Uber’s $62.5bn valuation means it’s worth more than BT, Prudential and Barclays – and 86 other FTSE 100 constituents December 4, 2015 Uber is reported to have filed paperwork outlining plans to raise as much as $2.1bn (£1.4bn) in its latest funding round. Were the company to complete that funding round (and according to the Bloomberg report, the wheels are very much in motion for that to happen – with Tiger Global Management and T Rowe Price both [...]
Plain cigarette packaging: Tobacco companies Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Imperial and Japan Tobacco vow legal fight against branding ban in courts March 11, 2015 The world's biggest tobacco firms have vowed to fight the UK government in the courts after MPs voted in favour of plain packaging which will see branding disappear from cigarette packets. British American Tobacco (BAT), Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International (JTI), have threatened legal action against the move which they believe is unlawful. BAT, [...]
M&G chief explodes bombshell in pay debate December 3, 2015 Campaigners against high boardroom pay might balk at the notion of taking advice from a City grandee who landed a package worth £5.4m last year – but Michael McLintock is worth hearing out. McLintock, chief executive of the £250bn asset manager M&G Investments, has floated an idea whose explosiveness is only exacerbated by his status. During [...]
Banks come to fore as sector to report results – London Report October 25, 2015 BANKING results season is upon us, with three of the big four reporting this week. And on the economic front, third-quarter GDP figures are expected to show that the economy is slowing down due to weaker construction and manufacturing output. Corporates Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group also report in with updates, as does sector [...]
FTSE 100 Index: Gold glitters and BT gets a good call to lift – London Report October 29, 2015 Gains in gold mining stocks and at BT helped to lift the FTSE 100 back towards the two-month highs it reached towards the end of last week. Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline also climbed 3.88 per cent after it posted better-than-expected earnings. Randgold and Fresnillo were the best-performing stocks on the blue-chip index, which climbed 1.1 per [...]
Des Naughton resigns from Nicoventures: British American Tobacco loses ecigarette managing director November 20, 2014 Des Naughton, managing director of British American Tobacco (BAT) ecigarettes subsidiary Nicoventures, has resigned from the group, it said in a statement yesterday. Naughton will leave BAT on 28 February 2015 after nearly 20 years with the tobacco giant, four of which has been on the management board. In that time, he has also been [...]
Cigarette plain packaging war heating up as new Australian study due for release August 16, 2015 The tobacco industry has hit back at the government’s plan to enforce plain packaging for cigarettes, warning that the ruling will cause a rise in counterfeits being smuggled into the UK. As legal battles rage between the UK government and British American Tobacco, this latest challenge comes after it was revealed yesterday that an official [...]
British American Tobacco whacked with £650,000 fine by HMRC for “oversupplying” Belgium cigarette market November 13, 2014 British American Tobacco (BAT) has been hit with a fine of £650,000 by HM Revenue & Customs for oversupplying cigarettes to Belgium, which has substantially lower tobacco taxes than Britain. Apparently, that causes more low-cost cigarettes to be smuggled into the UK. According to papers seen by the Wall Street Journal, it is the first [...]
FTSE 100 poised for longest losing streak since 2011 August 20, 2015 Britain's top share index fell for the eighth straight session today, putting it on course to clock its longest losing streak since 2011. The FTSE 100 was also down more than 10 per cent from its recent record high of 7,122.74 points hit in April – taking it into official correction territory, Britain's FTSE 100 [...]
Murray International Trust suffers from strength of surging sterling August 18, 2015 MURRAY International, the FTSE 250-listed investment trust, fell in value during the first six months of the year after falling victim to the runaway strength of the pound. The £1.1bn vehicle, managed by Aberdeen Asset Management’s Bruce Stout, has about 90 per cent of its assets invested outside the UK. Sterling’s surge to a seven-year [...]