Fyre Festival, influencers, and the CMA – why are regulators finally getting involved in the world of social media sponsorship? February 4, 2019 Social media influencers are back in the headlines, and as usual, it’s for all the wrong reasons. Late last month, the government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it had told 16 high-profile celebrities – including models Alexa Chung and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, musician Rita Ora, and YouTube star Zoe Sugg (better known as Zoella) [...]
Banking on diversification February 1, 2019 With a number of headwinds facing markets in 2019, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Alex Crooke, Fund Manager of The Bankers Investment Trust, explains how his team approaches the complexities of global stock markets. As we start 2019 there are plenty of reasons for investors to be cautious, as [...]
Oddbins falls into administration for the second time in eight years February 1, 2019 Oddbins today became one of the first high street casualties of 2019, as news emerged that the off licence’s owners have fallen into administration for the second time in eight years. Administrators Duff & Phelps confirmed that the companies behind Oddbins and a string of high street alcohol stores are now insolvent. Read more: Oddbins set [...]
Barclays boss feared payments to Qataris could be seen as a ‘bung’ January 30, 2019 A Barclays boss feared that fees paid by the bank to Qatari investors might be see as a “bung”, a court was told today. Richard Boath, one of four former Barclays executives charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, told investigators two advisory services agreements (ASAs) that form the crux of the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) [...]
Venezuela is a humanitarian crisis – and the British left just laughs January 25, 2019 “Nice company you’ve got there, @Dyson! Shame if we nationalised it.” So tweeted Owen Jones, Guardian columnist and fierce supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, in response to news that Dyson is relocating from Britain to Singapore. The tweet sparked the predictable outrage from people who believe that a private company should be able to take its [...]
‘The food sucks and the sex is worse’: Barclays fraud trial execs joked about prison January 24, 2019 Ex-Barclays bosses on trial for fraud joked about going to jail while organising a crucial capital raising drive at the height of the financial crisis, with wealth manager Tom Kalaris saying “the food sucks and the sex is worse”. Another executive, Richard Boath, expressed fears the bank would be “basically dead” if it were unable to secure [...]
Retail sales fall as ‘suffocating’ Brexit uncertainty envelopes UK high streets January 18, 2019 Retailers suffered a weak end to 2018 as Brexit uncertainty saw shoppers spending less in the face of Brexit uncertainty, the latest data shows today. Sales fell 0.9 per cent month on month in December as shoppers kept their purses closed, the Office for National Statistics data revealed. Read more: All the high street giants [...]
Eurozone inflation falls to eight-month low led by slower rise in energy prices January 17, 2019 Eurozone annual inflation fell to its lowest level in eight months in December, led by a slower rise in energy prices. The single currency bloc’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) met market forecasts as it dropped to 1.6 per cent from 1.9 per cent in November, the EU’s statistical office Eurostat said today. But the month-on-month [...]
UK CPI falls close to a two-year low on lower fuel and air travel prices January 16, 2019 The UK's Consumer Price Index was 2.1 per cent in December, falling to a 22-month low driven by falls in petrol prices and a year-on-year drop in air fares. Falling fuel prices contributed a 0.14 percentage points drop in the 12-month rate, as the price of petrol in December last year was the lowest since [...]
US inflation falls for first time since March as petrol prices drop January 11, 2019 Cheaper prices at the pumps pushed down US inflation for the first time in nine months in December. Statistics released today show the country’s consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.1 percentage points last month to 1.9 per cent, making December’s fall the first since March. However, when stripping out changes to the price of food [...]