Eurozone: We are on the road to recovery March 5, 2015 The European Central Bank’s (ECB) landmark €1.1 trillion (£800bn) debt-buying programme will kick off on Sunday and boost Eurozone growth throughout 2015 and 2016, a confident Mario Draghi announced yesterday. ECB president Draghi and the bank’s forecasters are confident the programme – also known as quantitative easing (QE) – will be effective at rescuing the Eurozone [...]
Virgin Money eyes dividend this year as profits more than double March 5, 2015 Challenger bank Virgin Money could start paying dividends as soon as the middle of this year, chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia told City A.M. yesterday. Virgin announced operating profits of £121.2m for 2014, more than double the £53.4m recorded in 2013. However, its statutory profits slumped to £34m – 2014’s figures include the costs of its [...]
Morgan Stanley possible target for lawsuit over OW Bunker float March 5, 2015 MORGAN Stanley is one of the banks that could be sued by the Danish Shareholders’ Association (DSA) over the disastrous initial public offering (IPO) of OW Bunker in March 2014. The Danish marine fuel company, which was originally valued at $1bn (£656m), was rocked by scandal in November 2014 when it revealed it was facing [...]
E-books cannot have a lower rate of VAT, says European court March 5, 2015 E-BOOKS cannot have a lower rate of VAT applied to them, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled yesterday. The Luxembourg- based court was adjudicating on a case brought by France and Luxembourg, to try and have e-books subject to the same lower rate of VAT that hardcopy books are. However, ECJ judges said: “The [...]
TSB chief exec Paul Pester receives £1.9m March 5, 2015 New bank TSB’s chief Paul Pester received £1.89m in 2014, the bank reported yesterday. The boss’ salary came to £651,588, while his legacy bonus from Lloyds – paid up to June 2014 – came to £377,000. His TSB award was smaller at £36,167, in line with all staff who hit their targets then get a [...]
Local level cuts hit London and poorest hardest March 5, 2015 CUTS to local government spending will hit London boroughs harder than the rest of England, a think tank has said today. Spending per person has been cut by 23.4 per cent between 2009-10 (the year to April 2010) and 2014-15 when accounting for inflation, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said. But the size of [...]
Greek banks are safe for now as deposit outflows grind to a halt March 5, 2015 The worst may be over for Greek banks, with deposit flows looking to have halted at just over €20bn (£14bn). “Based on discussions we had with Greek banks, it seems that deposit outflows have abated last week following the Eurogroup decision on 20 February,” Nondas Nicolaides, a senior credit officer at ratings agency Moody’s told City [...]
UK rates held at record lows March 5, 2015 THE UK’S rate-setters yesterday decided against moving rates up or down from the 0.5 per cent rate where they have sat since 2009. “At a time when inflation is falling and may temporarily enter negative territory, there is no strong argument for considering higher rates. Although wages are now rising, the scale of this increase [...]
Scant supply of homes pushes prices higher March 5, 2015 RISING incomes, stamp duty changes and a supply shortage are putting upward pressure on house prices, new figures show. The average house price rose 8.3 per cent in February compared to February 2014, according to data released yesterday by mortgage lender Halifax. It marks a slight slowdown in growth from the 8.5 per cent year-on-year [...]
Confident consumers fuel record growth of new car registrations March 5, 2015 Confident UK consumers bought 76,958 new cars in February, 12 per cent more than in February last year. The figures released yesterday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that February was the 36th consecutive month of growth in new car purchases. “Three years of continuous growth in the new car market is [...]