Boris and Bob Crow talk for the first time in five years… but the Tube strike’s still on February 4, 2014 Bob Crow’s having a busy morning. The head of the RMT union is at City Hall with his counterpart at the TSSA to try and confront Boris Johnson and his transport staff about the looming Tube strike. The mayor, meanwhile, was in the middle of his regular phone-in show on LBC – so Crow phoned [...]
Construction growth leaps to August 2007 high February 4, 2014 Survey data is getting too hot to handle. The construction purchasing managers' index (PMI) has jumped from 62.1 to 64.6 in January, according to data compiled by Markit. So we're back to pre-crisis construction growth. Bad news for those worried that we're seeing overheating as the latest expansion in the housing sector is the steepest [...]
Snapshot Guide: How to navigate this week’s tube strike chaos February 4, 2014 With unions RMT and TSSA threatening to halt transport across the City this week, we've got a handy snapshot guide to getting yourself through the disruption. Strikes that London mayor Boris Johnson says are tantamount to holding London to ransom will begin on Tuesday, if no progress is made. Tubes will start running at 7am [...]
This Pick ‘n’ Mix giant is getting in the big guns February 3, 2014 (Flickr) The pick ‘n’ mix market may seem at the lower end of the corporate finance spectrum but it’s big business for private equity-backed Tangerine Confectionary, the northern-based manufacturer of some of the UK’s favourite sweets. Tangerine produces a host of iconic British sweets. Remember Black Jacks? Well, it makes them. And Fruit Salads? Yep [...]
Barclays’ CEO Jenkins turns down 2013 bonus February 3, 2014 Barclays chief Antony Jenkins has declined a bonus for last year, saying that it "would not be right" to take one. Jenkins said that he was "aware of the very significant costs which have been required to address legacy litigation and conduct issues in 2013, as well as to exit assets and businesses we no [...]
3 things to look out for in next week’s inflation report February 3, 2014 With no major changes expected at this week’s monetary policy committee meeting, eyes are already turning to next week’s inflation report by the Bank of England. Here’s what to look for. 1. Forward guidance will disengage from unemployment Bank governor Mark Carney’s comments at Davos suggest that the Bank is backing away from its seven [...]
BP and BG: Looking into the cryst-oil ball February 3, 2014 Hot on the heels of Royal Dutch Shell’s predictably poor results last week, the market is not feeling too optimistic over tomorrow’s corporate updates from FTSE 100 oil peers BP and BG. BG ‘did a Shell’ last week, slashing forecasts right, left and centre ahead of its results announcement, so the market already knows that [...]
Blinkx on the road to recovery after Hallmark deal February 3, 2014 Online video search company Blinkx started to turn around an otherwise disastrous week today with an announcement that it has done a major content deal with the US Hallmark TV Channel. Blinkx saw its share price collapse over 30 per cent on Thursday after a critical blog post by a Harvard business professor raised concerns [...]
Conservative MEP likens EU to Soviet Union February 3, 2014 Conservative MEP David Campbell-Bannerman has found a nice long stick to prod America with over its support of the EU. In a speech at the Margaret Thatcher Centre in Washington he likened Europe to “a lighter, less onerous Soviet Union” and told his American audience that it is ultimately “more foe than friend.” He went [...]
The battle for Smithfield Market is heating up. Here’s what you need to know February 3, 2014 As the day of public inquiry into the redevelopment the western end of Smithfield Market approaches, both sides – developer and multi-billion pound investment management firm Henderson on one side and SAVE Britain’s Heritage on the other – are gearing up with their respective arguments for and against Henderson’s proposed scheme. Here is a brief [...]
