Miners look to asset sales for relief February 28, 2016 The mining industry is set for further pain this week, as Glencore and Fresnillo report preliminary results for 2015 tomorrow. Analysts are expecting a fall in pre-tax profit at Glencore of up to 80 per cent, as well as details of how the Switzerland based FTSE 100 miner will go about cutting its $13bn (£9.4bn) [...]
Steel sector renews calls for EU action February 28, 2016 The steel industry is calling on the government to fight for higher tariffs on imported steel at crunch talks in Brussels tomorrow. The European Union’s competitiveness council is set to debate whether further action should be taken to support the industry after Brussels imposed tariffs on some types of steel from China earlier this year. The [...]
GSK searches for successor amid break-up calls February 28, 2016 GlaxoSmithKline is gearing up its search for a successor to chief executive Sir Andrew Witty, as pressure mounts for a break-up of the company. Sir Andrew, who has increased the company’s share price by 20 per cent since taking the reins in 2008, is not expected to depart before 2017. A sharp downturn in GSK’s sales [...]
City Airport sold to consortium of Canadian and Kuwaiti investors led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Borealis Infrastructure February 25, 2016 City Airport has been sold to a consortium made up of Canadian and Kuwaiti investors, led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Borealis Infrastructure, for around £2bn. The group also includes AimCo and the infrastructure investment vehicle owned by the sovereign wealth fund of Kuwait, Wren House. It beat out bids from Chinese airline owner [...]
Oil price rises despite a hike in US stockpiles February 25, 2016 Oil bounced back late last night after losing ground earlier in the day. The rise was due to Venezuela reaffirming a mid-March meeting of oil producers that would include Saudi Arabia, Russia and Qatar. Saudi has been working to broker a deal with both Opec and non-Opec countries to stabilise prices that have slumped 70 per [...]
TalkTalk accuses Ofcom of dodging BT Openreach decision after digital review demands better access for rivals, sending BT’s share price soaring February 25, 2016 TalkTalk boss Dido Harding has slammed Ofcom for “kicking the Openreach can down the road”, after the telecoms regulator decided not to split off the infrastructure arm from BT. Ofcom yesterday released the results of its once-a-decade industry review that stopped short of demanding Openreach be hived off from BT, but said the option was still [...]
City brokers and small banks to escape bonus cap in EU review February 25, 2016 The European Commission has decided new rules on bankers’ bonus caps will have to be applied more flexibly or redrafted, City A.M. understands. Vera Jourova, the commissioner in charge of the pay rules, began looking into the cap after concerns were raised that city brokers and smaller banks would be hit by unnecessary administrative costs. The [...]
Capita share price falls after investors take fright at 50 per cent pre-tax profit slump February 25, 2016 Shares in professional services firm Capita, one of the country's major outsourcing companies, have slumped by more than five per cent this morning after a mixed set of results spooked investors. Capita revealed that profit before tax at the business dropped to £112.1m, from £292.4m in 2014 after the business took hits from business exits and impairment [...]
Energy crunch looming as older power stations turned offline February 25, 2016 The country is facing a fresh energy crisis according to a new report that suggests the gap between electricity supply and demand is shrinking. The research, carried out by law firm Bircham Dyson Bell, found emergency measures will keep the lights on, but will likely result in price spikes for both consumers and businesses. This [...]
Oil price climbs as US demand outpaces supply February 24, 2016 Oil prices bounced this evening after US petrol demand over the past four weeks offset a rise in crude oil stockpiles. Demand for petrol soared by over five per cent compared to a year ago, while stockpiles of oil in the US rose by 3.5m barrels in the week, hitting an all-time high of over 507m barrels. [...]
