What the other papers say this morning – 29 May 2014 May 28, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Performance comparison made easy Investors will find it easier to compare the performance of companies around the world following the culmination of a 12-year project to bring together US and international revenue reporting. Accounting regulators in the US and Europe on Wednesday published a joint standard on how companies report revenue from contracts [...]
Tablet market in slowdown as shipments drop May 28, 2014 GLOBAL tablet shipments fell during the first quarter of 2014, according to new research, the first fall since Apple’s iPad launched in 2010. Shipments dropped from 59m units in the first quarter of 2013 to 56.3m units in the first quarter of this year, according to research firm NPD. “The wider trend is that clearly [...]
Centrica set for major shakeup May 28, 2014 BRITISH Gas managing director Chris Weston is to step down this week, and is now reportedly in advanced talks to take over as chief executive of Aggreko. The move would indicate that a major reorganisation is in the offing at Centrica, the parent company of British Gas. Chief executive Sam Laidlaw is also said to [...]
London house price boom set to cool down May 28, 2014 LONDON’S housing market is likely to slow down over the summer and return to normal levels of growth in the coming years, Britain’s biggest building society said today. Prices in the capital have shot up by as much as 20 per cent in the last year, but are likely to gradually slow down to increase [...]
GSK shares survive opening of fraud squad investigation May 28, 2014 INVESTORS selling Glaxosmithkline shares in the wake of a Serious Fraud Office probe wiped just 36p off each Glaxo share yesterday, as shareholders shrugged off the investigation. The company, which is the UK’s biggest pharmaceutical firm, said on Tuesday it was under investigation by the SFO over its commercial practices, thought to centre on ongoing [...]
Co-Op plugs a £400m hole May 28, 2014 THE CO-OP Bank has filled its £400m capital hole, the lender said last night, as existing investors stumped up the majority of the funds needed. It issued 200m new shares to fill the gap created by problems such as bad loans from the crisis era. Hedge funds and the Co-op Group, who already owned the [...]
General Electric sweetens bid for Alstom with jobs promise May 28, 2014 GENERAL Electric (GE) is offering an improved deal for French engineering firm Alstom, according to comments from the chief executive and a softer stance from the country’s government. CEO Jeff Immelt reportedly pledged directly to President Francois Hollande that he would create an extra 1,000 jobs for the firm if GE, rather than Germany’s Siemens, sees [...]
Google to put driverless cars on the roads May 28, 2014 GOOGLE is rolling out 100 self-driving cars in California, in a trial the tech giant hopes will pave the way for widespread global use. After clocking up 700,000 miles of autonomous driving in adapted cars, Google is ready to put its specially-built driverless vehicles onto the streets. The prototypes have space for two passengers, operate [...]
Barnett shifts Woodford fund May 28, 2014 EDINBURGH Investment Trust’s new manager Mark Barnett has overhauled the fund he inherited from Neil Woodford this year – helping him beat the stock market. Barnett has cut the £1.4bn trust’s top two holdings – Astrazeneca and Glaxosmithkline – from 9.2 per cent to 4.5 per cent and 9.1 per cent to 4.9 per cent [...]
Stryker denies bid for UK rival May 28, 2014 AMERICAN medical devices maker Stryker yesterday denied any intention of making a bid for UK rival Smith & Nephew, whose shares had spiked higher after a report that its US rival was planning a bid. “At the request of the UK Takeover Panel, Stryker confirms that it does not intend to make an offer for Smith [...]
