Breakdown group AA boosts full-year profit expectations February 12, 2019 Breakdown cover group AA today raised expectations for its full-year profit after retaining or extending its key business contracts. In a trading update AA said it expects its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) would be not less than £340m, having previously said it expected profit to be in the range of £335m [...]
Asian stocks fall as coronavirus fears return April 1, 2020 Asia’s biggest stock markets fell overnight as fears rose about the death toll from coronavirus in the US, Japan entered a new fiscal year on an unsteady footing, and banks axed dividends. Following the worst quarter for global equities since 2008, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index tumbled 5.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped [...]
UK coronavirus loans top £31bn but just half of CBILs approved June 2, 2020 UK businesses have borrowed £31bn from banks through the government’s coronavirus loan scheme, but the approval rate on its flagship CBILs programme is still languishing at around 50 per cent. Figures released today showed that the three main coronavirus loan schemes have helped firms access £31.3bn. The bulk has been through the “bounce-back” loan scheme, [...]
AA: A sustainable recovery of its own? April 12, 2019 After a decent start to 2019, our head of markets kicks the tyres after these uninspiring results. There is certainly a great deal going on under the bonnet at AA (LSE:AA.), although by its own admission there remains much to be done. One measure of progress is the number of contract wins the company has [...]
UK manufacturing hits 13-month high as Brexit stockpiling peaks April 1, 2019 Britain's manufacturing sector had its best month in over a year in March, fuelled by a record pace of Brexit stockpiling, although experts warned that no-deal preparations obscured the true picture. The UK manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) hit 55.1 last month as trends in output and employment strengthened, according to eagerly-watched data from IHS [...]
Lloyds Bank chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio on stress: “It nearly broke me” October 7, 2017 Lloyds’ chief executive has said the job nearly “broke” him, dealing with serious insomnia shortly after joining the bank in 2011. In an interview with the Times magazine, Antonio Horta-Osorio discussed the details of his troubles. Within months of starting the top job, he spent nine days at the Priory clinic to prevent a nervous [...]
Lord Falconer to chair litigation funder Therium’s £1m giveaway March 11, 2019 Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer is to chair a £1m giveaway by litigation funder Therium aimed at increasing access to justice in the UK. The funder has set aside £1m for the new initiative, dubbed Therium Access, with the first round of grants to be announced next month. Therium typically provides funds to those pursuing [...]
Peltarion, the AI startup used by Nasa, Ocado and Tesla, raises $20m February 14, 2019 Swedish artificial intelligence (AI) startup Peltarion is heading across the Atlantic after closing a $20m (£15.5m) funding round. The series A funding was led by Euclidean Capital, which has also backed the likes of popular DNA ancestry startup 23 And Me. Existing investors FAM, which is owned by Swedish investor family the Wallenbergs, and EQT Ventures also took [...]
Gender pay gap data reveals the financial services with wider than average discrepancies April 5, 2019 Some of the large companies with the widest gender pay gaps come from the financial services sector. The deadline for providing gender pay gap data closed last night. For large companies – those employing more than 5,000 staff – the average pay gap was 10.34 per cent. The financial services entities below have gender pay [...]
House prices drastically outpacing wage growth in UK cities as Oxford named least affordable place to live February 2, 2019 House prices in UK cities are outpacing wage growth by 11 per cent, meaning home affordability is at its lowest level since 2007, according to new data from Lloyds Bank. The report reveals that the average price of a house in a city in Britain has risen from £180,548 in 2013 to its highest ever level of £248,233 [...]