Balfour Beatty lands £214m contract to extend world’s largest mall March 21, 2014 Infrastructure Balfour Beatty has announced the award of a £214m contract in downtown Dubai for Emaar Properties PJSC. The expansion of the world's largest shopping centre, the Dubai Mall, will involve construction of a new fashion avenue and will allow the mall toincrease its annual capacity to over 100m visitors. Balfour Beatty CEO Andrew McNaughton [...]
Asian markets rise after biggest fall for seven months March 21, 2014 Asian shares have gained ground after suffering the biggest loss since August yesterday. The dollar strengthened on Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's suggestion that interest rates could rise in the first six months of 2015. Markets continue watch events in Ukraine unfold while Russia and the US traded sanctions. The US has imposed sanctions on [...]
Aberdeen Asset Management gets the go-ahead for SWIP deal March 20, 2014 Europe's largest fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management has been given the go-ahead by regulators for the acquisition of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP). The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed its consent for the deal on Thursday and the acquisition is now expected to be completed following the close of business on 31 March. Martin Gilbert, [...]
BAE Systems raises concerns over Scottish independence March 20, 2014 Defence giant BAE Systems has announced a profit before tax of £422m for the year ended 31 December. The figure is significantly down from the £1.2bn the company enjoyed last year. The company had a one off impairment charge this year relating to the accounting of goodwill in parts of its US business – that [...]
Alcohol escalator scrapped but these sin taxes are still hitting the poorest hardest March 20, 2014 Beer drinkers raised a glass yesterday as the chancellor cut beer duty by 1p and abolished the alcohol duty escalator. Whiskey drinkers also enjoyed rare victory in the form of a freeze on the spirit as did cider drinkers. Bingo enthusiasts saw the bingo tax halved, with the chancellor giving a special mention to the [...]
Rank Group to hike investment in wake of bingo tax cut March 19, 2014 European gaming business Rank Group has announced a new programme of investment and job creation in response to George Osborne's halving of bingo duty from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. The company said it had identified a number of new towns where it will be able to develop new bingo clubs. Rank Group [...]
Shares in bookies crash as Osborne hikes taxes on betting machines March 19, 2014 Some of Britain's leading bookmakers are taking a beating after George Osborne announced that the tax on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) would be raised from 20 per cent to 25 per cent. Shares in Ladbrokes have crashed by 12 per cent while William has suffered a decline of six per cent. Investec specialist bank [...]
40p tax threshold rises by one per cent March 19, 2014 George Osborne has left those who were hoping for a significant rise in the 40p tax band disappointed, after he announced a one per cent rise from annual incomes of £41,451 in the current financial year to £41,866 next month. HMRC have said the government's decision will see the number of people paying the 40p [...]
Personal tax allowance raised to £10,500 March 19, 2014 The chancellor has announced a rise in the personal allowance from £10,000 to £10,500. However, there had been significant argument as to whether tax cuts would be most effective when directed at the personal allowance or national insurance contributions (NICs). According to polling from KPMG, more than a fifth of firms backed a reduction in [...]
Chancellor slashes bingo tax March 19, 2014 In good news for Bingo enthusiasts the chancellor has announced a cut in tax on the profits of Bingo halls from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, five per cent lower than other forms of gambling. The chancellor gave credit to the campaign waged to cut the tax by Tory MP Robert Halfon. In [...]
