Philips’ spotlight on €103m loss as technology giant releases disappointing results October 20, 2014 Technology giant Philips released disappointing third quarter results yesterday, showing a net loss of €103m (£103.76m), compared to a net income of €281m in 2013’s third quarter. “We are not satisfied with our overall performance in the third quarter,” chief executive Frans van Houten said. He went on to cite market softness and a jury [...]
Russia clamps down with 200 new McDonald’s investigations October 20, 2014 Russia has stepped up its action against restaurant chain McDonald’s, with 200 new investigations into the fast food outlet on various grounds. In the wake of sanctions on President Putin’s nation following his intervention in the conflict in Ukraine earlier this year, Russia clamped down on a number of restaurants in Moscow over poor hygiene [...]
Ebola to Ukraine: The West has failed to pay the piper – with terrible results October 19, 2014 Something truly terrible happened in Hamelin, Germany in the early Middle Ages, something so dire it has become embedded in western consciousness as the fairy tale “The Pied Piper.” Whether the town experienced a severe case of the Black Death, a rush of emigration to Eastern Europe, suffered through the Children’s Crusade, or was the [...]
Sweden hunts for suspected Russian submarine October 19, 2014 Sweden's military is searching for "foreign underwater activity" less than 31 miles from Stockholm. According to Reuters, the mobilisation of troops, ships and helicopters is on a scale not seen since the depths of the cold war. Russia's bellicose actions in Ukraine are making nations in the Baltic and Nordic regions uneasy. Stockholm is just across the [...]
Worries escalate over recession in the Eurozone as currency bloc slips further towards deflation October 16, 2014 Eurozone inflation hit a five-year low in September as weak spending continues to plague hopes of an economic recovery. Prices rose just 0.3 per cent year-on-year in September according to figures published yesterday by official data house Eurostat. The figure was down from 0.4 per cent in August and continues the single currency area’s apparent [...]
Diageo sales on the rocks amid weakness in emerging markets October 16, 2014 Diageo suffered a 1.7 per cent fall in first quarter sales, as the slowdown in China, currency weakness, and sanctions against Russia took its toll on the business. The drinks giant behind Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky said yesterday that sales were down 1.5 per cent on an organic basis in the three months [...]
Oil prices slide to four-year low as Opec digs in October 14, 2014 Brent crude slid below $85 yesterday, marking a four-year low for the commodity, after the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that oil demand would expand slower this year than it had since 2009. In its oil market report for October, the stated that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (Opec) crude oil output [...]
Russia pulls bond sale after rouble sinks and sanctions bite October 14, 2014 Russia was forced to pull a bond sale yesterday as its currency sank to a record new low and sanctions against the government, over continued intervention in Ukraine, began to bite. The country pulled the plug on a planned auction, the first in a month, as it continued to struggle with the impact of international [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown share price hit by market fears around Scottish independence and Russia-Ukraine conflict October 14, 2014 Fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown was hit by turmoil in the geopolitical arena last quarter, as the fear stalking stock markets dragged down performance. The FTSE 100 giant, based in Bristol, said concerns over the Scottish referendum, conflict between Ukraine and Russia, unrest in the Middle East and poor data from the Eurozone had made customers [...]
Shares down at industrials after Investec downgrades 15 firms October 13, 2014 INVESTEC sent share prices tumbling yesterday after it downgraded several UK industrials companies yesterday, blaming the deteriorating economic environment in Europe. The bank said that in light of recent profit warnings in the industrials sector, it had identified vulnerable companies, downgrading 15 of the most affected. Investec said it had focused on those with “significant [...]