FTSE 100 recovers from two-year lows as ‘Santa rout’ hits US markets December 21, 2018 The FTSE closed slightly up at 6,721 points after recovering from a slide caused by a “Santa rout” on Wall Street and Donald Trump threatening a US government shutdown. The blue chip index plunged to a fresh two-year low of 6,653 as President Donald Trump threatened a “very long” government shutdown over funding for his border wall. [...]
BP to offload US oil assets in effort to fund BHP acquisition December 19, 2018 BP is planning to raise over $3bn (£2.4bn) by offloading assets in the US as it looks to pay for a deal to buy oil fields from BHP. The sales will help the company fund its $10.5bn acquisition of onshore assets in Texas and Louisiana from BHP, sources told Reuters. BP has in the past said [...]
Global markets rally on improved US-China trade relations December 3, 2018 Markets worldwide rallied this morning on the news that China and the US had pulled back from the brink in their escalating trade war. The FTSE 100 was up 145 points on 7,125, the FTSE 250 up 250 points to 18,730 and the FTSE all-share was up 73 points on 3,896. Among the biggest risers [...]
PwC loses FTSE 100 client crown in audit pass-the-parcel December 3, 2018 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the UK’s biggest accountancy firm, has had its crown – holding the highest number of FTSE 100 clients – snatched by rival KPMG. It is the first time PwC has lost its position as the leading auditor of the UK’s top blue-chip firms. KPMG now audits 28 FTSE 100 firms, to PwC’s 27, [...]
Miner BHP Billiton settles £300m tax bill with Australian authorities over sales at Singapore branch November 19, 2018 One of the world’s largest mining companies has settled a tax bill for half a billion Australian dollars. Authorities alleged that BHP Billiton owes a further AU$661m (£376m) in tax, and over AU$1bn when including interest and penalties, on goods sold through its Singapore-based marketing business. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) said that between 2003 and 2013 the miner [...]
Global dividends reach record levels but UK held back by weak pound November 19, 2018 Global dividends rose to $354bn (£276bn) as corporate profits led to record third quarter payouts but the UK was stunted by a weaker pound. The amount paid to the shareholders of the world's 1,200 largest companies rose 5.1 per cent in the third quarter, according to a report from asset manager Janus Henderson. Underlying growth [...]
It’s time to go with the flow: The UK needs to accept global economic competition and come out on top November 4, 2018 UK 1-1 Rest of the world. So reads the scoreboard from two recent corporate stories: Dyson’s decision to produce its electric cars in Singapore and Unilever’s to stay put in London. With Brexit beckoning, there is more focus than ever in Britain on its place in the world, and how that can be affected by [...]
Shale fail: BHP to return $10.4bn to shareholders after selling US shale assets to BP November 1, 2018 BHP has revealed plans to return $10.4bn (£8.1bn) to shareholders after the sale of its US shale assets to BP. The deal – BP's largest acquisition in two decades – was confirmed on Wednesday after being agreed in July. Anglo-Australian miner BHP announced its arrival on the shale market in 2011 buying fields in Texas [...]
Shell enjoys one of its ‘strongest ever quarters’ on oil price rise November 1, 2018 Shell reported a 37 per cent profit rise to $5.6bn (£4.35bn) as higher oil prices helped the company to one of its strongest ever quarters. The figures The oil giant reported cash flow of $12.1bn from its operations in the three months to the end of September, a 59 per cent on the previous same [...]
BP more than doubles profits on stronger oil prices as it aims to close $10.5bn BHP deal October 30, 2018 BP has more than doubled its profits for its latest quarter, telling investors it could complete its $10.5bn (£8.2bn) purchase of BHP assets in cash as early as tomorrow. The oil and gas giant said its underlying profit for the quarter was $3.8bn, more than double its profit for the same period in 2017 – [...]