Cineworld profits double: Fifty shades of payday for movie theatre chain March 12, 2015 Cineworld’s annual pre-tax profits more than doubled to £67.3m, despite a decline in 2014 box office sales. The UK’s largest cinema chain had revenue up by 52.5 per cent to £619.4m, up from £406.1m, in the 53-week period ending 1 January 2015. Chief executive of Cineworld, Moshe “Mooky” Greidinger, said it had been a hard [...]
Cheaper oil takes trade deficit to lowest level for over 14 years March 12, 2015 The UK’s trade deficit has dropped to its lowest level since 2000, official figures show. The UK imported £600m more than it exported in January, according to data released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It compares to the £2.1bn trade deficit in December. Around half of this fall was due to a drop [...]
Antofagasta in water deal with Los Pelambres mine protestors March 12, 2015 Shares in mining firm Antofagasta were up by 1.36 per cent yesterday, after it announced an agreement had been reached with protestors who were blocking access to its operation at the Los Pelambres mine in Chile. Normal operations are set to resume in the next few days. Protests have been ongoing at the site since [...]
Pedal to the metal at BMW as earnings rise 14pc to £6.5bn March 12, 2015 German car maker BMW yesterday announced that last year’s profit accelerated 14 per cent as its X5 SUV and 2-series Active Tourer compact minivan propelled record sales. Earnings rose to €9.12bn (£6.5bn) from €7.98bn. This beat the €8.89bn average of 25 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Profit widened to 9.6 per cent of revenue from 9.4 [...]
Antibiotics not finger-licking good for KFC as McDonald’s and Costco vow to end sale of drug-raised chickens March 12, 2015 KFC is likely to come under pressure from consumer and environmental groups to change how its poultry are raised after McDonald’s said it would no longer sell chicken raised with human antibiotics. McDonald’s announced last week it will phase out chicken raised with antibiotics for human health over two years to allay concern that use [...]
London leads national house price growth March 12, 2015 London and the south east are leading national house price growth despite slowing substantially, new figures show today. Average UK house prices were 6.8 per cent higher in February than they were in the same month last year, according to figures released by property services firm LSL today. If London and the south east are [...]
Euro devaluation and low interest rates to fuel property investment in 2015 March 12, 2015 Investment in Europe’s property market is expected to jump by as much as 10 per cent this year thanks to low interest rates and the expected ongoing euro devaluation. Research published yesterday by Savills showed investment volumes could top €210bn (£150m) by the end of 2015, up five to 10 per cent on the €199.3bn [...]
Bank of England governor Mark Carney says global deflation forces, strong sterling could delay rate hike March 12, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said that low inflation outside of the UK, as well as a strong sterling, could cause the central bank to push back a rate hike. "It may be appropriate to take into account persistent external deflationary forces arising from the combination of continued foreign low inflation and the [...]
TSB share price leaps 27 per cent as Lloyds backs £1.7bn takeover talks with Spanish bank Sabadell March 12, 2015 Lloyds appeared to give its blessing to an offer by Spanish Banco de Sabadell for challenger bank TSB this morning, in which it has a 50 per cent stake. TSB said it had been offered 340p in cash per share, about a 30 per cent premium on last night's closing price, valuing the lender at [...]
Alibaba just invested in Snapchat: Four charts showing just how big its new $15bn valuation is March 12, 2015 Everyone’s favourite disappearing messaging app, Snapchat, has raised a new round of funding from Alibaba which values the firm at $15bn (£10bn). It’s a vote of confidence for the four-year-old app, which has just introduced a host of content-driven advertising features in a bid to start generating some revenue. The app picked up $200m from [...]