No. 5: Ford Foundation December 17, 2015 UNITED STATES – £314m Motor pioneer Henry Ford and his son Edsel established the Ford Foundation in the US in 1936 to advance human welfare. The organisation started with a gift of $25,000 (£16,000) and now holds an £8bn endowment, having approved over £330m in grants in 2014. Following a two year period of transition, [...]
Fintech 100: UK dominates KPMG’s global list of top fintech firms of 2015 with Transferwise, Funding Circle and Atom Bank December 14, 2015 As if you needed more proof that the UK fintech scene is booming… The UK is dominating a list of top fintech firms, with more emerging firms than any other country in the world, according to KPMG’s “Fintech 100”. The list of the leading fintech firms of 2015 is made up of 50 established firms [...]
Volkswagen UK market share plummets after emissions scandal as new UK car registrations rise December 4, 2015 Volkswagen sales in the UK fell 20 per cent in November, compared with last year, figures by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have shown – while the number of new cars sold in the UK rose. The embattled carmaker, which has been hit after it emerged software installed in some of its diesel engines allowed [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s speech transcript in full including stamp duty, business rates and corporation tax announcements November 25, 2015 Mr Speaker, this Spending Review delivers on the commitment we made to the British people that we would put security first. To protect our economic security, by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means and bring down our debt. To protect our national security, by defending our country’s interests abroad and keeping our [...]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit: A new glorious chapter in UK-India relations is beginning November 12, 2015 The visit of India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is the second landmark trip to the UK in a month, following the successful state visit by President Xi of China. Today, Modi meets the Queen and this evening he will be greeted in a manner that is normally the preserve of rock stars, by over 60,000 [...]
Tesla share price surges 10 per cent on open as firm reports jump in revenue November 4, 2015 Shares in Tesla Motors leapt up 10 per cent on market open today, after the firm reported revenue of $936.8m (£607.5m) for the third quarter of 2015, up 10 per cent from $851.8m in 2014, late last night. The company recorded net losses of $229.9m during the three months to 30 September, widening losses of $74.7m reported in the [...]
Strongest UK car production in seven years July 22, 2015 UK car makers are racing ahead this year, with sales to confident Brits steering production to a seven-year high. The number of cars rolling out of British factories jumped 5.4 per cent in June to 143,759, according to figures published this morning by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). So far this year, Britain [...]
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis says that Greek reforms are going to fail July 18, 2015 Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has said that the economic reforms Greece has signed up to are "going to fail" ahead of talks on a third bailout for the cash-strapped country. He told the BBC that the medicine administered to the Greek economy by its so-called "troika" of creditors – the European Union, the European Central [...]
Greek startups step up to the plate – CNBC Comment July 13, 2015 IT IS often said that the best business ideas emerge during times of financial stress. When an economy is struggling and its people are cash-strapped, we’re pushed to think outside the box. A prime example is what happened in the US during the financial crisis. A 2013 study in the Journal of Economics and Management [...]
Scaling up: Overcoming the challenges – Investec Comment July 12, 2015 Business growth takes many forms, but some companies have the capacity to achieve truly remarkable rates of expansion. They are scaling up: increasing revenues at a rate of over 20 per cent annually for more than a couple of years. This phenomenon is not exclusive to fast-growing markets or sectors. It may be that [...]