Last Week in the City: Amazon buys a pharmacy June 29, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (25 to 29 June 2018). The FTSE 100 traded little over the week, despite a rally in oil prices. There was more bad news from the retail sector after The John Lewis Partnership warned on profits [...]
Richard Branson says ban on diesel and petrol-fuelled cars should be brought forward to 2025 June 7, 2018 Richard Branson, a new pioneer of electric cars, has said the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles should be brought forward from 2040 to 2025. Speaking at a Formula E event, the tycoon said the UK should follow in the paths of environmentally friendly countries Norway and the Netherlands, who have a 2025 ban in [...]
City analysts say there’s more M&A activity on the horizon May 21, 2018 Equity markets nearing all-time record highs, interest rates still low and a weak pound have created a cauldron for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that analysts anticipate continuing while current market conditions persist. Two FTSE 100 companies have already been acquired this year, a third looks set to go and with two more facing bids, 2018 [...]
Marks & Spencer in talks with top Dixons Carphone exec to bolster retail expertise May 19, 2018 Marks & Spencer is reportedly in talks with a top Dixons Carphone exec as the troubled retailer seeks to shake-up its board. Katie Bickerstaffe, who recently stepped down as chief executive of Dixons Carphone UK and Ireland, has held discussions about joining M&S as a non-exec director. M&S is facing the risk of a landmark [...]
Last Week in the City: England has an 8.5% chance of winning the World Cup May 18, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (14 to 18 May 2018). UBS has used its City analysts’ predictive firepower to try and work out the winner of the upcoming World Cup in Russia – and England came surprisingly high in its league [...]
British Gas owner Centrica buffeted by Beast from the East with busiest week ever for central heating boiler breakdowns May 14, 2018 British Gas owner Centrica said in a trading update today that its services division had been under pressure due to the severe weather earlier this year with a record number of boiler breakdowns to fix. It said that while the unexpectedly cold weather had increased energy demand, the Beast from the East had buffeted its [...]
Npower hikes energy prices for more than one million people May 11, 2018 Big six energy company Npower has announced today that it is boosting prices for over one million customers by 5.3 per cent. The energy giant said that the price rises would add £64 to the average dual fuel annual energy bill. The price hike, which will take effect from 17 June, consists of a 4.4 [...]
Eurozone inflation falls to add to European Central Bank quantitative easing quandary May 3, 2018 The pace of price rises in the Eurozone fell in April to add to the reasons for caution for the European Central Bank (ECB) over withdrawing monetary policy stimulus in the autumn. Consumer price inflation fell to an annual rate of 1.2 per cent, down from 1.3 per cent, in spite of a marked pick-up [...]
nHouse founders Nick Fulford and Richard Hywel Evans on the need for modular housing in the UK May 2, 2018 While we all know what disruptive tech looks like, what does disruptive housing look like? By almost universal consent, three problems need to be addressed in the current market – affordability, sustainability and quality – and whoever conquers all three will seriously shake up the UK market. Yet architect Richard Hywel Evans thinks he, along [...]
Commodity investors: how to hedge your US dollar exposure March 29, 2018 For quite some time now, low interest rates have prompted investors to look for investments with the potential to deliver decent levels of growth. If anything, this desire has intensified in the past year or so as inflation in the UK has picked up. Annual Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) – the measure of price growth [...]