Staying tax savvy: What you can do before the year ends January 6, 2015 A focus on capital gains tax may well mean a better deal. With the new year having firmly arrived, and the end of the tax year just three months away, now is an ideal time to blow the cobwebs away and ensure your money is working as hard as possible – by getting your [...]
Boxing Day sales kick off early online at Amazon, John Lewis, Currys, Harrods, Next and Debenhams December 24, 2014 Amazon is kicking off its Boxing Day sale on Christmas Day. That’s right, you can start hunting for deals if Santa didn’t bring what you wanted before you’ve even had time to digest Christmas dinner. But there are also a host of retailers waiting to open their doors to sale shoppers on Boxing Day that [...]
Warburg and Carlyle snap up rating agency December 22, 2014 ALTERNATIVE asset manager the Carlyle Group and US private equity firm Warburg Pincus yesterday agreed to acquire the world’s fourth largest credit rating agency, DBRS. The buyout pair completed a deal for the Toronto-based company in partnership with a consortium of Canadian-based individual investors, including DBRS founder, Walter Schroeder, and other members of the company’s [...]
Reach for the Isle of Skye for a bracing winter weekend away December 21, 2014 The island off the west coast of Scotland has a rugged charm during the colder months – and the food is first class. My heart is yearning to thee, O Skye! Dearest of Islands! There first the sunshine gladdened my eye, On the sea sparkling”. So wrote Scottish poet Alexander Nicolson about the largest [...]
Philip Clarke, Euan Sutherland and Dov Charney – the bosses who left us in 2014 December 19, 2014 This year has had its fair share of disasters – from the Co-op’s continued struggles to Tesco’s melting share price. But what of the people behind the stories? We’ve got the best, worst and most surprising people moves of the year. 1. Philip Clarke makes an unceremonious departure from Tesco Clarke stepped down at [...]
Former Quindell chair slashes his share holdings December 10, 2014 SHARES of embattled insurance outsourcer Quindell lost over a quarter of their value yesterday after founder and former chairman Rob Terry sold off most of his remaining stock. Since April, when mysterious US short seller Gotham City Research published a note questioning its business and profits, shares in the company have lost more than 80 [...]
2014 Christmas gift ideas: These stocking fillers will leave your family satisfied long past Boxing Day December 10, 2014 Tube Socks A London twist on the classic gift – socks based around the colours of the London Underground lines. tubesocks.co Toy train Whether it’s for a child or just someone who’s young at heart, this train-set spelling out your name is a sure-fire hit. £17 for a six-letter name, notonthehighstreet.com Rocket Gardens [...]
Quindell stock rocked as PwC probes figures December 8, 2014 TROUBLED insurance outsourcer Quindell witnessed its share price plummet 16 per cent yesterday morning after it announced it had hired PwC to carry out an independent review into its accounting practices. Quindell said in a statement it had appointed the Big Four accountant to review its “main accounting policies and expectations as to cash generation [...]
Quindell share price plummets as it hires PwC to carry out review into accounting December 8, 2014 Shares in embattled insurance outsourcer Quindell plunged as much as 16 per cent as the market opened this morning, after it announced it had hired accounting giant PwC to carry out an independent review into its accounting practices. The company, whose shares have lost more than 90 per cent in value since April, said the review [...]
Photography review: Royal Photographic Society at the Science Museum December 4, 2014 Science Museum | ★★★★☆ The Royal Photographic Society has been in existence for over 150 years, and over the course of that time it has amassed a collection of over a quarter of a million photographs. Drawn By Light, the new exhibition at the Science Museum, selects just 200 of these images, ranging from [...]