Halfords sales speed up as servicing business benefits from drop in car sales September 4, 2018 Halfords Group reported sales growth this morning against a tough backdrop, but profits are still expected to remain flat on last year. The update came ahead of new chief executive Graham Stapleton's strategy update at the end of this month, though analysts do not expect any radical changes at the business. The figures Total revenue in [...]
August’s top and bottom performing funds September 4, 2018 The Turkish lira succumbed to a savage slump in August following a doubling of US tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium in retaliation for the imprisonment of a pastor on terrorism charges. Concerns about the Turkish economy had been mounting for some time given President Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic rule and the appointment of his son-in-law [...]
The media’s greatest enemy isn’t Trump, it’s the tech titans September 3, 2018 What is the biggest threat to the future of the media: President Donald Trump, or Silicon Valley? In the presidential corner, Trump’s regular attacks on the “fake news media” have provoked a robust response. This summer, newspapers coordinated a string of editorials defending the essential role of the press as a lens on power and [...]
Job cuts loom as Ford gears up for major business redesign September 2, 2018 Analysts at Morgan Stanley have predicted that car-maker Ford is preparing to axe around 24,000 jobs as part of major redesign of its European business. The Sunday Times reported that the car giant could axe up to 12 per cent of its global workforce across European outposts in the UK, Spain and Germany. The newspaper [...]
Amazon poised for trillion-dollar valuation despite stock shorts September 2, 2018 Amazon is set to become the second US publicly-listed company to reach a $1 trillion (£771.2bn) market capitalisation this week, despite it overtaking Tesla as the most shorted stock on Wall Street. The e-commerce giant broke past the $2,000 per share milestone on Thursday evening, holding investors in suspense. Fellow tech giant Apple became the first [...]
Apple reaches a new self-driving car milestone in its first road accident September 2, 2018 A test vehicle from Apple's self-driving car programme was involved in a road accident near its Silicon Valley headquarters last month, making Apple the latest tech giant to join a recent spate of autonomous driving incidents. One of Apple's Lexus RX 450h self-driving vehicles was preparing to join a motorway in Sunnyvale on 24 August when it [...]
Warren Buffett: I’d pick my iPhone over my airplane August 31, 2018 People should be taking better care of their iPhones, if billionaire Warren Buffett is to be believed. The business magnate said in an interview yesterday that he would prefer to have his iPhone over his private jet. Despite the $999 (£770) iPhone X being the most expensive smartphone Apple has produced, he claimed the device [...]
Focus On Covent Garden: The tourist trap turned foodie hotspot also does homes August 31, 2018 Who lives in Covent Garden anyway? To most Londoners, this historic 17th century piazza is synonymous with street performers and burger bars. It’s always been a place to pass through on the way to the theatre, rather than a place to spend much time in or, god forbid, live in. But all that is changing [...]
Buy the company or the product? Consumers understand their favourite brands, so they should buy shares in the firm August 31, 2018 We've all been guilty of being swayed by the hype that surrounds fashionable items. The iPhone X is a perfect example of that. Unphased by the £1,000 price tag, fans pledged their money before the new phone even hit the shelves, while thousands camped outside Apple stores on the day of its release. But let’s [...]
Whatever happened to Fitbug? Cash shell Kin Group to put ad tech firm Bidstack on Aim August 31, 2018 The remains of the ill-fated company Fitbug are to becomes a video game advertising company through a reverse takeover. Aim-listed Kin Group, which was formerly known as Fitbug, today announced the proposed acquisition of Bidstack, a technology company which inserts native advertising into video games, for £6.8m. It has also conditionally raised around £3.5m through a [...]