Brave beginnings May 26, 2020 On Tuesday, 8 March 2016, Bitcoin was trading at $412.07 and Ethereum was hot on its heels at $10.86. The KR1 team had just inked a deal to take a dormant publicly listed former Romanian property investment company and turn it into a publicly listed crypto fund. Every single person involved in the process, whether [...]
Coronavirus: Is this the end for the North Sea oil industry? May 22, 2020 For the last couple of months, the headlines coming out of the North Sea oil fields have made for pretty grim reading. In the past decade or so, the industry, which employs around 150,000 people in the UK, has already been battered by two price implosions, in 2008 and 2013. However, the hit it has [...]
Economists rule out ‘V-shaped’ recovery after weak survey data May 21, 2020 Survey data today showed that the UK economy remained mired in a deep downturn in May despite an improvement from a dire April. Many economists have said that any hopes of a swift ‘V-shaped’ recovery from the coronavirus crash have all but faded. At the beginning of the crisis, policymakers and analysts hoped that once [...]
The Long Read: Sir Martin Sorrell on advertising, coronavirus and the new media landscape May 7, 2020 Sir Martin Sorrell has bestrode the ad world for decades – and in the midst of a global pandemic that has hit the industry hard, he’s understandably got some thinking to do. Christopher Jackson spoke to the ad mogul, and his interview for finitoworld – the organisation’s online magazine – is republished here. Prior to [...]
UK house prices: Experts predict sharp recovery after coronavirus lockdown May 1, 2020 UK house prices could rebound after the coronavirus lockdown eases, after they grew at the fastest pace since 2017 before the crisis, Nationwide said today. The value of British homes grew at their fastest rate since February 2017 before the coronavirus lockdown brought the market crashing to a halt, Nationwide data released today showed. UK [...]
Shell cuts dividend as earnings halve in first quarter April 30, 2020 Oil giant Shell today reduced its dividend by 66 per cent after earnings fell by 46 per cent in the first quarter due to the coronavirus crisis. The decision to reduce the dividend is the first time the firm has done so since World War Two, and means it has relinquished its position as the [...]
Brent crude tumbles overnight to lowest oil prices since millennium April 22, 2020 The price of worldwide benchmark Brent crude tumbled overnight as the global rout of oil prices continued on fears that storage space is rapidly running out. At its nadir, Brent crude fell over 18 per cent to $15.98, a level last seen before the turn of the millennium in mid-1999. As trading opened in London, [...]
Miner BHP holds on to iron production guidance despite coronavirus April 21, 2020 Mining giant BHP has maintained its production guidance for iron, coal and petroleum for 2020 despite the ongoing economic shutdown caused by coronavirus. However, the firm said that it expected to see double-digit contraction outside of China could contract by a double-digit figure, and that capital spending could fall below the $8bn previously forecast. In [...]
Shell takes $800m hit on oil price collapse March 31, 2020 Oil giant Shell will write down up to $800m (£648.8m) in impairment charges in the first quarter of 2020 due to the global collapse in oil prices, the Anglo-Dutch firm warned today. The combination of plummeting demand for fuel due to the coronavirus pandemic and a production war between Saudi Arabia and Russia has sent [...]
How small businesses can do big things for sustainability March 30, 2020 With the green agenda more important than ever, businesses are under pressure to ensure they are both environmentally and economically sustainable. The 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) is on the horizon and attention is focused on how businesses will play their part to tackle climate change. Many big corporations have big budgets for green [...]