Roger Bootle of Capital Economics talks Brexit, macroeconomics and making a market for research September 12, 2016 Is there ever a tension between being one of Britain’s most influential economists, writer of multiple best-sellers and an opinionated column in the Telegraph, and a businessman, head of Europe’s largest independent macroeconomic consultancy? “There is sometimes,” says Roger Bootle, founder and executive chairman of Capital Economics. “We saw it with the Brexit debate. I was [...]
HSBC opts for most boring name change imaginable September 3, 2015 Earth-shaking news from the banking sector this morning, after HSBC unveiled the name of its ring-fenced UK bank: HSBC UK. Try to contain your excitement. It had been speculated that the bank was toying with the name "Midland", the chain it acquired in the early 1990s. But in a statement this morning, HSBC said that [...]
Consolidation is the name of the game for Mike Ashley as he see revenues increase by 20 per cent August 7, 2016 Mike Ashley's businesses generated nearly £3bn of revenues during the year to April 2015 latest filings at Companies House have shown. The Newcastle United owner consolidates his business operations into MASH Holdings Ltd – a company in which he is the sole shareholder. Its financial statements were filed on 27 July 2016. Ashley took out further lending [...]
Standard Chartered share price drops on US probe into alleged bribery in Indonesia September 27, 2016 Shares in emerging market-focused bank Standard Chartered were dragged lower today after news broke that the bank is the subject of a US Justice Department investigation. US authorities are investigating the London-based bank over allegations that Indonesian power company Maxpower – owned by Standard Chartered – paid bribes to win contracts between 2012 and 2015. Shares in the bank closed down by 2.5 [...]
HSBC share price down sinks despite smashes expectations and shrugging off China slowdown – but no news on headquarters move November 2, 2015 HSBC has beaten expectations for profits in the third quarter, shrugging off the slowdown in China. The figures The UK’s biggest bank reported a jump in pre-tax profit to $6.1bn (£3.95bn) for the third quarter, from $4.6bn during the same period last year. This outstripped most analysts’ expectations, which hovered around $5.2bn. Revenues, however, fell four per cent year-on-year, [...]
Profits dive 46 per cent at Standard Chartered but share price jumps August 3, 2016 Standard Chartered's share price has jumped even as it reported a 46 per cent fall in profits and said it was not yet ready to reinstate an interim dividend. The emerging markets focused bank reported pre-tax underlying profits of $994m (£745m) in the first six months of the year, down from $1.8bn in the comparable period of 2015, [...]
Mario Draghi tells banks to stop complaining about negative interest rates September 22, 2016 Mario Draghi has issued a robust defence of his negative interest policy in a conference designed to address threats to financial stability across the Eurozone. The era of ultra-low interest rates has been cited as one reason for the woes of banking sectors across the world, since lower rates squeeze the profits of financial institutions [...]
Bank shares and stress tests: the value investor’s verdict December 8, 2016 The Bank of England’s latest stress tests of the UK banking system attracted many column inches of space in the newspapers last week. The aim was to calculate whether these institutions would have enough capital to withstand certain grim scenarios. Moving away from some of the inflammatory headlines, it is worth looking in more [...]
Bank shares and stress tests: the value investor’s verdict December 8, 2016 The Bank of England’s latest stress tests of the UK banking system attracted many column inches of space in the newspapers last week. The aim was to calculate whether these institutions would have enough capital to withstand certain grim scenarios. Moving away from some of the inflammatory headlines, it is worth looking in more detail [...]
Iran is open for business with a post-Brexit UK November 14, 2016 Iran is officially open for business after four years in the global wilderness. Following the imposition of financial sanctions in 2012 by the US for its burgeoning nuclear weapons programme, it was almost impossible for the west to do any business with Iran. Those sanctions were lifted earlier this year after France, Germany, UK, Russia and [...]