Keller encouraged by US market as European conditions worsen November 17, 2014 GROUND engineering specialist Keller said yesterday its financial performance was ahead of last year’s, but noted that the North American and European markets remained challenging, with order intake slowing over the past few months. During the period covering 1 July to 16 November, the company said revenue and operating profit were ahead of the comparable [...]
Cathay Pacific’s seating upgrade figures disappoint firm November 17, 2014 Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific yesterday reported slower than expected passenger traffic for October after an anticipated upswing in demand for its premium economy seats failed to materialise. The airline, which introduced premium cabins as a cheaper alternative to business class much later than many rivals, said that its passenger traffic increased five per cent [...]
Bank’s Andy Haldane invokes both tigers and doves for fighting low inflation November 17, 2014 Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane will today invoke doves and tigers as he warns that expectations of very low inflation in Britain could become entrenched. Haldane likened controlling inflation to taming a tiger. He added that while it looked as though central banks had succeeded, declining inflation expectations in many countries showed the [...]
World dividends expected to top $1 trillion in 2014 November 16, 2014 GLOBAL dividends reached $288.1bn (£184bn) – a record for the third quarter, according to the latest Henderson Global Dividend Index (HGDI) Although headline growth was modest at 3.8 per cent, compared to the third quarter of 2013, it masked a rapid year-on-year 9.7 per cent underlying increase, in line with the strong expansion seen in [...]
Britain must do more to scale up tech firms says LoveFilm and Zoopla investor Sherry Coutu November 16, 2014 Britain is great when it comes to helping tech startups, but we lag behind many countries when it comes to scaling-up these companies to reach their full potential, a report will reveal. The Scale-Up report is to be launched today at an event at Bloomberg’s London offices by its author, the investor and entrepreneur [...]
Nigeria factors in lower oil prices as it revises budget for next year November 16, 2014 Nigeria’s finance minister yesterday proposed lowering the assumed benchmark oil price for the country’s 2015 budget to $73 per barrel from the $78 proposed in September, due to the recent sharp fall in global crude prices. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said falling oil prices would impact Africa’s largest economy and top oil producer, requiring the government to [...]
Halliburton takeover attempt for Baker Hughes starts to turn nasty November 16, 2014 A fight for control of a major American oil field services company appears to be brewing, as Baker Hughes has disclosed that its larger rival Halliburton has threatened to replace its entire board. The move by Halliburton came after an impasse in merger talks between the two, which, if completed, would be one of the [...]
British companies considering hiring hackers to fight cyber criminals November 16, 2014 British companies are considering turning to ex-hackers in a bid to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals, according to latest research released today by KPMG. The professional services company surveyed 300 senior IT and human resources professionals in firms employing 500-plus staff to assess how they were protecting themselves against cyber security breaches. Nearly [...]
Labour vows to double fines on tax avoidance November 13, 2014 THE LABOUR Party yesterday pledged to double the fines on people who aggressively avoided tax, if it won the next election. Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said this would be a “tough and genuine deterrent”. Balls said Labour had supported the introduction of the government’s anti-abuse rule, which stated that if someone’s tax arrangement was found [...]
Eco-toilet firm Propelair flush with new funds November 13, 2014 CF Woodford Equity Income Fund, headed by top British fund manager Neil Woodford, yesterday agreed to pour £2.6m into toilet firm Propelair. Propelair will use the funds to support the expansion of its sales, marketing and installation teams. It will also provide working capital for the firm to widen its customer base and build stock [...]
