UK firms set for busy week of trading reports January 27, 2013 THE UK’s corporate calendar is packed this week as many of Britain’s biggest companies deliver their results before the month’s end. Both AstraZeneca and Royal Dutch Shell are set to give full-year results on Thursday, while British Sky Broadcasting, Haynes Publishing and Rank Group will give interim reports. Trading announcements are also expected that day [...]
Golf Comment: All eyes on Mickelson’s bid for three triumphs in a row July 29, 2013 OPEN champion Phil Mickelson looks set to be the centre of attention once again this week when he returns to action at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. The new world No2 is in red-hot form and aiming for a third consecutive victory, having also claimed the Scottish Open just days before his Muirfield triumph earlier this [...]
We can bring down UK energy costs without Miliband’s populist price fix September 25, 2013 WELL, no one can say we don’t know what Ed Miliband stands for any more. Whacking business with higher taxes, strangling them with regulation, expropriating land from owners who don’t develop, and reversing benefit cuts. The list of Wonga policies – superficially attractive in the short term, punitively expensive in the long term – was [...]
All smiles on the Teardrop isle August 4, 2013 British Airways’ new Colombo route will help open Sri Lanka up to a new generation of tourists, says Lisa Young EARLIER this year British Airways’ only Sri Lankan Boeing 777 pilot landed one of the company’s jets in his home country for the first time in 15 years. Touching down in Colombo, the capital of [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 9 August 2013 August 8, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Norway’s oil fund plans to turn active Norway’s $760bn (£489bn) oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, is stepping up its efforts to be a more active investor by appointing a corporate governance advisory board. Having quadrupled in size in the past eight years, the vehicle is seeking to play a bigger [...]
Centrica labels Labour plan as a recipe for ruin September 24, 2013 BRITAIN’S big six energy companies yesterday lambasted Labour leader Ed Miliband’s pledge to freeze energy bills until 2017, saying his planned reforms could financially ruin firms and discourage infrastructure investment. Sir Roger Carr, chairman of British Gas owner Centrica, said Labour’s plan to implement price controls could leave companies in a vulnerable position. “When costs [...]
The real Willy Wonka is as experimental as ever September 10, 2013 Think you love chocolate the most? Elizabeth Fournier meets choc-God Paul A Young IT’S NOT hard to be passionate about chocolate, but Paul A Young takes it to a whole new level. Reviewers and customers alike may wax lyrical about his imaginative creations, which include Marmite brownies and Eccles cake truffles. Get him talking on [...]
Lib Dems propose sticking with existing university fees system and bringing back mansion tax August 5, 2013 The agenda has been released for the Lib Dem's autumn conference in Glasgow. Compared to the other party conferences it at least pretends to involve ordinary members, as loyal Lib Dems are given endless opportunities to vote on potential policies. Some conference motions are politically unrealistic pet projects of members (eg legalising cannabis) but others [...]
Best of the Brokers November 21, 2012 DIRECT LINE RBC has an “outperform” rating on the newly-listed insurer with a price target of 230p. The broker sees Direct Line as well placed to use its scale to fend off price comparison sites. BRITISH LAND Morgan Stanley has upgraded the property firm’s rating to “overweight” and hiked its target from 540p to 570p. [...]
The economics and culture of Murray’s Wimbledon triumph July 12, 2013 HE DID it, he did it – and a euphoric nation roared with delight, celebrating a moment many of us feared would never happen and a new, 26-year old national hero. A Brit is Wimbledon champion, and this is real life, not a Hollywood rom-com. Needless to say, Andy Murray’s triumph is about much more [...]