HS2 deluged by 11,000 complaints on postcards April 9, 2014 Spare a thought for the post room at Golder Associates, the company hired by the Department for Transport to assess the environmental effects of High Speed 2. The consultancy recently received some 7,500 postcards entitled “Don’t miss your chance to tell David Cameron the only AONB [area of outstanding natural beauty] on the route of [...]
Why one analyst is so bearish on BT April 9, 2014 BT’s shares have been cooling for the past month, falling around 10 per cent, and now broker Bernstein has downgraded BT to “market-perform” on fears it may overspend on upcoming Premier League auction. “BT's ambition in TV is clear, what is not is how far they are willing to push Sky in the next round [...]
Why one analyst loves construction firm Carillion April 9, 2014 Construction services firm Carillion’s share price has soared over five per cent today, after an upgrade from Cantor Fitzgerald. The research note put a “buy” recommendation on the FTSE 250 firm and increased its target price to 420p from 350p, in part due to a strengthened order book and downsizing of the struggling UK construction [...]
UK exports fall to November 2010 low April 9, 2014 After what the UK's statisticians call "erratic commodities" impacts, they've thrown caution on the latest release of monthly trade data. Exports fell by 1.6 per cent in the month of February, while imports dropped by 2.2 per cent, says the Office for National Statistics. But they recommend "users also focus on three month on three [...]
Complaints against financial services companies drop by 15 per cent April 9, 2014 The Financial Conduct Authority has announced that 2,479,029 complaints were opened against financial service firms between July and December 2013. That's down 15 per cent from the 2,911,154 complaints reported in the previous six month period. PPI claims saw the greatest number of claims, with 1,390,756 opened during the period. That number is down 22 [...]
Maria Miller: One down. More to go? April 9, 2014 The resignation of Maria Miller has come at last, and timing is everything. Those in Downing Street must have thought that facing a barrage from the opposition at Prime Minister's Questions today was too much to face. Some will try to frame the former Culture secretary as a victim of public outrages over trifling sums [...]
How the Modi trade is driving Indian stocks to a record high April 8, 2014 Markets are closed in India today (due to a bank holiday celebrating Ram Navami) but the lull gives some respite to the incredible run Indian equities have enjoyed this year, caused in part by a popular trade many large City fund managers have taken known as "the Modi trade". The trade itself is quite simple [...]
This company that supplies the cement sector is not having a good day April 8, 2014 Synthomer made the biggest losses on the FTSE 250 this morning, crashing nearly six per cent after a downgrade from JP Morgan. The shares have now slumped almost seven per cent. You might not have heard of this chemical company but they develop resins and polymers, used to coat, bind and attach pretty much anything [...]
Three industries that will be hit by the death of Windows XP April 8, 2014 Today Microsoft drops update support for Windows XP, the incredibly popular operating system it launched nearly 12 years ago, meaning any future bugs or security flaws discovered will never be fixed… This shouldn’t affect the majority of businesses who have upgraded to Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, but for the nearly 30 per cent [...]
FCA sets out terms for probe into bungled insurance probe April 8, 2014 It's all getting a bit meta at the Financial Conduct Authority. The regulator has set out its Term of Reference, for a probe into itself, after a briefing to The Telegraph saw billions wiped off the shares of insurers, just over a week ago. Investors were panicked by reports that a probe into the sector [...]