Google Pixel review: Quite comfortably the greatest Android phone ever made October 19, 2016 Every Android phone has come with some compromise built in. Whereas the iPhone owes much of its popularity to Apple’s ability to control every last design detail – creating software and hardware that works in perfect harmony – Google has always had to rely on third-party manufacturers to build its phones. Imperfection’s gnarled fingers tended [...]
The Ministry of Justice has inked a £120m deal for translators – leaving the contractor hunting for more than 3,000 staff by November August 19, 2016 The Ministry of Justice has inked the largest deal for interpreters in Europe, paying £120m for a four year deal with languages company Thebigword, beginning at the end of October. The MoJ deal comes in addition to a £60m government contract signed in May to provide services to the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, the NHS, [...]
UK banks get ready to report third quarter results, with forecasts of non-core dragging on profits at Barclays and pension problems predicted at Lloyds October 23, 2016 All eyes will be on the banking sector this week, as big players get set to reveal their third quarter results. Lloyds will be reporting on Wednesday, followed by Barclays on Thursday and Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday. Analysts have predicted Barclays will announce profits before tax for the group of £1.3bn, compared with [...]
Former Sainsbury’s boss warns of imminent price hikes October 12, 2016 The ex-boss of one of the UK's leading supermarkets has warned shops will have to start hiking prices soon in response to the plunging pound. Justin King, who spent a decade as chief executive of Sainsbury's, told a conference on Wednesday it would be impossible for shops to absorb the higher costs of raw materials and imported products without charging [...]
Box-ticking watchdogs accused of allowing UK to sleepwalk into another financial crisis October 25, 2016 The UK risks stumbling into another financial crisis, a report out today warns, slamming the watchdogs for being more fixated with ticking boxes than bolstering important regulation. The report from Cass Business School for New City Agenda noted that, while the Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had responded to the 2008 [...]
US dollar fades as retail sales stagnate and send sterling back above $1.30 August 12, 2016 The US dollar has sunk after fresh economic data showed the recovery stumbled in July. Retail sales flat-lined in the world's largest economy in July and factory prices defied expectations to fall into negative territory. The pound climbed back above $1.30, up 0.5 per cent on the day, reversing some of the losses from earlier this [...]
Inflation surges to two-year high as economists warn of huge price hikes October 18, 2016 Prices are rising at their fastest pace in nearly two years as sterling's dramatic post-referendum demise looks set to bite consumers over the coming months. Inflation came in at one per cent in September on the consumer prices index (CPI), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) declared this morning – a big leap from the 0.6 per [...]
You’ll be hearing from my lawyer: Blue chip companies placing more and more money to one side to fight costly litigation, with FTSE 100 legal provisions up by a fifth September 26, 2016 Firms in the FTSE 100 put aside £31.3bn between them last year in a bid to cover potential legal bills stemming from increasingly costly litigation, a study out today has found. Legal provisions, which refer to money set aside to cover expenses such as legal costs, fines and compensation, among those in the blue chip index have [...]
PPI-related complaints against UK banks falling September 30, 2015 Customer complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) are falling, according to new financial regulator figures which hint that the fallout from banks’ mis-selling of PPI is beginning to settle. PPI-related complaints remain the biggest source of grumbling among customers in the aftermath of the scandal, but they’re down 17 per cent in the first six [...]
Soft Chinese inflation raise spectre of rate cuts August 9, 2016 The prospect of more monetary stimulus in China edged closer today with a soft inflation reading from the world's second largest economy. Price rises, as measured on the consumer price index (CPI), slipped back from 1.9 to 1.8 per cent in July – significantly off the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) three per cent target. Factory [...]