Tobacco volumes decline in China for the first time in two decades and bring down global volumes June 20, 2016 Smokers in China stubbing out their cigarettes helped the world's largest tobacco market shrink last year, while Western Europe enjoyed growth. China consumed almost 60bn fewer cigarettes in 2015. As the Asian powerhouse accounted for around 45 per cent of global total volumes, this drove the worldwide total down 2.1 per cent to 5.5 trillion sticks, according to research [...]
The UK is about to become a world leader in artificial intelligence June 20, 2016 With the news that Magic Pony has been acquired by Twitter, we are witnessing a crucial turning point – five of the world’s biggest technology companies have now purchased UK-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies. See Magic Pony Technology and Twitter, SwiftKey and Microsoft, VocalIQ and Apple, DeepMind and Google, and Evi and Amazon. Over the coming days [...]
Luxury brands must adapt to slower growth, warns Italian designer label boss June 19, 2016 The boss of one of Italy's leading luxury goods makers has warned there will be no let-up in the sector's slowdown, a scenario which firms must adapt to. Speaking before the Salvatore Ferragamo menswear show at Milan Men's fashion week, chief executive Michele Norsa told Reuters: "Growth will not be as strong as in past years, when the Chinese [...]
EU referendum: UK Steel says industry crisis would worsen if Britain leaves the EU June 16, 2016 A leading industry body has warned that a Brexit would exacerbate the crisis engulfing British steel, in a stark warning issued ahead of next week's referendum. Gareth Stace, director of Steel UK, said Britain is better able to prevent Chinese steel dumping which is contributing to low prices if it remains part of the EU. Read [...]
Uber’s Apple-backed rival Didi Chuxing just raised billions June 16, 2016 The taxi wars are hotting up. A day after reports of Uber raising a further $2bn (£1.4bn) to add to its already rather large cash pile, its rival in China has announced another $7bn in new funding that puts it squarely on the tail of the US startup when it comes to being the most well-funded private startup [...]
Tech titans rule 2016 with $268bn of M&A activity June 15, 2016 Technology is leading the global mergers and acquisitions sector this year with $267.6bn worth of deals announced so far, according to new research by financial markets platform Dealogic. This is only the second time on record that technology deals accounted for the maximum number of M&A deals made in a year. The year 2000 saw [...]
Goldman Sachs declares end to oil price recovery June 15, 2016 Goldman Sachs has dismissed what's been described by some analysts as a recovery in the global oil markets. The uber bear said it expects a "modest" deficit in the coming months due to current prices, before the market returns to surplus early next year. Rising demand, falling US oil output as well as supply disruptions [...]
Uber’s hungry for even more cash with plans for $2bn leveraged loan June 15, 2016 Thought the most highly valued private tech company in the world had enough money to throw around? Apparently, it doesn't. Uber is rounding up another $2bn (£1.4bn) to its already pretty huge cash mountain in its bid for world domination, but this time it's tapping the cash via a leveraged loan. Read more: Apple's favourite Chinese Uber rival [...]
MSCI denies China A-shares from its indices June 15, 2016 Chinese mainland shares were denied entry into the MSCI index yesterday, making it the third time the country's domestic markets were shunned by the index provider. MSCI had raised expectations it would accept China A-shares when it laid out a plan for inclusion earlier in the year, saying its close work with Chinese regulators had [...]
The City of London will prosper in or out of the European Union June 15, 2016 A friend tells me why he is voting Remain. “My wife works for a French bank and they would pull out of London if we left the EU.” That’s fair enough. Assuming the French bank set up in London to access the EU, then it’s logical to assume it would leave after Brexit. But a [...]