UK set to face ‘sluggish’ growth in the face of sticky inflation and Bank of England interest rate hikes
Petrofac share price falls 13 per cent amid costs hike April 20, 2015 Shares in Petrofac dived today, after the oilfield services provider announced an additional £130m pre-tax loss for its Shetland gas project in the North Sea. Shares in Petrofac fell as much as 13 per cent to 875.28p in mid-morning trade on the London Stock Exchange. The firm said the final stages of the project had [...]
Five things to expect from Tesco’s results this week: Billion-pound losses, a pension blackhole, property writedown and more April 20, 2015 If Tesco thought the worst was over, Wednesday is likely to take Dave Lewis and co screaming back to last year’s blackhole debacle as the supermarket reports full-year results that are expected to be the worst in its 96-year history. LATEST: Tesco racks up worse than expected £6.38bn loss in worst year in supermarket's history With [...]
Rio Tinto April 20, 2015 The figures xxx Why it's interesting The FTSE giant was the target of a failed takeover bid by rival Glencore and with the six month cooling period for offers having just come to an end, investors will be eager to see what kind of shape the miner is in with speculation that a new offer [...]
Vince Cable warns of potential hiccup in Lloyds Bank shares sell-off April 20, 2015 A competition enquiry could upset Conservative party plans to sell billions of pounds of Lloyds Banking Group shares to the public by May 2016, Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable said yesterday. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to publish its final report on the personal current accounts and small business banking markets [...]
Newcastle fans boycott Tottenham Hotspur game in protest over Mike Ashley ownership April 20, 2015 A group of Newcastle fans boycotted yesterday’s home match against Tottenham Hotspur in protest against current owner Mike Ashley, calling on him to leave. The plans were announced last week as strong negative sentiment towards the club’s ownership was compounded when it was revealed that United had more then £34.1m in cash reserves. Fans are [...]
Alliance Trust wins backing of City bosses April 19, 2015 Embattled Alliance Trust boss Katherine Garrett-Cox won the support of a series of business bosses over the weekend, as the leaders spoke up in favour of her stewardship. Activist investor Elliott Advisors is pushing to add three new directors to the FTSE 250 investment group’s board, arguing that its executives need to be pushed harder [...]
Beware, Sid – Lloyds sale could be tricky April 19, 2015 A big retail offering of Lloyds shares is on the cards. Large-scale privatisation is back. David Cameron is promising a £4bn sale of Lloyds shares to retail customers, swapping one big government shareholder for thousands of individuals. An instant comparison is with the 1980s. Giant firms like BT, BP and British Gas were taken out [...]
Giles Morgan on how sport’s dynamic blaze of colour can bring a bank’s values to life April 19, 2015 HSBC’s Global Head of Sponsorship and Events tackles his firm’s support for rugby, right down to the grassroots level. Giles Morgan is not your average spokesman for a major sporting sponsor. He’s knowledgeable, forthright, and is more than happy to put a few noses out of joint if he doesn’t like what he sees going [...]
Investec Comment: Pensions: The role of structured products April 19, 2015 THE government’s pension reforms have arrived – and attention has inevitably shifted from the technicalities of the new rules to what those at retirement will do with their new-found freedoms. The reforms have given people unprecedented control over their pensions: you no longer have to buy an annuity, you can keep your money invested and [...]
Serco share price dips as investors back rights issue April 17, 2015 Some good news for Serco: the troubled outsourcer said this morning its shareholders had largely supported a rights issue, with acceptances for 520m of 549m (that's 95 per cent) of new ordinary shares offered. The one-for-one rights issue, priced at 101p per new ordinary share, closed on Thursday. This morning, shares dipped 0.2 per cent to [...]