Royal Mail shares tumble as strikes threaten turnaround plan February 6, 2020 Royal Mail shares have tumbled more than eight per cent after it warned that the outlook for the next financial year “is challenging”, adding that threats of industrial action will hurt its turnaround plan. Revenue at the 500-year-old company grew 3.7 per cent in the nine months to the end of the year, however, as [...]
Nintendo warns coronavirus will dent console production February 6, 2020 Japanese games giant Nintendo has warned today that the coronavirus outbreak meant “unavoidable” delays to the production and shipping of its Switch console to Japan. The virus has now killed 563 people and infected more than 28,000 in China. Beijing has put the country on lockdown in a bid to contain the spread, limiting its [...]
Asian stocks soar after China halves US tariffs February 6, 2020 Asian stocks surged overnight after China announced it would halve tariffs on about 1,700 US goods in a bid to boost market sentiment amid the coronavirus outbreak. China’s Shanghai composite index finished 1.7 per cent higher, Japan’s Nikkei jumped 2.4 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.5 per cent. Beijing’s finance ministry said [...]
FTSE 100 and oil prices gain on reports of coronavirus vaccine ‘breakthrough’ February 5, 2020 The FTSE 100 and European stocks have staged a comeback after opening in the red, following reports that scientists may have found a breakthrough in developing a possible coronavirus treatment. Europe’s abrupt about-turn followed an overnight rise in Asian markets, where traders were buoyed by the prospect of additional stimulus from the Chinese government. Britain’s [...]
London is a third more productive than the rest of the UK February 5, 2020 Britain’s regional productivity gap has been laid bare by new statistics that showed London was 32 per cent more productive than the UK average in 2018. The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also showed that the south east further pulled away from the north east and Yorkshire in 2018 – the most [...]
Imperial Brands issues profit warning amid vaping crackdown February 5, 2020 UK tobacco giant Imperial Brands has warned that its first half earnings per share and full-year profit are likely to fall amid a global crackdown on e-cigarettes. Shares tumbled 9.5 per cent following today’s announcement, hitting 1,768p. In a trading statement, Imperial said the US’s ban on certain flavours of vapour devices or vapes, which [...]
UK services sector rebound beats expectations after election February 5, 2020 The UK services sector surged in January, according to new survey data, beating initial estimates to deliver its strongest growth in over a year after the December General Election brought some clarity to the economy. The IHS Markit/Cips index of services activity hit 53.9 in January, its best reading since September 2018. It was well [...]
Domino’s Pizza sales rise as firm seeks to offload foreign businesses February 5, 2020 Sales at Domino’s rose 3.7 per cent year on year to £352m in the final three months of last year, it said in a trading update today, as the UK pizza chain continues to try to sell its loss-making overseas businesses. The prompt-pizza pioneer’s international sales fell five per cent in the same period to [...]
BP profit plunges but oil giant beats expectations in Bob Dudley’s swansong February 4, 2020 Bob Dudley bowed out after a decade as BP’s chief executive today as the firm outperformed analyst expectations in the face of a challenging macroeconomic environment. Despite a 26 per cent fall in profit in the final quarter of 2019, the oil giant’s underlying replacement cost (RC) figure – BP’s definition of net income – [...]
FTSE 100 extends recovery from coronavirus sell-off February 4, 2020 Britain’s FTSE 100 has risen along with European markets as global stocks extend their recovery from a difficult last week that was marred by fears over coronavirus. Europe’s equity markets were buoyed by the rise in Asian stock markets overnight, which was driven by the Chinese government’s stimulus measures and better-than-expected US manufacturing data. Beijing [...]
