OneSavings Bank results: challenger bank reports a rise in its loan book November 4, 2015 Challenger OneSavings Bank reported a rise in its loan book for the first three quarters today, saying it continued to expect full-year growth to be a “few percentage points ahead” of the 29 per cent growth delivered last year. The specialist lending and retail savings bank first listed on the London Stock Exchange last year. The [...]
At the close: Mining companies Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton take FTSE 100 higher November 4, 2015 The FTSE 100 ended Wednesday's session slightly higher, led by gains in mining companies. The UK's top blue chip index ended the day 0.46 per cent up at 6,412 points. The day's biggest riser was Glencore, the embattled mining giant, which has been struggling to reassure investors worried about the size of its debt pile. It today announced a [...]
Financing for SMEs: Why preparation is key – Investec Comment November 2, 2015 It’s been a fairly regular refrain over the past six or seven years that small businesses can’t access finance. I’ve never been persuaded by that view. It is the case that, due to capital constraints and reductions in headcount, the days when a company could simply call a bank and automatically arrange a loan are [...]
Economists predict Bank of England will hold UK interest rates on Thursday November 1, 2015 Economists have predicted that the Bank of England (BoE) will keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent on Thursday. So-called Super Thursday will see the BoE release a range of information, including the interest rate decision, an inflation report and Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting minutes. Dr Howard Archer, chief UK & European economist at [...]
Antofagasta cuts copper production forecast for the third time this year October 28, 2015 Shares in Antofagasta fell three per cent to 528p per share this morning after the mining firm cut its copper production forecast for a third time this year. The FTSE 100 company cut its full-year copper output guidance to 635,000 tonnes from 665,000, due to delays at its Centinela Concentrates mine in Chile’s Antofagasta Region, 1,350 km north of Santiago. It [...]
BP share price rises despite earnings slide – but it can break even if oil prices hit $60 per barrel October 27, 2015 A mammoth dip oil prices, now at $47.14 per barrel, during the third quarter was not all bad news for BP as outdid analysts' expectations, and the company predicts it can break even by 2017 based on oil prices of $60 per barrel. The figures BP reported a 40 per cent drop in underlying replacement cost profits (a measure of profitability [...]
City Moves for 27 October 2015 | Who’s switching jobs October 26, 2015 LOMBARD ODIER Duncan MacIntyre has been appointed chief executive of the banking firm’s private client business in the UK. He joins from Coutts & Co, where he founded and was global head of its private office. MacIntyre has also worked as a senior private banker at JP Morgan, which he joined from Robert Fleming & [...]
BP, Shell and BG Group earnings: Investec says oil companies’ profits set to halve amid rout October 26, 2015 Could oil majors' profits halve when they update the market on their third-quarter trading this week? Broker Investec has said it expects low oil prices to push the sector's earnings down 29 per cent quarter-on-quarter, and 57 per cent annually. Amid the gloom, traders will be looking for evidence oil companies' upstream operations – which relate to the extraction and [...]
Banks come to fore as sector to report results – London Report October 25, 2015 BANKING results season is upon us, with three of the big four reporting this week. And on the economic front, third-quarter GDP figures are expected to show that the economy is slowing down due to weaker construction and manufacturing output. Corporates Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group also report in with updates, as does sector [...]
New mortgage rules to affect dual currency earners – Investec Comment October 25, 2015 Coming into force in March next year is the EU Mortgage Credit Directive, and it is likely to have a significant impact on many who work in the City. It has a variety of implications, including for buy-to-let mortgages, but least well-understood is how it will affect the provision of mortgages for people who [...]