Utilitywise share price up as company announces rise in revenue and a new role for chief executive Geoff Thompson April 19, 2016 Utilitywise today announced a spike in sales and a new role on its board for founder and chief executive Geoff Thompson. The utility management company, which counts Krispy Kreme and HSBC as clients, revealed that revenues had risen to £41.6m in the six months ending January 2016, up 36 per cent from £30.6m the year before. Meanwhile, adjusted pre-tax [...]
Credit Suisse just waved away the shareholder spring – but investors are still angry April 29, 2016 It was the best of times, it was the wurst of times at Credit Suisse's annual general meeting (AGM), as shareholders waved through controversial pay deals for its top team despite protests – and comfort ate frankfurters. At a meeting at which security was called as an angry shareholder disrupted proceedings, votes on directors' and executives' pay [...]
The New Day but not a new dawn for Mirror owner February 19, 2016 It may lack the attention-grabbing quality of “Bus Found on Moon” and other red-top headlines, but “Publisher Unveils National Tabloid” has a similar ring of implausibility. In a national newspaper market characterised by perpetually declining annual sales, Trinity Mirror’s launch of New Day looks like an adventurous bet on the willingness of a dwindling band of [...]
Pay-by-selfie? Amazon wants to patent the facial recognition technology March 16, 2016 Soon you could be paying for cheese – and the bill for anything else – by saying cheese for a selfie, with a number of firms working on replacements for pins and passwords. Major companies such as Mastercard, HSBC as well as startups are playing around with technology that uses facial recognition for security. Now Amazon has [...]
Budget 2016: Chancellor George Osborne to kick start £16bn B&B sell-off March 12, 2016 Chancellor George Osborne is gearing up to kick start a £16bn sale of bailed-out banking group Bradford and Bingley (B&B) loans in next week's Budget. Osborne decided to include the projected sale of the mortgage lender on Wednesday, following weeks of discussions with Treasury officials. The timing of the auction is unclear, and it may not conclude for months, giving investor's appetites [...]
European bank share prices bounce – but report warns negative rates could make the sector’s woes even worse February 15, 2016 European banks looked more positive today, as markets continued Friday's rally. In the UK, HSBC was up 0.76 per cent to 443.75p, while Barclays was up 2.5 per cent to 161p. Lloyds was up 1.5 per cent to 59.39p, while Royal Bank of Scotland group rose 1.7 per cent to 244.3p. That came after HSBC confirmed [...]
HSBC to charge banks for euro deposits in response to low interest rates May 19, 2015 HSBC will soon be charging other banks that keep deposits with them, in response to the low-interest rate environment. Deposits of euros, Swiss Francs, Danish crowns and Swedish krona will be charged by Europe’s largest bank from August. But it will only affect banks, not other businesses or individuals. “HSBC charges banks for deposits they [...]
Week ahead: Data and results set to keep UK investors busy as PMIs and supermarket results come thick and fast May 3, 2016 First quarter earnings season as well as a constant flow of economic data is set to keep investors busy all this week. The FTSE is coming off the back of a disappointing session after it closed down 80.51 points at 6241.89 on Friday following underwhelming results from some of the UK’s top banks. This week that [...]
EU referendum: Hargreaves Lansdown boss Peter Hargreaves backs Brexit March 18, 2016 Hargreaves Lansdown founder Peter Hargreaves has said he backs the UK leaving the European Union, the latest City bigwig to come out in support of Brexit. Hargreaves, who founded the Bristol-based finance firm in 1981, told the BBC a "fresh start" would help the country become more innovative. "I'm firmly convinced, that day – hopefully – [...]
HSBC creates £8bn UK small business fund May 11, 2015 HSBC has set aside £8bn to lend to small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. The bank's small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) loan offering will reach 43 areas of the country, with Scotland, Birmingham and Manchester, receiving at least £400m each. Fees on qualifying business loans worth between £1,000 and £300,000 will be waived or [...]