Opec reveals oil demand is set to grow in 2015 February 9, 2015 BRENT crude oil was up slightly yesterday, to around $58 a barrel, after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) projected that global oil demand will go up over the next 12 months. Demand for Opec crude in 2015 was revised up by 400,000 barrels per day (b/d) from the previous month’s assessment, to average [...]
Blogger Guido Fawkes gets in a tank to save Jeremy Clarkson from BBC axe March 20, 2015 Political blogger Guido Fawkes has arrived at the BBC's Broadcasting house to deliver a petition demanding the reinstatement of Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson. Always one for drama, Guido traveled in style to hand in the petition, driving to the BBC in tank. An occasionally fierce critic of the Beeb, Guido has been backing Clarkson [...]
Tobacco firms take the puff out of FTSE amid merger talks – London Report March 31, 2015 WEAKER tobacco and commodity company stocks hit Britain’s leading share index yesterday – but the FTSE 100 still managed to make its biggest quarterly gain since 2013. The FTSE was down 118.39 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 6,773.04 by the close, but is up 3.2 per cent this year. Consumer staple stocks were responsible [...]
Sheryl Sandberg’s full, moving Facebook tribute to her husband Dave June 4, 2015 It's been a month since Surveymonkey chief executive Dave Sandberg died from a head injury while using a hotel gym in Mexico. Last night his wife Sheryl, the chief operating officer of Facebook, posted a moving tribute to him on the social network. "I know I will never feel pure joy again," she wrote. "There [...]
Kingfisher in a fix over buying out Mr Bricolage March 24, 2015 EUROPE’S biggest DIY group Kingfisher yesterday suffered a setback to its bid for Mr Bricolage after facing opposition from one the French rival’s major shareholders. The B&Q owner, which makes about half of its annual profit in France, said the board of Mr Bricolage and the franchisee group ANPF, a major shareholder, “have reservations” about [...]
Melrose returns £200m in share buy-back deal February 3, 2015 Engineering turnaround specialist Melrose Industries yesterday announced that it planned a 13-for-14 reverse stock split, more than two months after it sold a division that makes ropes used in mines. The company said it would return £200m, or about 18.7p per share, to shareholders from the proceeds of the £365m sale of its Bridon business, [...]
How this UK discount retailer nearly beat Prada June 12, 2014 A budget department store founded by a shopkeeper in Blackpool during the late 1970’s has today become the biggest retailer to come to the stock market since fashion house Prada three years ago. According to fresh figures released this afternoon B&M Retail, which started life in the seaside resort in 1978, raised £1.1bn ($1.8bn) in [...]
Index Ventures backs Daniel Gandesha’s tech start-up Property Partner March 23, 2015 Index Ventures, the venture capital firm behind Just Eat and Candy Crush Saga-maker King Digital, has given £5.2m backing to a crowdfunding platform that allows retail investors to tap into the UK’s residential market. Property Partner, founded by the ex-head of startup investment at BSkyB Daniel Gandesha, gives smaller backers the chance to invest sums [...]
Super-intelligent robots could soon fight our wars, but there’s a risk they’ll try and turn against us July 31, 2015 A swarm of robots approaches the front line, each gearing up its inbuilt guns and explosives as it prepares to launch an attack on the enemy – another, almost identical swarm of robots. But suddenly one of the robots turns on its comrades. It has been offered a better deal by the enemy, so long [...]
Christmas quiz: Test your knowledge December 22, 2014 Deloitte’s chief economist, poses some of the trickiest questions of the year. How many can you get right? Answers are at the bottom. 1 The Louvre is the world’s most popular art gallery, with 9.3m visits in 2013. How many visits did people make to Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Florida in the same year? a) [...]