Legal & General sees benefits of restructure plan August 6, 2015 INSURANCE and investment group Legal & General (L&G) increased profit by six per cent in the first half of 2015, despite being hit by a 62 per cent decline in annuity sales. The company’s pre-tax profit increased to £672m, up from £636m, and L&G Investment Management grew its assets under management by 12 per cent [...]
Dollar down as jobs data dents chance of hike August 6, 2015 THE DOLLAR fell against other major global currencies yesterday after data revealed that private sector hiring slowed sharply in July, dampening expectations of an interest rate hike in September. US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen last week reiterated that she is looking for improvement in the jobs market before voting for the first interest rate [...]
Tube mayhem rocks London businesses August 6, 2015 Retailers and leisure companies in London are braced for a multi-million pound hit as Tube workers go on strike for the second time in a month. On the day of the last strike on 9 July, London shopping malls suffered a nine per cent drop in footfall compared with the same day last year, according [...]
Andy Burnham still the favourite among Labour voters to lead the party August 5, 2015 An opinion poll indicates Andy Burnham is still the preferred choice amongst Labour voters to win the contest. Opinium’s first major poll for the leadership says that 39 per cent of Labour voters, rather than just party members, would vote for Burnham if they had a vote in the election. Next is Jeremy Corbyn trailing [...]
August 2015 TfL Tube strike update: Action could cost London retailers and restaurants millions as footfall tipped to fall 10 per cent August 5, 2015 Shops, restaurants and bars in London are bracing themselves for a sharp drop in footfall and bookings as a result of the Tube strike, which starts at 6:30pm tonight and will run throughout Thursday. The British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC) said that on the day of the last strike on 9 July, London shopping [...]
Analyst Views: What do the latest results mean for Standard Chartered? August 5, 2015 IAN GORDON | INVESTEC “Standard Chartered has sharply underperformed sector peers, with the shares retreating by 17 per cent since peaking at 1,141p on 23 March. Our ‘hold’ recommendation and 970p RoE-g/CoE-g derived target price are maintained.” SANDY CHEN | CENKOS “We’re not exactly certain about how much to recalibrate our forecasts – but we’re [...]
Canaccord sees first-quarter revenues fall August 5, 2015 CANADIAN financial services group Canaccord Genuity yesterday announced that first-quarter revenues fell to CA$214.5m (£104m) – 13 per cent lower than the same period last year. Excluding significant items, the company recorded net income of CA$13.3m or net income of CA$9.5m attributable to common shareholders. Including all expense items, on a non-International Financial Reporting Standards [...]
UK’s services boom extends past two years August 5, 2015 THE UK and Eurozone’s service sectors are seeing slower growth, new figures show, but are still expanding at levels consistent with robust economic growth. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – a survey of firms – fell to a score of 57.4 in July for the UK service sector, according to figures released yesterday. It marks [...]
European retail sales cool off after a solid start to the year August 5, 2015 RETAILERS in the Eurozone saw sales drop 0.6 per cent in June, according to figures released by Eurostat yesterday. The numbers take the volume of retail sales to just 1.2 per cent above what they were in June 2014. The drop comes after robust growth in sales over most of the first half of this [...]
August 2015 TfL Tube strike: Boris Johnson still won’t commit to Night Tube launch date August 5, 2015 London mayor Boris Johnson still won't commit to the Night Tube's September 12 start date. When pressed about whether it would be delivered in time for the widely anticipated start date during an interview on London radio station LBC, Boris said: "I'm not too fussed about the start date. I've said we'll get it in [...]