Fielding expertise: WeFarm founder Kenny Ewan on mangoes, peer reviews, and foot and mouth December 14, 2015 Look on the We Farm home page, and you’ll see a feed of questions like, “please, I need a reason as to why my coffee leaves are changing into yellow”. Answer: “It’s mainly due to lack of nitrogen. Foliar spray with a good foliar fertiliser like Omex will help clear this.” Or, “what is the [...]
Cracking the emerging company finance problem – Invest Comment December 14, 2015 An important sector of the UK economy – private companies making profits of between £1m and £5m each year – is not getting the attention it deserves. These firms (also known as emerging companies) don’t grab the headlines like large FTSE 100 businesses. Nor do they receive the media coverage enjoyed by fast-growth startups. And [...]
How Christmas bonuses can turn into a festive disaster December 14, 2015 As we gallop, reindeer like, towards Christmas, thoughts will be turning to the gesture of “measured generosity” that is the discretionary Christmas bonus. It should be uncontroversial: a mark of appreciation that will help staff pay for their retail pleasures over the festive season. If employers get it wrong, however, they could face expensive claims from [...]
Philanthropy is at the heart of the City – and there are more ways to give than ever December 14, 2015 With only 11 days left until Christmas, streets that until recently were sparse and drab with winter gloom are now transformed. People stride around with rolls of wrapping paper, tinsel glints in shop windows, and gingerbready aromas waft down Cheapside. It’s a unique time when the City community is even closer than normal. Our minds [...]
City Moves for 14 December 2015 | Who’s switching jobs December 13, 2015 MARKETFORM Robert Brown has joined specialist underwriting firm Marketform as global practice leader of its M&A Insurance operations, heading up a team specialist underwriters and lawyers who are responsible underwriting complex transactions to provide bespoke warranty and indemnity and tax insurance products. Robert has more than 20 years’ worth of underwriting experience and has previously [...]
Fed revs up for historic lift in US interest rates – New York Report December 13, 2015 Stock market investors are ready for the first US Federal Reserve interest rate hike in nearly a decade this week, but they may not be fully prepared for all of the nuanced remarks likely to accompany that announcement. If the Fed lays out an aggressive schedule of future rate increases, stock markets could become very [...]
Digital Single Market: The impact for marketers December 13, 2015 The European Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy aims to remove cross-border regulation, making it easier for digital businesses to operate across Europe. The EU estimates that it could add €415bn to GDP and create 3.8m extra jobs. The Commission’s latest proposals, released last week, cover copyright and digital contracts, and seek to make it easier [...]
Donald Trump will lose his presidential campaign – but what he represents isn’t going anywhere December 13, 2015 Donald Trump, for all that he is pushing his supposed novelty as the great reason fearful Americans should vote for him, is actually part of a very old American story, even if he is probably personally unaware of this. Before dispatching him to the obscurity he so richly deserves, it is important to place Trump [...]
The rise of the portfolio economy means starting a business is no longer such a high risk gamble December 13, 2015 Starting a business used to be like putting all your chips on red. You won big or you went home empty-handed. With dreams of taking on the world, entrepreneurs had more in common with those who pack their bags for Las Vegas than serious business people. It meant quitting the day job and gambling hard-earned [...]
As the FOMC meets this week, is it now imperative that the US Fed starts hiking interest rates? December 13, 2015 Didier Saint-Georges, managing director at Carmignac, says Yes There are good reasons to be worried by the Fed’s rate rise, as growth remains very shaky everywhere, including in the US. Janet Yellen is obviously acutely aware of this economic fragility, and we would hope she isn’t fooled by headline employment numbers. But the case for [...]
