Black Friday 2015 UK: Where and when to get the best discounts is already being hinted at by Tesco, Currys PC World, John Lewis and Amazon October 13, 2015 Brace yourselves: Black Friday is coming. Last year's retail bonanza-cum-bun-fight is back. This year it will be taking place on 27 November, meaning there are less than eight weeks to go. In 2014, it was the biggest single day for online sales of the year, and retailers are falling over themselves to make sure they [...]
London house prices: This is how frenzied demand for London’s super prime homes became between 2007 and 2014 October 13, 2015 London's super-prime residential market may have cooled somewhat over the last year since tougher stamp duty rules came into force earlier the year. But new research seen today by City A.M. reveals just how frenzied the sales of £10m-plus homes in the capital’s golden postcodes surrounding Hyde Park has become since the financial crisis. Read [...]
Here’s why the UK government was planning a £6m deal to modernise Saudi Arabian prisons in the first place October 13, 2015 Why the UK is pulling out of the deal Prime Minister David Cameron has backtracked on a deal worth £6m with the Saudi Arabian Prison Service due to the country's human rights record and criminal justice system. The cancellation is a victory for justice minister Michael Gove, who had lobbied the Prime Minister to cancel the [...]
HSS Hire Group IPO: Share price falls on stock market debut October 13, 2015 HSS Hire Group's share price slipped over four per cent as it debuted onto the London Stock Exchange, a slightly underwhelming start for the first main market listing of this year. The tool hire firm had floated at 210 pence per share, at the bottom of its 210 – 262 pence range announced earlier this month, giving [...]
German investor sentiment hit by VW scandal and declining emerging markets October 13, 2015 German investor confidence plunged in October, as the VW emissions scandal and slow growth in emerging markets took their toll. Thank tank ZEW put its monthly measure of economic sentiment at 1.9 – a fall of 10.2 points from 12.1 in September, and the lowest level it has reached since this time last year. The [...]
Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Greg Medcraft could be the new FCA boss after Martin Wheatley ousted October 13, 2015 The head of the Australian financial regulator is being touted as a possible successor to ousted Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) boss Martin Wheatley. Greg Medcraft, who is chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, has been contacted by recruiters about the position according to the FT. The FT reported that the process is still at an early stage and [...]
It turns out worker ants are actually lazy layabouts October 13, 2015 We’ve all been duped: Despite their name, worker ants are nothing but slackers. This is according to a new study published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, which has found that a significant proportion of ant colonies’ so-called “workers” spend most of their time “completely inactive”. Just three per cent of worker ants were [...]
UK housing: Remove the mavericks and stabilise the property market October 13, 2015 The wave of financial services regulations introduced over the last five years has caused deep changes in the way we invest in various asset classes, from equities and fixed interest securities to cash – yet the property market seems to have escaped the regulation firing line. According to the Investment Property Databank (IPD), residential property has been [...]
Twitter confirms 336 jobs will go a week after Jack Dorsey joins flock permanently October 13, 2015 Twitter has confirmed it's making job cuts just a week after founder Jack Dorsey made a permanent return to the flock as chief executive. Up to 336 staff will go – around eight per cent of the company's global workforce. "The restructuring is part of an overall plan to organise around the company’s top product [...]
Blockchain platform Setl hits one billion daily transactions – 1,000 times faster than Bitcoin’s blockchain October 13, 2015 Blockchain platform Setl claims to be capable of processing one billion transactions per day – matching every electronic payment made globally. Scaling up to this extent makes blockchain an even more attractive rival to traditional financial systems, as the booming fintech sector is increasingly seen not just as a viable but a cheaper alternative. The company [...]