Consumers set for a win-win in 2015 as competition pushes down prices February 3, 2015 Food prices have fallen by the steepest amount on record, figures released today show. Food prices dropped by 0.5 per cent year-on-year in January, down from 0.1 growth in December, according to data released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Meanwhile, overall shop prices saw deflation for the 21st month in a row. Shop prices [...]
Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lloyds and RBS credit ratings slashed as states promise no more bailouts February 3, 2015 Britain’s biggest banks saw their credit ratings chopped back last night by Standard and Poor’s, as the agency believes the government is serious in its promise to let bad banks fail. While ratings are normally cut when a firm performs poorly, in this case the move reflects the shift in risk from the taxpayer and [...]
Well that’ll wake you up February 3, 2015 EARLY risers saw a dusting of snow on the parks and pathways around London yesterday, including these brave gents having a quick dip in the Serpentine pond at Hyde Park. With only an icing sugar dusting of one to two centimetres in London, the city and the south-east got off lightly from the Met office [...]
Tesco pays out £1.2m to former chief executive February 3, 2015 TESCO has reluctantly agreed to hand over more than £2m in payments withheld from its former chief executive and former chief financial officer in the wake of last year’s shock £263m profit scandal. Britain’s biggest supermarket said yesterday that it will pay Philip Clarke £1.22m and Laurie McIlwee £970,880 in “liquidated damages” after lifting suspensions [...]
Ratings agency fined $1.4bn for its role leading up to global financial crisis February 3, 2015 STANDARD and Poor’s has become the first credit ratings agency to be fined for its role leading up to the 2007 financial crisis after negotiating a $1.4bn (£920m) deal with US regulators. The US Justice Department filed civil fraud charges against S&P in 2013 and accused the company of misleading investors by rating complex securities [...]
Manufacturers line up for Arm’s blockbuster smartphone chip February 3, 2015 BRITISH chip designer Arm Holdings last night unveiled its next generation in mobile processors which it says will make next year’s smartphones 50 times more powerful than those from five years ago. The FTSE 100 firm’s marketing chief Ian Drew said the new high end chip design, known as the ARM Cortex-A72 processor, already has [...]
Rocky market could prompt oil mega-mergers as price fall forces drastic decisions February 3, 2015 After six months of falling oil prices, analysts have pointed to a possible mega-merger between the majors. Chances of a shock deal have been heightened by firms slashing their spending in the face of oil prices that are expected to remain low for at least the next six months and possibly the next three years. [...]
Brent rallies as US rigs decline February 3, 2015 A DROP in the number of US oil drilling rigs has given the oil market a slight boost, with the Brent crude increasing by 3.1 per cent yesterday. The benchmark price moved up to as high as $59 a barrel. Analysts at Numis also pointed to strikes at US plants with a combined 10 per [...]
Ocado says it is at forefront of food revolution February 3, 2015 Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner said the “online grocery revolution” taking place will only help to further distance his firm from rivals and stay ahead of the market, as it posted its first ever full-year profit. The online grocer made an adjusted pre-tax profit of £10.1m in the year to 30 November compared with £3.8m [...]
Analyst Views: What was your reaction to Ocado’s full-year results performance? February 3, 2015 CLIVE BLACK | SHORE CAPITAL Ocado has worked out how to deliver baked beans, ice cream, Jaffa cakes and chipotle chillies without booking a bottom line loss. We welcome the passing over of this financial threshold by the group. However, we may need to remain patient for Ocado to deliver material earnings per share (EPS). [...]
