Rathbone Brothers’ shares fall as it warns on tighter profit margin October 17, 2019 Shares in Rathbone Brothers fell sharply this morning after reporting its profit margin will narrow over the next two-to-three years. Shares in the investment management company were down 8 percent to 2,190p in the morning’s trading, despite an 11 per cent annual increase in third quarter operating income. Read more: Rathbone Brothers boosts profits but [...]
Natwest raises available loans for small businesses by over £2bn for Brexit support October 17, 2019 NatWest has added £2.2bn to a Brexit loan pot aimed at supporting small businesses amid Britain’s imminent departure of the EU. The high street lender is upping the size of its Growth Funding programme to £8.2bn after identifying thousands of smaller firms facing potential disruption with Brexit. Read more: Bank of America trumps estimates Natwest, [...]
Moneysupermarket share price sinks as it warns of money segment weakness October 17, 2019 Moneysupermarket’s share price dropped 10 per cent today as product availability problems hampered one of its core businesses. The comparison website’s money division shrank five per cent to £20.6m for the three months to the end of September, the comparison site said in a trading update. Read more: How to avoid the grey suit mentality [...]
UK retail sales growth holds steady as Brexit day approaches October 17, 2019 Growth in UK retail sales held steady in the third quarter of the year, official figures have shown, as shoppers remained cautious in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline. Read more: UK unemployment rate rises as Brexit fears hit labour market Britons bought 0.6 per cent more goods in the second quarter than in [...]
British Airways boss says electric planes idea won’t fly until 2050 October 17, 2019 The boss of British Airways has thrown doubt over predictions electric planes could enter service over the coming decades. Alex Cruz, BA’s chief executive, said there was “limited opportunity” for electric aircraft entering the market up until 2050. When pressed on the matter, he said BA had consulted with academics and come to the conclusion [...]
Unilever misses estimates amid slowdown in emerging markets October 17, 2019 Consumer goods giant Unilever missed City estimates this morning as tough weather comparatives and a slowdown in several emerging markets dented sales. The Ben and Jerry’s ice cream maker has posted underlying sales growth of €13.3bn (£11.5bn) for the third quarter, marking a 2.9 per cent rise that narrowly came below consensus expectations. Read more: [...]
Three down: Customers demand refunds as mobile network outage wipes out data and minutes October 17, 2019 Thousands of customers took to Twitter to complain after Three failed to acknowledge a mobile network outage that wiped out data and calls after occurring last night. People were unable to receive 4G data or mobile phone signal to make calls across the UK, but Three was tight-lipped on the root cause of the problem. [...]
WH Smith ramps up overseas drive with $400m US deal October 17, 2019 WH Smith has revealed plans to snap up a US travel company for more than £300m as the retail giant looks to broaden its scope beyond the UK high street. In a deal that will double the size of the firm’s international business, WH Smith is buying Marshall Retail Group for $400m (£312m) to ramp [...]
Brexit: ‘We will negotiate until the last second’, says Angela Merkel October 17, 2019 Angela Merkel has said Brexit negotiations will continue “until the last second”, and raised the possibility of a “special summit”, in a bid to secure a deal before Halloween. This morning the DUP appeared to scupper hopes of a last-minute breakthrough, saying they could not back the deal as agreed in Brussels “as things stand”. [...]
Domino’s Pizza UK to quit international markets October 17, 2019 Domino’s UK has announced that it will close its international operations, where the pizza delivery firm said performance had been “disappointing”. Read more: Why Domino’s sell off was overcooked Chief executive David Wild said said the decision to shutter its operations in Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden came after it decided “we are not the [...]