Do central banks have enough firepower to fight the next recession? January 17, 2020 By the end of 2019, the UK and US had achieved a decade recession free. That’s an impressive feat, but fears of a recession remain. In fact, those fears peaked last year due to worrying signals from financial markets. When the next recession does raise its head, it will be up to our central banks [...]
UK retail sales decline knocks sterling lower January 17, 2020 UK retail sales fell in the “golden quarter” of Christmas trading, the latest statistics showed today in a further sign of the challenges facing the British high street. In the three months to December 2019, the amount spent and the quantity bought in the retail industry fell 0.9 per cent and one per cent respectively, [...]
Microsoft pledges to go ‘carbon negative’ by 2030 January 16, 2020 Microsoft will go “carbon negative” by 2030, senior executives announced today, as the tech giant looks to take responsibility for its emissions footprint. The commitment means mean that Microsoft will cuts its emissions by half, whilst simultaneously removing more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits anually, resulting in a net emissions total of less [...]
Bank of England and City watchdog urge firms to accelerate Libor transition January 16, 2020 The City regulator and Bank of England have joined forces to urge banks and insurers to accelerate plans to transition away from the discredited Libor interest rate benchmark. Firms have until October to stop writing loans tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), which is embedded within some $350 trillion (£268 trillion) of financial [...]
Cautious lenders left companies with lowest level of credit since 2008 January 16, 2020 The amount of credit made available to corporates last quarter fell to a level not seen since the Global Financial Crisis. The Bank of England’s (BoE) credit conditions survey released today showed that available credit for corporates fell for its sixth successive quarter in the fourth quarter of 2019. It dropped to minus 9.2 in [...]
Smart meter firm Calisen confirms £1.5bn float plans January 16, 2020 Smart meter firm Calisen today confirmed its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange next month with the goal of raising £300m. The float will value the company at around £1.5bn. The energy company, which is backed by private equity firm KKR, said it would use the funds to pay down debt, support future [...]
Amazon says UK tech tax could hit small businesses January 16, 2020 Amazon’s UK boss has played down concerns about a new tech tax, but warned the move could raise costs for small businesses using its platform. The government’s 11 March Budget is expected to include a digital services tax, which will charge a two per cent levy on the UK revenue of technology companies. Douglas Gurr, [...]
Louis Vuitton to make jewellery from the world’s second biggest diamond January 16, 2020 Louis Vuitton has entered into a partnership with Canadian corporation Lucara to make jewellery from the second largest rough diamond ever mined, in a sign of its growing ambitions in the high-end jewellery market. The Sewelô diamond, which was found in Botswana in April 2019, clocks in at 1,758 carats, second only to the legendary [...]
What Carlos Ghosn’s escape teaches us about reputation management January 16, 2020 Carlos Ghosn’s escape from the Japanese justice system is truly remarkable, not just because of the circumstances themselves – which really are stranger than fiction – but also because of what it tells us about owning the narrative in modern reputation management. Indeed, if there is a playbook on how to forge a favourable narrative [...]
Flybe bailout reveals Johnson’s priorities January 16, 2020 During the election campaign, Labour claimed that a Tory victory would unleash “Thatcherism on steroids”. Now, just weeks into the new Boris Johnson era, corporate bailouts are on the agenda. Hardly the rampant free-market dogma we were warned about. The troubled airline Flybe has received a £100m temporary tax break, plus the promise of a [...]