Amazon share price tanks after software giant announces fall in cloud spend April 28, 2023 The brakes appeared to be coming on to Amazon’s cloud growth spending as the tech giant said it was looking to cut costs. The news overshadowed the company’s quarterly sales, and an announcement that its profits that topped expectations. Amazon’s value rose $125bn (£100bn) but remarks by its chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky, drove the [...]
Natwest profits soar but customers withdraw £1bn as cost of living and tax bills bite April 28, 2023 Natwest has beaten profit expectations during the first three months of this year. Natwest Group, which includes Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, recorded a pretax profit of £1.8bn in the three months ending 31 March. The total comes in ahead of analysts’ expectations of £1.6bn for the quarter and ahead of the £1.2bn during [...]
Air film review: Ben Affleck’s feel-good Nike movie April 27, 2023 Good Will Hunting besties Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reteam for the story behind the Air Jordan shoe, a product that still is the gold standard among sneaker heads but had a rocky road to infamy. This biopic follows Sonny Vaccaro (Damon), an executive at the struggling Nike brand who believes he has found basketball’s [...]
First Republic shares recover slightly as investors hope for a rescue deal April 27, 2023 First Republic shares recovered slightly on Thursday as investors hoped the bank would be rescued from collapse. Shares in the San Francisco-based lender were trading 11 per cent higher on Thursday, although as yet there are no signs of a rescue package. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Herman Chan suggested the rebound resulted from “short-covering” as “there hasn’t [...]
Gambling white paper: Betting firms forced to ‘step up’ checks in biggest industry overhaul since 2005 April 27, 2023 Gambling companies will be subject to tighter regulations including a statutory levy and stricter checks on losses, the government announced today in its long-awaited gambling white paper. The secretary of state for culture, media and sport Lucy Frazer announced on Thursday that the industry would be subject to “six key areas” of reform. Operators will [...]
Deutsche Bank posts best profit in a decade but warns 800 job cuts as cost cutting continues April 27, 2023 Deutsche Bank recorded its best profit in a decade as the bank recorded its 11th consecutive quarter of profit but signalled there would be more job cuts as it continues its restructuring efforts. Pretax profit climbed 12 per cent to €1.9bn (£1.68bn), up from €1.7bn (£1.5bn) last year with a strong performance from the corporate [...]
Here’s to an extraordinary church and a remarkable banker April 27, 2023 To St Paul’s, where one of the City’s founding fathers is being celebrated. It is the 300th anniversary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren this year, and the cathedral at the heart of our national life is celebrating the great builder with an exhibition in the crypt of the Ludgate Hill landmark. It is [...]
AstraZeneca: Cancer medicine sales offset a post-pandemic slump in Covid drugs April 27, 2023 AstraZeneca reported a slight dip in sales but beat forecasts on the back of a boost in sales of oncology medicines. The pharmaceutical company reported a 4 per cent fall in revenue to $10.9bn (£8.7bn) on Thursday morning. Sales of oncology drugs helped compensate for a $1.5bn (£1.2bhn) fall in Covid-19 medicines, the company said. [...]
Barclays shares rise as booming US credit cards and higher interest rates helps bank beat expectations April 27, 2023 Barclays shares rose after it beat expectations in its first quarter results, as pretax profit rose 16 per cent on a strong performance from its domestic bank and booming US credit card spending. Across the group, Barclays’ pretax profit was £2.6bn, up 16 per cent from last year and comfortably beating company compiled consensus of [...]
The Square Mile and Me: Susannah Streeter on Northern Rock, Primrose Hill and Anne Boden April 27, 2023 Each week we ask the City’s movers and shakers to delve into the memory bank – and this week, it’s the former journalist and now Hargreaves Lansdown’s Head of Money and Markets Susannah Streeter in the hotseat What was your first job? My first job was as a silver service waiter for functions at the [...]