China expected to be the golden ticket for Accesso as revenue leaps September 14, 2016 International growth in resorts and attractions is set to work well for ticketing technology company Accesso in coming years. China's booming middle class could propel the country to the fore of global theme park, resort, and attraction ticket sales and Accesso is expecting to be able to take a slice of the action. Bottom line growth in recent months means the Berkshire-based company is now eyeing up expansion [...]
Labour market shows no sign of Brexit uncertainty – yet September 14, 2016 The number of people in work hit a new record high in July, as economy-watchers were left waiting even longer for signs of a post-referendum slowdown. Figures out from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday morning showed the unemployment rate steady at 4.9 per cent, defying concerns that the jobs market could have faltered in [...]
Wage growth has fallen – but employment has hit its highest since records began September 14, 2016 Wage growth edged down in the three months to the end of July, official figures today suggested – but there was a silver lining, as the number of people in employment hit its highest since records began in the early 1970s. The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed average weekly earnings including bonuses increased [...]
A toast to Edinburgh’s ‘Flat White Economy’ as tech firms are lured north September 13, 2016 The burgeoning ‘Flat White Economy’ is likely to play a vital role in the future of the post-Brexit UK economy. Now the second largest business sector in the UK, it accounts for 8.7 per cent of GDP. The term, originally penned to capture the explosion of digital businesses in London’s EC1V postal district, is spreading [...]
Buyers beware: Is the central bank credibility crunch point approaching? September 12, 2016 Market contrarians continue to close out their short positions on stocks, bonds and risk currencies as buying supports market levels, record low bond yields and emerging market assets. But can central banks continue to win the confidence game and herd investors into riskier trades, or will the credibility of Draghi, Kuroda, Carney and Yellen ultimately be [...]
Who knew printers were still a billion dollar business? HP and Samsung, that’s who September 12, 2016 Apparently, we haven't gone fully down the digital rabbit hole yet and still need to print things out on dead trees. It's a business worth at least $1.05bn (£792m), in fact, as HP snapped up Samsung's printer business for just that amount in a major deal on Monday morning. Samsung will spin off the business as part of its efforts to [...]
Roger Bootle of Capital Economics talks Brexit, macroeconomics and making a market for research September 12, 2016 Is there ever a tension between being one of Britain’s most influential economists, writer of multiple best-sellers and an opinionated column in the Telegraph, and a businessman, head of Europe’s largest independent macroeconomic consultancy? “There is sometimes,” says Roger Bootle, founder and executive chairman of Capital Economics. “We saw it with the Brexit debate. I was [...]
It’s time Chicken Licken Remainers admitted the sky hasn’t fallen in post-Brexit September 8, 2016 Before the referendum, the Remain camp did not hold back from listing the catastrophic consequences of Brexit. The banks and financial services sector would abandon London overnight, they said. Vital funding would be lost for farming, science and regeneration schemes. The British economy would immediately stall, then spiral into a crash. Eleven weeks on from [...]
Monitise shares up over five per cent after cutting annual losses and generating positive earnings in the second half of the year September 8, 2016 Shares in financial services technology firm Monitise rose sharply despite posting another year of loss-making operations. Revenue fell from £89.7m to £67.6m but this translated into an Ebitda loss of £19.6m – half of the £41.8m of losses generated in 2015. Critically, the company generated a positive Ebitda of £0.6m in the second six months of [...]
Post Office workers set to strike next week September 8, 2016 Thousands of workers will be carrying out a 24-hour national strike next week due to a dispute about branch closures, jobs and pensions. The strike – planned for 15 September and organised by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) – comes after the Post Office announced it would be closing its pension scheme. Eighty-three per cent of CWU [...]