LSE-Deutsche Boerse merger thrown into chaos: Reactions from City analysts and Westminster February 27, 2017 Last night's announcement that the mega-merger between the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Deutsche Boerse may have been derailed entirely by competition concerns in Europe has left the City reeling. The £21bn merger, which had overcome the potentially devastating hurdle of Brexit without so much as a shrug, was thrown into chaos last night after it [...]
Focus On Paddington: With Crossrail, a £775m glass cube and new homes, W2 is about to become one of London’s next property hotspots February 24, 2017 Believe it or not, Paddington, synonymous for so long with its eponymous cartoon bear and its fantastic transport links, is one of the most undervalued places in Prime Central London. Within walking distance to Hyde Park, Oxford Circus and smart neighbourhoods like Mayfair and Knightsbridge, it’s nevertheless not traditionally seen as a great residential location. [...]
These are the UK banks with the happiest and saddest customers February 23, 2017 TSB has the happiest customers of the UK's high street banks, according to new research based on tweets. Emotion analytics company Adoreboard looked at more than 67,000 tweets by bank customers over a six-month period, and used mathematical algorithms to detect emotions such as joy, trust, rage and anger expressed by social media users. Unsurprisingly, the researchers [...]
Serco shares plummet. But it’s all part of a long and winding road to recovery, says its boss February 22, 2017 Serco's share price plummeted over 18 per cent after the FTSE 250 firm posted a 14 per cent fall in profits for the year to December. But analysts warned investors in the supply services giant would likely take flight owing to a cut to forecast earnings in 2018 and an increased tax bill. The figures Total revenue fell [...]
Petrofac shares have jumped as bidding activity increases on rising oil prices February 22, 2017 Petrofac's shares jumped today on increased bidding activity in its core Middle Eastern markets, as oil prices continued to recover. The figures For the year to the end of December, oil and gas service provider Petrofac posted a net profit of $1m (£802,439) compared with a loss of $349m the previous year. Reported profit was hit by $319m of exceptional items [...]
City Moves for 22 February 2017 – who’s switching jobs? February 22, 2017 Today's City Moves cover property planning, analytical ratings, energy and engineering. Take a look at these movers and shakers: Indigo Planning Indigo Planning has appointed Sam Pullar as associate director. He joins the group with more than 12 years’ planning and development experience in London and the South East. Much of Sam’s work to date [...]
BHP Billiton swings back to profit on strong commodity prices and boosts its interim dividend February 21, 2017 Global mining giant BHP Billiton today revealed a boost to its interim dividend after posting a swing back to profit due to higher iron ore prices. The figures For the six months to 31 December 2016, BHP Billiton said it made an attributable profit of $3.2bn (£2.6bn), up from a loss of $5.7bn the previous year. Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and [...]
Why is M&A rising? The bigger the company, the more likely it is to survive February 20, 2017 Investor sentiment is still skyrocketing as Donald Trump continues his victory lap and investors revel in the fanfare. The markets are behaving as though the White House’s as-yet-undetailed economic policies will cure all ills, from the simmering uncertainty around French, Dutch and German elections to the biggest pain for chief executives – technology disruption. The [...]
Uber’s facing some serious allegations of sexism, harassment and a toxic work culture February 20, 2017 Uber is facing serious allegations of sexism in the workplace after explosive revelations from a former engineer at the billion-dollar startup. Chief executive Travis Kalanick labelled the behaviour "abhorrent" and "against everything we believe in", promising an investigation, after former engineer Susan Fowler published details of her experience at the company. In the blog post, she describes being [...]
Founding Fathers 1, populists 0: The US constitution is taming Trump February 20, 2017 “Through all the gloom I can see rays of ravishing light and glory.” – John Adams to his wife Abigail, July 3, 1776, after Congress voted for Independence “Good people don’t go into government.” – Donald Trump Donald Trump’s first month in office ended with a bizarre, rambling press conference that made incompetence into a [...]