As the EU sends an envoy to Greece to salvage the debt deal, would the Eurozone survive Grexit? February 16, 2017 Carsten Hesse, emerging European equity strategist at Berenberg, says Yes. Although tensions are flaring up again, it remains highly unlikely that Greece will leave the Eurozone. It has already done 80-90 per cent of the required fiscal repair and structural reforms and two-thirds of Greeks want to keep the euro. The current noise sounds like [...]
Firms are wising up on the need to reform executive pay February 16, 2017 To mere mortals, executive pay can sometimes seem out of this world. Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs No2 who is now director of the National Economic Council in the US, was awarded $284m (£227m) by the Wall St bank upon departure. In the UK, the best paid chief executive is WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell, whose [...]
Big five banks run up £100bn bill in bad loans and legal costs over the last five years February 16, 2017 The UK's big five banks, which report full-year results next week, have run up a bill of nearly £100bn over the last five years for a toxic mix of fines and bad loans according to a new analysis. However, the era of sour loans and megafines that dwarf the banks' dividend payouts could finally be [...]
Get your CV ready – the Supreme Court is hiring three new judges February 16, 2017 If last month's Brexit case made you want to call the shots on some of the most important legal cases in the country, the opportunity to do so has just presented itself. The Supreme Court has today kicked off the search for two new justices plus a new president of the court. The vacancies have [...]
Under-fire Deutsche Boerse boss set for grilling on insider trading probe and London location of stock exchange headquarters February 15, 2017 Deutsche Boerse chief executive Carsten Kengeter is set to endure some tough questioning tomorrow as he appears before investors, analysts and the media. The German company, which is seeking to tie-up its merger with the London Stock Exchange in the coming months, reported its preliminary full-year results for 2016 this evening. Net revenue at the [...]
President of French private equity giant Ardian backs London to retain financial services dominance after Brexit February 15, 2017 The president and founder of private equity giant Ardian has backed London to retain its financial services dominance after Brexit. Dominique Senequier, whose firm has around $60bn in assets, also said on Wednesday night she does not expect the exiting process to be “brutal” for the City of London. “When you have such a financial city, you have [...]
Kraft Heinz has wrong ingredient as sales drop 3.7 per cent February 15, 2017 Kraft's share price fell in after-hours trading after its net profit missed forecasts. The figures Fourth quarter sales at the maker of Heinz ketchup and Kraft macaroni cheese fell 3.7 per cent, down from $7.12bn to $6.86bn. Read more: Bean there, done that: This is the Shard's newest tenant Net profit, however, increased year-on-year from $285m [...]
TripAdvisor’s shares fall after it misses revenue estimates February 15, 2017 Shares in TripAdvisor have fallen in after-hours trading after a disappointing set of results from the company. The figures Revenue for the full year ending 31 December 2016 fell one per cent annually to $1.48bn. Net income was $120m, down 39 per cent year-on-year. Read more: The taxman has unveiled the UK’s most outrageous expenses [...]
Amazon Prime revenues reach £5.2bn February 15, 2017 Amazon has published the figures for its Amazon Prime service for the first time, revealing that revenues for the subscription service have hit $6.4bn (£5.2bn). This means the service, which allows customers to access premium video content and faster product deliveries, lags behind Amazon's retail and web divisions. In 2016, Amazon Retail brought in $91.4bn [...]
Westminster becomes first council to request higher retention of business rates for £409m investment programme February 15, 2017 Westminster council has become the first in the UK to urge the government to allow it to keep a higher proportion of its commercial property taxes. A conglomerate representing the West End has put in the application on behalf of the Westminster council and others, City A.M. can reveal. The West End Partnership (WEP), which represents [...]