Britain’s trade gap widens as exports to EU fall March 12, 2019 The UK’s trade deficit in goods and services widened by £1.3bn to reach £10.4bn in the three months to January as exports of cars and fuels fell, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. Britain’s trade in goods deficit widened by £1.6bn with EU countries and £0.8bn with non-EU countries to reach a total of £38bn, the [...]
Equality regulator launches probe into BBC over equal pay scandal March 12, 2019 The BBC will face a formal investigation by the equality regulator following complaints female employees were not paid as much as men for the same work. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) today said it has opened a probe into the broadcaster’s historical policy and pay practices and will look at formal and informal [...]
Interserve’s top shareholder warns administrator against selling off to lenders March 12, 2019 Interserve’s largest shareholder has warned the outsourcer’s would-be administrator against arranging a pre-pack insolvency deal that would hand total control to the firm’s lenders, in the event the firm goes bust on Friday. Coltrane Asset Management, a US hedge fund that holds a 27.7 per cent stake in the outsourcer, has written to EY, which [...]
TfL saw London Underground thefts rise 25 per cent in 2018 March 12, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) rail services account for almost half of all thefts on trains nationwide, according to data out this week. A total of 4,448 Tube thefts occurred in 2018, up 25 per cent on 2017's 3,500 incidents, while all TfL services together saw a 27 per cent rise to 4,877 thefts. Read more: Buying [...]
Wonga compensation claims four times higher than expected March 12, 2019 The number of customers that have unresolved complaints with Wonga over mis-sold loans after the payday lender collapsed into administration is four times higher than originally estimated. Wonga’s administrators Grant Thornton told the Treasury Committee that as many as 40,000 consumers could be affected, almost four times the 10,500 estimate given by the Financial Ombudsman [...]
Coltrane Asset Management: What do we know about the hedge fund ruffling Interserve’s feathers? March 12, 2019 Outsourcing giant Interserve has taken a hammering in recent weeks from a very rowdy shareholder: Coltrane Asset Management. The New York hedge fund has done its utmost to derail a rescue deal designed to save the outsourcer from administration, even threatening to sue Interserve’s board last month. Coltrane may have caused a ruckus, but what [...]
Ocean Outdoor buys two Dutch digital out-of-home agencies for €51m March 12, 2019 Digital advertising firm Ocean Outdoor has snapped up two Dutch out-of-home firms in a deal worth roughly €51m (£43.5m). Ocean, which manages major outdoor advertising venues such as Piccadilly Lights and Westfield, has acquired the combined portfolio of Interbest and Ngage Media, which operate across the Netherlands. Read more: Firm behind iconic Piccadilly Lights floats [...]
The IRA claims responsibility for bombs targeting Heathrow and Waterloo March 12, 2019 Dissident republican group the IRA have claimed responsibility for letter bombs that were sent to London transport hubs and the University of Glasgow last week. The Metropolitan Police said today it was aware of the claim of responsibility for the devices that were received at Heathrow Airport, London City Airport, Waterloo Station and the University [...]
UK bank shares: A pre-Brexit view March 12, 2019 | City Talk Some UK bank shares have made massive profits for shareholders, but how should you play the sector now? It’s been a few weeks since the last of the big UK-listed banks published results for 2018, and share price performance since has been varied. Brexit, of course, has played its part and, with some lenders up [...]
Investing in firms that ‘do good’: too good to be true? March 12, 2019 | City Talk BlackRock is aggressively launching products with high environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings. The New York City-headquartered global investment management corporation’s CEO, Larry Fink, recently predicted that assets under management in the ESG category will grow from the current $25bn to $400bn in 2028. Investing in good corporates is intuitively appealing: who doesn’t want to [...]