Sainsbury’s share price rises as it paves the way for Argos takeover with £1.3bn bid for Home Retail Group – and HRG board is backing the deal February 2, 2016 Sainsbury's has made an 11th hour offer for Home Retail Group, upping its bid to a total of £1.3bn. Under the terms of the deal, Home Retail Group investors will received 0.321 Sainsbury's shares and 55p in cash per share. They will also receive around 25p per share and a further 2.8p instead of the dividend due to [...]
Is the BG-Shell deal offering value to investors? Why we must adopt new world thinking to navigate oil price peaks and troughs February 2, 2016 Before the invention of the marine chronometer in the 1750s, choppy waters and treacherous currents prevented the calculation of longitude when at sea. Sailors charting a route were forced to rely upon dead reckoning to set their course. Today’s captains of industry coping with similarly volatile conditions are often accused of taking a similar approach. Shell’s Ben Van [...]
How is London going to pay for all that infrastructure? The future success of our vibrant, world class city depends on it. February 2, 2016 £1.3 trillion is not a number you come across often, but when you do it is a figure that is so incomprehensible, you might as well use the term ‘infinite’. However, £1.3 trillion is the sum devised by City Hall for the funding required to meet London’s infrastructure needs by 2050. That’s £37.1bn a year for [...]
Mayoral elections 2016: Whether it’s Sadiq Khan or Zac Goldsmith, whoever takes over from Boris Johnson must maintain London’s momentum February 2, 2016 With less than four months to go to the London mayor election, it’s good news that all the main candidates have been keen to stress their support of business. Despite its reputation as a leading business centre, London cannot take its position as a truly global city for granted. London’s reputation has been hard won [...]
Boots to cut up to 350 jobs as part of plans to simplify chemist business February 1, 2016 Boots is to cut between 300 and 350 managerial roles from its UK stores as part of a wider move to simplify the business. The chemist, which was bought by Walgreens in 2014, has started consultation with its assistant store managers in the larger stores across the country. Although it admitted some of the job cuts would come [...]
UK weather: Storm Henry to continue the UK’s unsettled weather – but is it worse than usual, or are we just noticing it more because of the names? February 1, 2016 It maybe a new month but the stormy UK weather hasn’t changed its tune Scotland will take the brunt of Storm Henry as it sweeps in from the Atlantic through today and into Tuesday, with an amber warning having been issued for the whole of the country. The low pressure system is rapidly deepening and widespread [...]
Tube strike 6 to 8 February 2016: New RMT dates to disrupt TfL services over jobs dispute February 1, 2016 Transport union RMT is planning a 48-hour Tube strike beginning this Saturday and running until Monday evening, this time over job cuts on the London Underground. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will down tools from 9pm on 6 February and continue until the same time on Monday night over a long-standing dispute regarding [...]
National Sickie Day: Technology is making it easier for people to call in sick – and absenteeism is costing businesses ever more February 1, 2016 Has half of your office failed to turn up to work today? There might be a reason for that – and if the boss finds out, someone might be about to get into trouble. Today is dubbed "National Sickie Day" – the day of the year with the highest number of people calling in sick. [...]
Premier Oil share price surges 115 per cent as two week suspension over E.On part-acquisition lifts February 1, 2016 Premier Oil's share price surged more than 100 per cent in early trading this morning, after the business started trading again following a two-week suspension. Shares lept as much as 115 per cent to 41p, and closed up 89.47 per cent at 36p. The shares were suspended on 13 January, when the energy business announced it [...]
China authorities arrest 21 executives from P2P lending scheme Ezubao on suspicion of running a Ponzi scheme February 1, 2016 Chinese authorities have arrested 21 executives from the country's largest peer-to-peer money lending platform on suspicion of stealing money from nearly a million investors – which could make it the world's largest Ponzi scheme. Reports from local media suggest investors have lost 50bn yuan (£5.3bn), which managers at Euzbao stole from around 900,000 investors. If true, it [...]
