 2019 Knife crime continues to dominate the headlines. What can be done about it? Economics does not pretend to provide all the answers. But, perhaps surprising to some, it has a lot of useful insights to offer on crime. Gary Becker was a professor of both economics and sociology at Chicago. One day he was pushed [...]
The left should listen up: Tax reform is a progressive cause March 13, 2019 In 2012, the columnist Mary Dejevsky wrote a piece for the Independent arguing that the centre-left should advocate a flat tax. It was in response to the publication of the Single Income Tax, the final report of the 2020 Tax Commission, convened by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) and the Institute of Directors, and chaired by former [...]
New proposals for NHS rules risk taking us back to the 1970s March 13, 2019 Reforming the laws around how the NHS operates may not sound like a particularly scintillating topic, particularly when the health service is in the news already for the far more headline-grabbing issue of scrapping A&E waiting targets. Nonetheless, potential legislative changes proposed by NHS England and NHS Improvement last month that have gone largely unreported [...]
Working groups established to help finance sector deal with climate change March 12, 2019 Four working groups have been set up to deal with the risks climate change poses to the UK’s financial system, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. The groups will focus on risk management, scenario analysis, disclosure and innovation, the groups said. The decision was made at the first meeting of the Climate [...]
Sterling drops against the dollar as traders prepare for Brexit votes March 12, 2019 The pound was down 0.6 per cent against the dollar today as traders and their advisors steeled themselves for more Brexit turmoil. The morning saw sterling fall by more than one per cent against the dollar to a low of $1.301 after the government’s chief legal advisor said the current Brexit deal could leave the UK locked in a [...]
Aim-listed Greatland teams up with Australia’s largest gold miner Newcrest March 12, 2019 London-listed Greatland Gold has reached an agreement to partner with one of the world’s largest gold miners as it looks to explore its most important Australian prospect. Newcrest has signed a deal giving it the right to acquire up to 70 per cent of its Havieron target for $65m (£50m) over six years, the company [...]
Lending rises for remortgages but falls for UK house buyers at end of 2018 March 12, 2019 Mortgage lending was up for remortgaging and down for house purchasing in Britain in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to a year earlier, new statistics by the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have shown. The proportion of high loan-to-income (LTI) loans, those greater than four times the value of annual income [...]
Enquest firefights after Cairn revises figures for Kraken joint venture in North Sea March 12, 2019 Enquest tried to reassure investors today as it was forced to counter the narrative from its North Sea partner Cairn, which reduced its forecasts for the companies’ joint venture. Shares in Enquest fell by nearly 13 per cent to 16.08p, despite the company’s denials that it would take an impairment charge from the Kraken oil [...]