Huge surge in top paid staff at Bank of England June 17, 2014 THE NUMBER of staff paid more than £80,000 per year at the Bank of England shot up more than three-fold in the past year, its annual report showed yesterday. Overall headcount increased by more than 50 per cent in the year to February 2014, to 3,625 – largely as a result of the Bank taking ex-Financial Services [...]
Sales warning wipes £156m off Xaar stock June 17, 2014 PRINTING group Xaar led the FTSE 250 fallers yesterday, after warning that its revenues for the year would miss expectations. The firm said its ceramic tile division, the largest part of the business, had been hit by increased competition. Xaar’s shares tumbled 27.7 per cent on the news that 2014 revenues are set to fall [...]
Indie artists Adele and Arctic Monkeys set to disappear from YouTube June 17, 2014 Independent artists such as the Adele and the Arctic Monkeys will disappear from YouTube in the coming days, Google has confirmed, as the search giant gears up to launch its own subscription music service that required labels to sign up to new contractual terms. Labels representing 10 per cent of the industry declined.
Shares in software group Adobe head for the cloud June 17, 2014 SOFTWARE giant Adobe Systems last night topped growth expectations on the strength of its cloud computing wares. The Nasdaq-listed group said revenues totalled $1.07bn (£631m) in the second quarter, beating its targeted range of between $1bn and $1.05bn. Operating income rose 22 per cent to $135m. More than half of its revenues came from subscription [...]
WPP snaps up Dutch outfit June 17, 2014 WPP yesterday said it was taking over Dutch marketing strategy consultant EffectiveBrands for an undisclosed sum. The deal, made through WPP’s media research arm Millward Brown, would see EffectiveBrands combine its client list of Pernod Ricard, Barclays, Unilever and PepsiCo with the WPP firm to create a new unit called Millward Brown Vermeer. EffectiveBrands made [...]
Daisy Group is on the hunt for more deals with new warchest June 17, 2014 DAISY Group, the Aim-listed telecoms provider, is targeting further acquisitions and has renegotiated its £200m borrowing facilities to fund new deals. Yesterday the firm reported its operating loss had widened 6.5 per cent to £17.9m during the year to 31 March, due to the increased costs associated with its recent purchases. “We’re highlighting that we [...]
Brand Index: Most Brits betting on a crackdown on gambling firms June 17, 2014 GAMBLING in Britain is booming. The advent of online and mobile betting platforms means punters can now place bets anytime, anywhere and on pretty much anything. Britons are set to bet £1bn on the World Cup this summer. However, the betting bonanza has led to criticism. Bookmakers have been grilled over the presence of fixed-odds [...]
RSA kicks off $500m disposal of Asian outfit as part of overhaul June 17, 2014 BRITISH insurer RSA is to sell its Asian business as part of its group-wide restructuring, sources close to the potential deal have revealed. RSA, which is headed by former RBS boss Stephen Hester, embarked on a plan to streamline the business following an announcement in February. The group was hit by heavy losses owing to [...]
Shell sells down stake in Aussie firm Woodside June 17, 2014 Royal Dutch Shell yesterday announced the sale of a 19 per cent shareholding in Australia-based Woodside Petroleum, reducing its share to just 4.5 per cent. The sale of shares back to Woodside is part of a two-year, $15bn (£8.85bn) divestment plan designed to improve its financial performance. The divestment will provide Shell with £3.36bn in [...]
Tory peer Lord Spicer decides to step down from EnergyUK June 17, 2014 Lord Spicer, the former chair of the Conservative 1922 committee, is stepping down from chairing EnergyUK – the industry’s trade association – just as the domestic energy market is coming under intense political pressure. According to Sky News, Lord Spicer notified EnergyUK’s board earlier this year of his decision. Angela Knight, the former chief executive [...]
