US stocks lifted by results even after IBM drag – New York Report October 20, 2014 US stocks ended higher yesterday on investor hopes for a strong earnings season, but IBM’s disappointing results limited gains. Earnings reports from Halliburton, Gannett, and others, helped ease the worries over global growth and falling commodity prices that last week helped drive stocks close to correction territory. Texas Instruments posted third-quarter revenue of $3.5bn, up [...]
Tourist trapped in Trafalgar Square Waterstones for two hours October 17, 2014 A tourist ended up being trapped in a London branch of the book chain Waterstones for more than two hours yesterday, after it closed while he was still inside. Staff did not realise that Texan tourist David Willis was stilll browsing books in the Trafalgar Square store on Thursday (October 16) when they shut [...]
WH Smith CEO Steve Clarke says stationery chain is ready for lift-off October 16, 2014 Steve Clarke has often described himself as a shy person, but with strong full-year results to shout about yesterday, the WH Smith boss came out of his shell. The cheery Irishman, who took over from his long-serving predecessor Kate Swann in July last year, put the retailer’s success – and his good mood – down [...]
Google share price down: Results fail to impress despite 20pc hike in revenue October 16, 2014 Google’s quarterly results have failed to meet Wall Street expectations, despite revenue growing by 20 per cent to $16.5bn (£10.3m) in the three months to 30 September, compared with $13.8bn posted last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters said they were looking for revenue of $16.6bn in the third quarter. Meanwhile, expenses were up to [...]
Burberry sales jump despite tough market October 14, 2014 BURBERRY warned yesterday that conditions in some of its markets, including China, were getting tougher, despite a 14 per cent increase in first-half sales, sending shares down almost four per cent. The luxury group said total revenues reached £1.1bn in the six months to 30 September, thanks to strong performance across all regions. However, it [...]
London Tube strike called off after RMT union makes “substantial progress” October 9, 2014 The 48-hour Tube strike that was due to take place next week has been called off after unions said they had made “substantial progress” in talks. The strike had been scheduled to start at 9pm on Tuesday and run until 8:59pm Thursday evening, and had been called over the threat of around 900 job [...]
New space weather centre to protect UK businesses against solar flares October 8, 2014 The Met Office is opening the Space Weather Operations Centre in Exeter later today – a forecasting unit which will aim to protect the UK's economy and infrastructure against solar flares and other forms of extreme space weather. The centre will analyse images and solar activity data recorded by UK and US satellites and ground-based [...]
Tesco suspends Kevin Grace: Fifth executive leaves over £250m profit miss October 7, 2014 Tesco has suspended a fifth director over a shock discovery last month of an error in its accounts which meant first half profits were overstated by £250m. Kevin Grace, Tesco’s group commercial director, was asked on Monday to step aside as Deloitte and Freshfields carry out their investigation into what went wrong in Tesco’s accounts. [...]
Robert Walters: The recruitment boss who thinks your pay is set to jump in 2015 October 7, 2014 City jobs mogul Robert Walters tells Chris Papadopoullos why the future is bright Wages are a hotter-than-usual topic these days – at least as far as economists are concerned. The rate at which our pay goes up (or fails to) is said to hold the key as to whether the Bank of England finally [...]
Art review: Anselm Kiefer, The Royal Academy September 26, 2014 ★★★★★ A distant, solitary figure stands before the sea, arm raised in a Nazi salute. The title of the painting: Heroic Symbol. Ironic? Well, yes and no. For though Anselm Kiefer was no Nazi, there is genuine heroism in depicting this image, in recalling the past from the chasm of silence into which Germany fell [...]