Balls: Markets alone won’t deliver for UK February 9, 2015 INTERVIEW Labour’s shadow chancellor Ed Balls discusses markets, exports and business backing with David Hellier IT’S BEEN a bit of a bruising few days for those in the Labour Party charged with finessing its relationship with the UK’s top business leaders. But that won’t stop Ed Balls relishing the prospect of speaking at the British [...]
Ed Balls talks business: Markets alone won’t deliver for the UK, says shadow chancellor February 9, 2015 It's been a bit of a bruising few days for those in the Labour Party charged with finessing its relationship with the UK’s top business leaders. But that won’t stop Ed Balls relishing the prospect of speaking at the British Chambers of Commerce’s annual conference tomorrow in front of hundreds of business leaders. [...]
How fierce competition could be making us more self-centred February 6, 2015 Over the last 150 years, people have become more interested in themselves than in the progress of society as a whole, a new report suggests. As the job market becomes more difficult to penetrate, competition heats up and we apparently find ourselves working harder than our parents for the same returns. Perhaps unsurprisingly, [...]
Poundland agrees conditional deal to buy 99p Stores for £55m February 6, 2015 If you had £55m you could walk into Poundland and fill your boots. Or, you could do what Poundland is considering and buy the 99p Store. For that £55m, enough for 55,555,556 items from its rival, Poundland will get 99p Stores’ 251 branches, which together produce £370.4m in annual sales and serve around two million [...]
Competition authorities could weigh on Ball’s bid to buy out rival can firm Rexam February 5, 2015 The scale of the potential merger between can-making giants Rexam and Ball could lead to problems with competition regulators. US giant Ball is only slightly larger than FTSE 250 firm Rexam, and comprise the two largest businesses in the sector globally. The proposed £4.3bn buyout could make sense in extending Ball’s reach globally. [...]
Aer Lingus loses passengers but wins EU lawsuit February 5, 2015 BOTH Aer Lingus and rival EasyJet have posted disappointing passenger numbers for the first month of 2015. The Irish flag carrier said mainline passenger numbers fell 4.5 per cent year-on-year in January to 546,000. Aer Lingus, which is subject to a potential takeover bid from British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG), said its long-haul [...]
How London is leading the charge on a radical employee rent scheme February 5, 2015 Two years ago, Vodafone became one of the first big businesses to issue a warning over Britain’s housing costs. It said that the sheer cost of renting was making it harder for firms to attract talent. Within weeks, its concerns were echoed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and KPMG’s London Business Survey. London’s [...]
Pensions shake-up could give savers £100k boost when fee cap is introduced in April February 4, 2015 Savers paying into a pension could save up to £100,000 once a new cap on fees is introduced in April. Charges for those automatically enrolled in a workplace pension will be capped at 0.75 per cent a year compared to current average annual charges of 1.5 per cent used to cover the costs associated with [...]
CRH share prices rises as Irish aggregates firm nets Holcim Lafarge assets February 2, 2015 Irish building materials group CRH’s deal to buy the assets being offloaded by cement firms Holcim and Lafarge ahead of their planned merger was “too good to turn down”, the company’s chief executive Albert Manifold said yesterday. CRH announced on Sunday that it had entered into a binding commitment with Holcim and Lafarge to acquire [...]
With P2P lending passing £1bn in 2014, is it a real alternative to traditional financial services? February 1, 2015 Christine Farnish is chair of the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association, says Yes. Alternative finance is growing and the current regulatory and consumer environment in the UK means it is set to grow even further. Last week, the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Finance Association put out figures showing that, in 2014, our members had lent more than £1.2bn in [...]