National Grid is planning a special dividend after the £14bn sale of its gas network December 8, 2016 Subsidiaries of China and Qatar's sovereign wealth funds are among the investors who have bought a 61 per cent stake in National Grid’s gas pipelines for £13.8bn, which will see £4bn returned to shareholders. National Grid said it had sold a 61 per cent equity interest in its NG Gas Distribution to a consortium of investors called the Quad [...]
Trading platforms must bet on a stable outcome December 8, 2016 Spreadbetters experienced the most modest of recoveries yesterday, with shares in IG Group gaining nearly six per cent, Plus500 climbing around three per cent and CMC Markets edging up just 1.3 per cent. Investors, given 24-hours to reflect on the previous day’s bloodbath, clearly did not find reason to significantly alter their view of the [...]
Italian PM Matteo Renzi resigns after crushing referendum defeat December 5, 2016 The euro dived to a 20-month low in the early hours of this morning after Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he would resign following a crushing defeat in the country’s referendum on constitutional reform. Voters comprehensively rejected Renzi’s flagship proposals to streamline parliament, predominantly by cutting the size and power of the Senate. At the time [...]
Bizarre by-election enters final straight December 1, 2016 Richmond's by-election has become rather surreal in the last couple of days. On Wednesday night Zac Goldsmith turned up to a crucial hustings an hour late, blaming the delay on a close encounter with a car driven by one of his own supporters (the vehicle clipped his leg and tore his trousers, Goldsmith told a [...]
Baulking boards to blame for pay probe November 28, 2016 Don't say you weren’t warned. Britain’s big listed companies have, in recent years, been told loud and clear – reform your executive pay structures before the government storms in and does it for you. The Institute of Directors, for example, has been preaching this message in the hope it could ward off any populist interventions [...]
Lewis is the last of a dying breed, says father of Formula One world champion November 25, 2016 British world champion Lewis Hamilton is the last of a dying breed of Formula One drivers from less privileged backgrounds and the sport will never see his like again, says his father Anthony Hamilton. In an exclusive interview with City A.M. Hamilton Sr also reveals his conviction that his son will defy the odds and [...]
Anthony Hamilton, father of three-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, tells the story behind his new project – Kicktrix November 25, 2016 How do you raise the next Andy Murray, the next Laura Trott, the next Gareth Bale? Anthony Hamilton, father and former manager of three-time Formula One world champion Lewis, should have some idea. Speaking to City A.M., Hamilton is intrigued when I mention a theory popularised by authors such as Malcolm Gladwell and Matthew Syed, [...]
Steady as she goes from Spreadsheet Phil November 24, 2016 It can't have been easy for George Osborne to watch his successor abolish one of the former chancellor’s favourite political devices. Philip Hammond ended his sober assessment of the public finances yesterday by declaring that the Autumn Statement will be no more. “No other economy makes hundreds of tax changes twice a year, and neither should [...]
From bunnies to Brexit – the government’s fiscal events are about to get a lot more serious November 23, 2016 Help to Buy, the National Living Wage, the New Isa, the Lifetime Isa, a tax on fizzy drinks – the list of George Osborne’s fiscal innovations was, until his departure from Downing Street, seemingly endless. During his time as chancellor, Osborne was especially keen to pull at least one rabbit out of his metaphorical hat [...]
Tech-tastic: May pledges billions to support tech champions as she fleshes out industrial strategy November 21, 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May will reveal details of her government’s flagship industrial strategy at a conference of business leaders today, promising billions in extra funding and potential tax breaks for a range of sectors. While insisting her plan is “not about picking winners”, she will identify several technology-related areas in the UK that the government [...]
