M&S needed a roar from Rowe, but all it got was a whisper May 26, 2016 It was Steve Rowe's opportunity to deliver something big. Analysts had forecast it, and, most importantly of all, M&S' customers were expecting it. But the man from Croydon adopted the softly-softly approach that you might expect of a lifer rather than the more radical path that newcomers tend to take. There was no Dave Lewis-style [...]
We’ve not even scratched the surface of fintech’s true potential – and banks will struggle to keep up May 26, 2016 Fintech innovation has seen rapid growth over the past few years and is producing businesses with scalable products. In turn, senior executives at banks are responding to the challenge these businesses present and have begun to set up their own incubators to capture this rapid innovation. Driving much of this has been the rise of [...]
As the EU says 20 per cent of Netflix content should be made in the European Union, is this a good reason to back Brexit? May 26, 2016 Len Shackleton, professor of economics at the University of Buckingham and fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, says Yes. A quota for tedious German family sagas or subsidised reworkings of Napoleon’s triumphs, compulsorily advertised on the Netflix homepage, may not itself drive voters to Brexit. But attempting to regulate video-on-demand is symptomatic of the Commission’s ever-expanding [...]
Volkswagen invests $300m in Uber rival Gett May 24, 2016 Volkswagen has invested $300m (£205m) in taxi on-demand service Gett, a rival to Uber, handing it a stake in some of Britain's black cab fleet and also indicating the future of the German car brand. Gett bought up Radio Taxis, adding more than 1,000 traditional cabbies to its fleet of 10,000 drivers in the UK earlier this year and [...]
Twitter changes 140-character limit (giving investors more room to moan about stock falling to fresh lows ) May 24, 2016 Twitter has confirmed speculation that it will no longer count images, links and more within the 140-character limit on tweets, giving you plenty more room to share exactly what you're thinking. For Twitter and its investors, that may not be a good thing, as the troubled social network received another downgrade from a Wall Street analyst, sending shares to an [...]
Entertainment One plans to ease off on acquisitions and let Peppa Pig bring home the bacon May 24, 2016 Entertainment One (EOne) is planning to ease off on acquisitions and let Peppa Pig lead its growth. The FTSE 250 company's chief executive told City A.M. 2016 is likely to be quieter in terms of M&A. His statement comes after a shareholder last week condemned the board's acquisitions strategy. EOne chief executive Darren Throop also today talked down [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 24, 2016 China is trying to smooth US trade ties after threats of a tax hike on imports from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and the European Commission could decide today whether to allow ABInBev to buy SABMiller. Here's what you need to know before the open at 2:30pm London time. In the pre-market futures are pointing up. The [...]
These are the MPs Mark Carney will be up against at the Treasury Select Committee May 24, 2016 Nobody enjoys select committee hearings. Mark Carney, however, might be the exception to that rule. For a man who wears a pained expression every time he is probed on something Brexit-related, the governor of the Bank of England has really been stepping up the warnings of late. And it's set to make for a tasty showdown at [...]
RHS Chelsea Flower Show attracts Britain’s biggest business bigwigs including Rupert Murdoch and Richard Desmond May 24, 2016 Some of Britain’s most famous business names flocked to the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show on Monday. The annual event, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, was attended by the former chief executive of J Sainsbury Justin King, Indian steel czar Lakshmi Mittal, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his new wife Jerry Hall, and owner of [...]
Poor disclosure of people issues is leaving investors at a third of FTSE 100 companies in the dark May 24, 2016 Annual reports at a third of FTSE 100 firms are giving investors an inaccurate overview by withholding relevant information, a study out today has found. The research by the Valuing Your Talent partnership – which consists of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Chartered Management [...]