Giffgaff fined £1.4m by Ofcom for overcharging mobile customers July 30, 2019 Mobile phone company Giffgaff was fined £1.4m by watchdog Ofcom today for overcharging customers. An Ofcom investigation found that an error in Giffgaff’s billing system led to around 2.6m customers being overcharged a total of almost £2.9m. Read more: Russia threatens retaliation against British media after RT fine Giffgaff is owned by Telefonica UK which [...]
Games Workshop posts best ever results July 30, 2019 Games Workshop posted record-breaking results for the third consecutive year this morning after seeing revenue and profits soar. The figures Revenue in the 12 months to 2 June this year was £256.5m, up from £221.3m last year. Profit before tax was £81.32m, rising from £74.2m the previous year. The games retailer reported that earnings per [...]
Silver miner Fresnillo’s shares slide as profit plunges July 30, 2019 Profit at FTSE 100 miner Fresnillo tumbled by more than two-thirds in the first half of the year, it said today. The company blamed production problems and lower prices for the precipitous fall. Profit for the six months to 30 June fell 69 per cent compared to the same period last year to $70.9m (£58.2m). [...]
BP powers ahead of analysts as oil major boosts profit by increasing output July 30, 2019 BP shares rose this morning as the oil giant’s second quarter profit beat expectations by increasing production volumes. The energy major reported that a seven per cent increase in oil and gas production counteracted this year’s fall in oil prices. Shares were up 3.3 per cent in early morning trading. The figures BP’s second quarter [...]
British Gas owner Centrica’s chief executive resigns as it slashes dividend July 30, 2019 British Gas owner Centrica said its chief executive was stepping down today as it announced a dividend cut of nearly 60 per cent. Chief executive Iain Conn will step down as chief executive and retire next year, the company said. Read more: British Gas owner Centrica ‘to cut dividend and sell off oil and gas [...]
On a roll: Greggs boosts sales and profits July 30, 2019 Bakery chain Greggs said today that its sales for the first half were up 14 per cent on the previous year. Sales hit £546m in the six months to 29 June which Greggs said was helped by the popularity of its vegan sausage roll. Underlying pre-tax profit margin rose to 7.5 per cent from 5.4 [...]
Sterling plunges below $1.22 as no-deal Brexit fears batter currency July 30, 2019 Sterling fell further overnight to its lowest level since March 2017 as worries over a no-deal Brexit under Boris Johnson’s government deepened. The pound plunged below $1.22 to hit $1.2146 this morning, a drop of almost 0.6 per cent against the dollar as analysts warned GBP is coming close to “uncharted waters”. Read more: Sterling [...]
Reckitt Benckiser cuts full-year guidance after ‘slow start to the year’ July 30, 2019 Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser cut its full-year revenue guidance today, blaming poor performance in its health division. The Nurofen-maker said it was cutting its 2019 net revenue target to plus two-to-three per cent like-for-like growth from a previous target of plus three-to-four per cent. For the first half the firm posted a like-for-like performance [...]
Grant Thornton due to quit Sports Direct after €674m Belgian tax bill July 30, 2019 Grant Thornton is reportedly set to quit as Sports Direct’s auditor following unprecedented delays to the publication of the retailer’s annual results on Friday. The auditor will abandon billionaire Mike Ashley after only learning shortly before it was set to sign off on his company’s accounts that Sports Direct owed Belgian tax authorities €674m (£605m), [...]
Female founders, here’s my advice for starting a business July 30, 2019 To any female founders reading this: your existence is statistically remarkable. Female tech founders are, simply put, unlikely. A report from the venture capital firm Atomico found that 93 per cent of money invested in European tech startups in 2018 went to all-male founding teams. Only seven per cent went to startups with a single [...]