Moody’s slices Noble’s rating to junk as commodity rout deepens December 30, 2015 Moody's downgraded Asia-focused commodities trader Noble to junk status with a negative outlook yesterday, due to concerns about the company's profitability in the face of the plunging commodities prices. Moody's cut Noble's senior unsecured bond ratings to Ba1, which is junk status, from Baa3. It also gave a Ba1 corporate family rating to Noble, despite its cost-cutting efforts such as [...]
Amazon expands Pantry online supermarket as it lays out fresh challenge to UK’s Big Four supermarkets Asda, Tesco, Sainbury’s and Morrisons December 29, 2015 Amazon’s foray into the supermarket sector has quickly become a success, after the online retail giant announced plans to expand its new Pantry service in the UK next year. In other words, there's more disruption ahead for the UK’s troubled traditional supermarkets. The “Big Four” – Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – are struggling to keep up [...]
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and even Lidl supermarkets slash Christmas 2015 advertising spend December 22, 2015 Britain's beleaguered supermarkets have slashed the amount of cash they are spending on advertising over Christmas this year, with Tesco and Sainsbury's cutting budgets by as much as 30 per cent. Troubled Tesco made the biggest cuts to its festive advertising, spending almost £3m less in a four week run up to the big day compared to last [...]
All change on the FTSE: Morrisons joins the FTSE 250 and Worldpay moves up into the FTSE 100 December 21, 2015 Worldpay's share price rose, though not by much, on its first day of trading on the FTSE 100. Shares were up 0.97 per cent to 300.9p. The payments processor was bumped up in the quarterly review just a couple of months after floating in one of the most successful IPOs of 2015, claiming a market capitalisation of £5.28bn after its [...]
FTSE 100 index opens up as miners and ITV make gains while Associated British Foods, Rolls-Royce and Smith and Nephew fall December 21, 2015 The FTSE 100 index opened up this morning, as losses from Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) and Rolls-Royce were compensated for by gains at miners, BG Group and ITV. The UK's top blue-chip index was 0.64 per cent up at 6,052 points in early morning trading. BG Group was 0.97 per cent higher at 916.85p per share [...]
Sir Ken Morrison has taken a £6m stake in rival Sainsbury’s December 21, 2015 The outspoken former chairman of Morrisons has taken a £6m stake in rival supermarket Sainsbury's. Sir Ken Morrison now owns 2.6m share in Sainsbury, while his son William owns 2.1m, giving the pair a combined £11.9m stake. The man who once told Morrisons' chief executive Dalton Phillips his strategy was "bulls***" has gone further than just implied support. [...]
Morrisons prepares for first day of trading on FTSE 250 along with G4S, while Worldpay gets ready for the blue chip index December 20, 2015 Tomorrow will be Morrisons’ first day trading on the FTSE 250, after being demoted from the blue-chip index in the last quarterly review. Security firm G4S and engineering firm Meggitt, will also have their first day of trading on the FTSE 250. It will be a happier day for Worldpay, which will join the FTSE [...]
FTSE 100 bounces on Fed rate rise – as Asian shares close higher December 17, 2015 The FTSE 100 opened 1.33 per cent higher this morning, at 6,142.9 points, after the US Federal Reserve announced an interest rate hike for the first time since 2006 The UK's bluechip index followed Asian shares, which closed higher after the announcement, with the Nikkei rising 1.6 per cent and the Hang Seng ending 0.8 per [...]
Fed rate hike decision: What’s expected to change, what it means, and how it will impact your investments December 16, 2015 The world is watching the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, as experts think it will finally raise interest rates from their record lows today.. The Federal Reserve’s main interest rate was cut to 0.25 per cent in December 2008, the depths of the financial crisis. It has stayed there since. It was an [...]
FTSE posts biggest one-day gain in over two months – London Report December 16, 2015 The top FTSE index rose yesterday after eight straight sessions of falls, with supermarkets, commodity stocks and firms with South African exposure among the companies rebounding from previous falls. The FTSE 100 was up 2.5 per cent at 6,017.79 points at its close, its biggest one-day gain in over two months, having fallen 8.5 per [...]