Mergers and acquisitions reach highest volumes since the financial crisis December 22, 2014 This year, mergers and acquisitions climbed to their greatest volumes since the height of the financial crisis. Worldwide, the takeover deals amounted to $3.34tn in value – a 47 per cent increase compared with 2013. The last time they amounted to more than this was in 2007. According to the Financial Times, the [...]
Christmas comes early in the Singleton house: Sports Direct non-executive director gives wife £244,300 in shares December 22, 2014 A non-executive director at Sports Direct has given £244,300 worth of company shares to his wife “by way of gift”. In a company announcement made earlier today, the British retailing group revealed that David Singleton gave 35,000 of the shares to Elizabeth Singleton. The shares, each worth 698 pence, were held beneficially by him. [...]
Alstom pays record fine of $772m to US Department of Justice for bribery charges December 22, 2014 Alstom has pleaded guilty to charges of bribery by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and must now pay a penalty fine of $772m. The French engineering firm has admitted to giving money to government officials in countries such as Indonesia, India and China, in order to win business from them. The DOJ [...]
Why have oil prices dropped? Gulf states blame non-Opec members December 21, 2014 Arab Gulf ministers have argued that tumbling oil prices are not the fault of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), and maintain that their countries will not cut oil production to counteract the fall. The permanent, intergovernmental organisation comprises 12 member states, many of which are in the Middle East. The group [...]
A bad year for predictions: Number of UK company profit warnings reaches highest point since middle of financial crisis December 21, 2014 It has been a bad year for UK companies trying to accurately predict their profits. According to a report by financial services firm EY, the number of profit warnings issued by the UK's largest listed companies in 2014 was higher than in any year since the height of the financial crisis. During the [...]
Did North Korea hack into Sony Pictures? Obama considers putting Pyongyang back on terror list following release of private emails and film script December 21, 2014 In 2008, the White House took North Korea off its terrorism watch list when Pyongyang agreed to a full verification of its nuclear sites. Until that point, the country's covert attitude had led to suspicion in the West that the sites were being used to develop nuclear weapons. But now the US is considering reversing [...]
Winter solstice 2014: Why is today the shortest day of the year? December 21, 2014 Today is the winter solstice 2014, meaning the time between sunrise and sunset is less than on any other day of the year. Once darkness sets in this afternoon, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will have been exposed to total 7 hours and 50 minutes of sunlight. By comparison, yesterday we [...]
The six most important scientific breakthroughs of 2014 December 14, 2014 From medicine to space exploration and the history of life on Earth, almost every aspect of science has been touched by an important discovery this year. New ways have been developed for treating some of the world's deadliest diseases, while physicists have delved even deeper into the subatomic world to enhance our understanding of [...]
Smartphones compared: How much storage do they really have? December 13, 2014 Most smartphones do not have as much free storage available as the companies that produce them claim, according to a new study by reviewing service Which? By looking at eight of the most popular smartphones, they found that a phone with an advertised 16 gigabytes of storage could have as little as 10 gigabytes [...]
David Miliband hints at return to politics but still supports his brother as leader of the Labour party December 13, 2014 David Miliband, brother of Labour leader Ed Miliband, has indicated that he may return to a career in politics. In 2013, the former Labour foreign secretary stepped down as MP when he was defeated by his brother in an election battle for party leadership. He moved to New York instead, where he worked as [...]
