German city of Hamburg is the latest to try and ban taxi app Uber July 23, 2014 Yet another city that doesn't like Uber. The German city of Hamburg has become the latest to try and ban the smartphone taxi app service, further indication of the increasing pressure the US company is facing from local regulators and cab drivers. The San-Francisco based firm, which operates in more than 149 cities in 42 [...]
Smashing! Car insurance prices decline for a record 10th quarter July 9, 2014 Car insurance premiums have fallen for a record tenth time in a row according to new research. Consumers are seeing even cheaper prices as premiums are pushed down by a further £17 in the second quarter of 2014, a new survey by Towers Watson and Confused.com has found. Prices for new comprehensive policies fell by [...]
Admiral share price sinks after insurance firm announces £200m bond issue July 9, 2014 Shares in Admiral hit the rocks yesterday after the insurance firm announced a £200m bond issue, a first for the group. Chief executive Henry Engelhardt said the group is seeking to diversify its capital base amid “favourable” market conditions and reasonable rates. “It is an opportune time to strengthen and diversify our capital resources as [...]
London Report: FTSE at two-month low as Admiral and Aviva shares dive July 9, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index fell for a third straight session to a two-month low yesterday, with Admiral sinking after its trading update and Aviva down after outlining its turnaround targets. Next dipped two per cent to 6,365p after reaching its ex-dividend date. Car insurer Admiral slumped 3.3 percent after saying revenues fell in the first [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 01 July 2014 June 30, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES EU slams US over Microsoft privacy A US attempt to force Microsoft to hand over emails held on servers in Ireland has drawn a strong rebuke from Brussels in one of the first tests of cross-border privacy raised by cloud computing. The US demand could contravene international law and should have been handled [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 30 June 2014 June 30, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Value of M&A hits $1.7 trillion Deal frenzy, animal spirits, merger mania – call it what you like, it is back. The value of global mergers and acquisitions hit $1.75tn in the first six months of the year, a 75 per cent rise on the same period last year and the highest since [...]
Bottom Line: AA stalls, but this is no scrapheap stock June 23, 2014 IT’S ALL rather manic in the markets right now. A year that started at break-neck speed has been run off track by a series of IPO flops, leaving folk on the buy-side mightily unimpressed. And as the road rage intensifies, investors are directing much of their anger at private equity sellers. Such a toxic and [...]
The new machine age: Britain must not miss out on the robot revolution June 23, 2014 MORE and more people are concerned about a wave of robots stealing their jobs. But for Britain, there’s a more pressing concern: what if the robot economy doesn’t arrive here at all? For a while now, pundits have been speculating that robots, self-driving cars and clever algorithms will take many of the jobs now done [...]
Vodafone to talk to machines with Cobra Automotive deal June 16, 2014 VODAFONE yesterday announced its intention to buy Cobra Automotive Technologies for €1.49 per share in cash, in a deal worth €145m (£115m). The Italian firm specialises in car electronic services including vehicle tracking, usage-based insurance and security to the car industry. The deal comes as Vodafone seeks to expand its range of machine to machine [...]
Vodafone set to buy Cobra Automotive Technologies June 16, 2014 Vodafone has announced its intention to launch a voluntary takeover of Cobra Automotive Technologies for €1.49 per share in cash, valuing the company's entire fully diluted ordinary share capital of Cobra at €145 million (£115m). Cobra has operations in a host of countries including China, Brazil, Japan and the UK and is listed on the [...]