Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 19, 2016 Markets are still reeling from the Fed's warning that they're not taking the possibility of a June interest rate hike seriously enough and ratings agency Moody's has downgraded US growth prospects. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 2:30pm London time. The pre-market is not looking strong this morning follow [...]
Addison Lee is pouring cash into its luxury car fleet after a jump in demand May 19, 2016 Private hire company Addison Lee has spent £3.2m on 100 new Mercedes Benz E-Class saloons in response to a 15 per cent jump in executive car bookings over the last year. Andy Boland, chief executive at Addison Lee, said: We have made major investments to expand our executive fleet, this has ensured we have the best drivers and the best vehicles [...]
Retailers lead number of cyber attack incident responses, new research has revealed May 18, 2016 The retail sector has overtaken the financial services industry in generating the most responses following a cyber security breach, fresh research has revealed. Retail now accounts for 22 per cent of all response engagements, up from 12 per cent the previous year, according to the annual Global Threat Intelligence Report. The rise has been put down to [...]
Pay growth remains subdued across manufacturing, warns industry body EEF May 18, 2016 Average pay settlements across manufacturing have been subdued since the start of the year, stuck under two per cent. In the second major wage bargaining round of the year pay deals have averaged 1.7 per cent, according to EEF’s latest Pay Bulletin Survey. But it's not just manufacturing that's feeling the pinch. A separate report [...]
Staples dragged down by failed Office Depot merger May 18, 2016 Staples, the US office supplies retailer that was forced to cancel its plans for a takeover of Office Depot earlier this month, has posted first quarter results marginally ahead of analyst estimates. The retailer reported quarterly sales fell by three per cent to $5.10bn, blaming store closures that knocked revenue growth by around two per cent, and a strong dollar. Staples said [...]
China’s Midea is gunning for German industrial robot maker Kuka with one of the largest ever unsolicited approaches of a foreign company by a Chinese buyer May 18, 2016 Chinese home-appliance maker Midea is plotting a takeover attempt of German industrial robot maker Kuka, in a deal that values the German company at $5bn (£3.4bn). If it goes ahead it would be one of the largest unsolicited approaches of a foreign company by a Chinese buyer. The deal is the latest in a round of recent tie-ups and investments in [...]
Target’s earnings come in ahead of expectations, but revenue falls short in the first quarter sending shares south May 18, 2016 US retailer Target has posted mixed results for its last three months of trading, beating expectations on profit but missing on like-for-like sales. The second-largest discount retailer in the US behind Walmart reported net earnings for the three months to 30 April came in at $632m (£433m) or $1.29 per share, down slightly on the same period of 2015. [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 18, 2016 Japan avoids a recession and the oil price could be about to climb over $50 per barrel for the first time this year. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 2:30pm London time. Markets look flat before the open. S&P futures are dead-centre, not even a point off. The Nasdaq is down by 0.01 [...]
The Nokia brand is as tough as the 3310 and is making a come back: Microsoft offloads Nokia handset business to Foxconn for $350m while Finnish company HMD picks up licences May 18, 2016 After Microsoft bought Nokia's handset business in 2014 we thought the 1990's icon Nokia would be gone from phone shops for good. Now it looks as though the brand is a tough as its famously indestructible 3310, after being revived by a sell off from software behemoth Microsoft. Microsoft, after just yesterday revealing its stance on Brexit, has passed on its mobile [...]
Worldpay set to team up with accountancy software firms May 11, 2016 Payments processor Worldpay is set to team up with some of the UK’s largest accountancy software firms as it continues to move towards serving small and medium-sized businesses. Worldpay yesterday unveiled a tablet-based till to further its push into the SME market and is in talks with accountancy software companies over potential tie-ups that would [...]
