British support for EU membership surges to all-time high February 25, 2015 A record number of Brits want the UK remain in the EU, according to a new YouGov poll. Some 45 per cent of voters said they don't want a "Brexit", compared with 35 per cent who would choose to leave. The numbers represent the largest lead for the pro-EU camp since YouGov's records began. Support [...]
Golf Comment: Sullivan enjoys stratospheric rise of different kind with maiden title January 12, 2015 BEFORE Sunday, Andy Sullivan was probably best known for shooting a hole in one at last year’s KLM Open in Holland that won him a flight into space from one of the tournament’s sponsors. The Englishman could have been forgiven for feeling like he had taken that prize already when he woke up yesterday morning, [...]
Who made the FCA’s 2014 naughty list: Which institutions received the biggest fines last year? January 6, 2015 2014 was a busy year for the UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which brought in a record £1,471,431,800 in fines – more than twice the previous record year. However, £1.1 billion of the FCA’s naughty list was made up by just five banks, and these record fines have sparked fears of conduct [...]
Yanis Varoufakis cancels City Week speech to go to Athens March 23, 2015 Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has pulled out of City Week, cancelling his plan to speak to City and global investors about Greece. Just last week his office was confirming that the high profile former professor would be giving a presentation, titled “Future of Europe: the Greek perspective” this afternoon. But instead he is [...]
London Report: FTSE led down by Experian and HSBC first quarter results May 7, 2014 BRITAIN’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down by 2.12 points at 6,796.44 points yesterday, hindered by a drop in HSBC and credit data firm Experian. HSBC’s 1.3 per cent fall trimmed the most points off of the FTSE. The bank said its 20 per cent drop in first-quarter profits resulted from muted customer activity in [...]
City boss Gerry Grimstone: The buck has to stop with board directors March 23, 2015 Who is to blame when a banker many tiers from the top of the firm misbehaves? The banker alone? Their manager? The boss of their division? The chief executive? It can be chaotic working out who should be punished in a vast organisation across dozens of countries and hundreds of thousands of workers. But there [...]
Countrywide predicts rocky 2015 for property market despite record profits February 26, 2015 The figures The UK's largest estate agent, Countrywide, whose brands include Bairstow Eves, Hamptons and John D Wood, announced a 20 per cent rise in total income to £702.2m in its first year as a publicly listed company. Profit before tax rose 63 per cent to a record level of £102.4m, from £62.9m at the same stage [...]
Virgin Money share price jumps as underlying profit more than doubles after IPO March 5, 2015 The figures Shares in recently-listed challenger bank Virgin Money rose almost five per cent in late morning trading, after it posted figures showing full-year underlying pre-tax profit soared 127 per cent thanks to its swelling mortgage loan book. The challenger bank, which floated in November, said underlying pre-tax profit was £121m in 2014, up from [...]
Centrica’s new chief executive Iain Conn could cut British Gas dividends by 15pc February 15, 2015 Centrica will release its full-year results for British Gas on Thursday, but there is little optimism among analysts. Not only has the falling price of oil weighed down the company's success – it is also going through a competition inquiry and faces a continuing crisis in the North Sea, where a large part of its [...]
Competition authorities could weigh on Ball’s bid to buy out rival can firm Rexam February 5, 2015 The scale of the potential merger between can-making giants Rexam and Ball could lead to problems with competition regulators. US giant Ball is only slightly larger than FTSE 250 firm Rexam, and comprise the two largest businesses in the sector globally. The proposed £4.3bn buyout could make sense in extending Ball’s reach globally. [...]