China fears and EU vote could derail plans to raise interest rates in 2016 September 23, 2015 The first UK interest rate hike could be delayed be until 2017 due to the uncertainty created by an in-out referendum on Britain’s EU membership, economists have said. Investment bank Citi yesterday said it was slashing its global growth rate forecasts and shifted its prediction for the first Bank of England rate hike to final [...]
Bug has £25m sting for United September 23, 2015 United Utilities (UU) said yesterday its profits fell by £25m after a water bug was found to have contaminated water supplies in Lancashire. Over 300,000 people were affected over the summer, and forced to boil water so it was safe to drink. UU said compensation costs and extensive additional resources were behind the fall in [...]
Who will pay Edward Bramson’s tab for TGI Fridays bid? September 23, 2015 Perhaps Edward Bramson just likes caravan holidays. There are few other obvious reasons why the prominent activist investor is returning for a second bout of City-style pugilism with Electra Private Equity. Electra, the owner of Park Resorts and TGI Fridays, has barely recovered from its bruising (but victorious) encounter with Bramson’s investment vehicle, [...]
UK hotel prices: Scotland drags down average cost of a hotel room in first half September 23, 2015 UK hotel prices fell by one per cent in the first half of the year, with hotels in Scotland experiencing the biggest decline, new research shows. Guests paid an average room rate of £104 per night in the first half of the year, according to The Hotels Price Index (HPI), a survey by online accommodation [...]
City Moves for 24 September 2015 | Who’s switching jobs September 23, 2015 ALLIANZ GLOBAL CORPORATE & SPECIALTY Brian Kirwan has been appointed chief executive of Allianz’s UK corporate and specialty insurance business. He joined the company in 2011, and was most recently regional unit London head of market management and communications. Kirwan has also previously held executive positions in the Allianz risk transfer division. LEGAL & GENERAL [...]
Demand fears hit materials – New York Report September 23, 2015 LOSSES in materials and energy shares as weak Chinese and US factory data added to growth worries led to US stocks ending down slightly yesterday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 50.58 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 16,279.89, the S&P 500 lost 3.98 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 1,938.76 and the Nasdaq Composite [...]
London can come out on top in the era of job-killing robots September 23, 2015 Scary, scary robots. If you believe the hype, robots are coming for your job, your society and everything you hold dear. A widely publicised report argued that 35 per cent of jobs in the UK could be destroyed by automation and computerisation (which is what “robots” have come to mean in the shorthand of [...]
Jeremy Corbyn’s big state policies would be disastrous for long-term economic UK growth September 23, 2015 Over the coming months, the new leader of the opposition and his shadow chancellor are likely to set out a very different economic worldview, with policies built on the premise that big is beautiful in the case of the size of the state. For many, this isn’t a great concern, with received wisdom that [...]
Volkswagen car emissions scandal: VW’s crisis shows the cost of having unclear values September 23, 2015 The scandal surrounding Volkswagen’s rigged emissions tests, which may affect 11m vehicles, has rightly caused outrage. The carmaker is in crisis, its chief executive has resigned, consumers are shocked, and Volkswagen’s share price has dropped by nearly a third. The company announced that it is setting aside almost £5bn to cover the costs, although [...]
As chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigns, will Volkswagen survive the emissions tests catastrophe? September 23, 2015 Bill Blain, strategist at Mint Partners. style ‘Donut’, says Yes Speculation that Volkswagen is doomed is way-wide of the mark. Suffer? Yes. Dead? By no means. Markets overreact – at some point its deeply discounted share price and suddenly toxic bond issues will be a screaming buy. The question is when – and it’s not [...]
