Car sales fall for 17th straight month in China, as global market suffers December 10, 2019 Chinese car sales fell for a 17th consecutive month in November, as electric and hybrid car demand contracted yet again. Total automotive sales from the world’s biggest market fell 3.6 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Read more: Car production falls again amid [...]
Nissan faces £17m fine for Carlos Ghosn scandal, says Japanese watchdog December 10, 2019 The scandal engulfing Nissan over its disgraced former chairman Carlos Ghosn has brought the car maker a fine worth £17.1m from Japan’s markets watchdog. Nissan’s penalty is the second-largest ever in Japan for false financial reporting, and has been imposed for understating Ghosn’s pay, after he was arrested in dramatic circumstances in November last year [...]
Thomas Cook: Regulator ‘very sorry’ for refund delay as customers wait more than two months December 10, 2019 Britain’s aviation regulator has apologised to thousands of Thomas Cook customers facing delays to refunds owed to them after the travel firm collapsed. Paul Smith, director of the Civil Aviation Authority, said the organisation was “very sorry,” adding that the CAA was “working tirelessly” to put the payments through. Read more: Gatwick airport to lose [...]
Morgan Stanley fined €20m as French regulator accuses it of sovereign bond price manipulation December 10, 2019 Morgan Stanley has been issued a €20m (£16.8m) fine by French regulators after its London desk faced accusations of using “pump and dump” tactics to manipulate sovereign bond prices. France’s stock market regulator, the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), said the bank manipulated prices on 14 French government bonds and eight Belgian bonds in June [...]
Water firms in line for ‘worst credit decline since privatisation’ after Ofwat ruling December 10, 2019 The water industry could suffer the steepest fall in credit quality in three decades, after regulator Ofwat next week publishes its final financial demands for the industry over the next five years, according to Moody’s. Ofwat is likely to cut allowed cash returns by about one-third, the largest reduction ever, and set targets that leave [...]
Director at Rolls-Royce largest shareholder leaves role on engineer’s board December 10, 2019 Rolls-Royce shares fell four per cent this morning after it announced an executive from its largest shareholder, activist investor Value Act Capital, has resigned from from the engineer’s board. Bradley Singer, a non-executive director for the last nearly four years, stepped down this morning. He is chief operating officer of Value Act. When he joined [...]
Ashtead’s UK profit tumbles amid ‘challenging’ market December 10, 2019 Equipment hire giant Ashtead has bemoaned a “challenging” UK market, in which its home A-Plant business has seen profits shrink nearly a third in the first half of the year. The FTSE 100 company enjoyed a six per cent overall rise in profit, owing to a strong performance in its core US unit, called Sunbelt, [...]
General Election 2019: The rail industry’s Christmas wishlist December 10, 2019 The rail industry is on the verge of the most precipitous change since John Major took it private 28 years ago – whether it likes it or not. On the one hand, the Conservatives are likely to tear apart the system which decides who runs each line – known as franchising – having grown impatient [...]
Tullow Oil share price plummets 70 per cent as chief executive quits December 9, 2019 Shares in Tullow Oil collapsed today after its chief executive resigned, wiping over £1.2bn off the firm’s market value as the firm cut its prediction for how much oil it will produce over the coming years. Shares fell 72 per cent as Pat McDade, along with exploration director Angus McCoss, said they had quit the [...]
Jaguar Land Rover sales fall despite hopes for Chinese recovery December 9, 2019 Jaguar Land Rover sales fell last month, despite the car maker seeing “green shoots” of a recovery in the all-important struggling Chinese market. The manufacturer, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, saw retail sales drop 3.4 per cent year-on-year in November. Read more: British car industry troubles run far deeper than Brexit But in [...]