Premier Oil share price plummets after taking $300m hit as oil price slides January 14, 2015 Premier Oil enjoyed record production last year with 63.6 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd), an increase of 9.3 per cent on the previous year. The company's share price though has dropped six per cent UK production soared 30.2 per cent to 19.4 kboepd. The company expects production in 2015 from its existing assets, excluding [...]
Ocado Christmas sales soar and looks ahead to first ever full-year profit January 14, 2015 Online grocer Ocado reported its customer fulfilment centres processed close to 40 per cent more items in the week to Christmas for Ocado.com and Morrisons.com than over the same period the previous year. On the company's biggest day in the run-up to Christmas sales climbed 15 per cent from 2013 to almost £6m. Gross sales [...]
Tullett Prebon share price jumps as UK broker settles $100m poaching case with US rival BGC Partners January 13, 2015 One of business’s longest running disputes over staff poaching finally ended yesterday after British inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon came out on top in its bitter five-year legal battle with US rival BGC Partners. Shares in the UK broker jumped eight per cent following news that the New York-based broker will pay Tullett $100m (£66m) to [...]
Woody Allen is headhunted by Amazon January 13, 2015 Amazon Studios yesterday announced it has signed deal with Woody Allen for the critically-acclaimed director to write and direct his first ever television series. Amazon has signed a half-hour series (named Untitled Woody Allen Project) for a whole season, with customers able to watch the episodes on Amazon’s prime instant video in the UK, US [...]
Policy hawks stand ground despite sinking inflation January 13, 2015 A drop in the inflation rate to 0.5 per cent has not been enough to reverse the positions of monetary policy hawks – economists favouring a hike in interest rates. “We think the economy is growing strongly enough to take a normalisation of monetary policy and we’re sticking by that,” James Sproule, chief economist at the [...]
UK joins US as economic growth engine of world January 13, 2015 Britain and the US are set to grow strongly, the World Bank said last night, defying the malaise which is overtaking the Eurozone and much of the developing world. Crashing oil prices should give those economies a cushion, which the analysts said should be used for crucial economic reforms to restore competitiveness and growth. Economists [...]
London Bus strikes: Unite union hints at more chaos for commuters January 13, 2015 Londoners face more commuting chaos over the coming weeks if the union representing bus drivers fails to get operators to come to the negotiating table. Members of the Unite union at 18 bus companies walked out for a 24-hour strike yesterday over pay and conditions, causing chaos for passengers. Transport for London (TfL) said about [...]
Germany closes budget deficit one year early January 13, 2015 ANGELA Merkel successfully eliminated Germany’s budget deficit in 2014, new figures showed yesterday, hitting the target a year ahead of plans. It is the first time the books have been balanced since 1969, and demonstrates the strength of the government and the economy in overcoming a challenge which haunts much of Europe. The country has [...]
Elliott demands Kabel explains Vodafone deal January 13, 2015 US HEDGE fund titan Elliott International yesterday demanded German cable television operator Kabel Deutschland – in which Elliott has a 13 per cent stake – explain a special auditor’s report concerning Vodafone’s €8bn (£5.3bn) takeover of the German firm in June. The US investment giant has called for an extraordinary general meeting for the purpose [...]
Harriet Green lost out on final bonus before Thomas Cook exit January 13, 2015 Former Thomas Cook chief executive Harriet Green saw her pay packet plummet by 73 per cent in her final year in the job after coming up short of her targets, it came to light yesterday. Before her high-profile exit from Thomas Cook in November, Green was unable to pick up her bonus for the 2014, [...]