Industrials call for overhaul of business rates November 16, 2014 A GROUP of industrial companies has called on the Chancellor George Osborne to overhaul the business rates tax or risk making the UK an unattractive destination for investment. In a letter to the Chancellor, signed by around 15 companies, including General Motors, Tata Steel, Siemens and chemical firm BASF, the current tax regime was described [...]
Supermarket fuel war reignites as Tesco and Asda drop prices December 17, 2013 THE SUPERMARKET fuel price war sparked off once again yesterday, after two major chains introduced new price cuts, effective from this morning. Tesco and Asda are both dropping the price of petrol by up to 2p per litre and diesel by 1p per litre. Spokespersons from Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s confirmed yesterday that they were not [...]
Unite threatens Jag with strike over pay deal November 13, 2014 MEMBERS of Unite have rejected Jaguar Land Rover’s pay offer, with the union warning the company to begin renegotiations or face an industrial action ballot. In a consultative ballot, 96 per cent of Unite members across the carmaker’s five plants rejected the proposed pay deal. According to the union, “anger is also mounting over the [...]
Ithaca revenue and profit down but financial position is strong November 13, 2014 NORTH Sea focused oil and gas company Ithaca Energy reported revenue of $290m (£184m) for the nine months ended September 2014, down from $302m in the same period of last year. The firm made a profit of $12m during the first three quarters of 2014, less than a fifth of the $66m profit last year. [...]
Atkins restates confidence for future despite drop in revenue November 13, 2014 ENGINEERING firm Atkins yesterday reported a 9.2 per cent drop in revenue for the six months to September 2014, down to £831m from £915m in the same period of 2013. Profit before tax also took a hit, dropping 28.8 per cent from £54.8m to £39m. However, Uwe Krueger, chief executive at Atkins, pointed to the [...]
Gulf Keystone on track to hit output targets November 13, 2014 OIL AND gas company Gulf Keystone Petroleum stated yesterday that it was on track to achieve production of 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) at its Shaikan operation in Kurdistan by the end of 2014. The site is currently averaging production of 23,000 bopd. The company also welcomed last week’s announcement that the Kurdistan [...]
Bad weather to blame for poor sales, says RWE November 13, 2014 THE GERMAN owner of Npower, RWE, yesterday reported a nine per cent drop in revenue, to €35.3bn (£30bn), in the first three quarters of 2014. The firm’s operating profit fell by 31 per cent to €2.9bn, a decline that RWE said was expected, and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation fell by 22 per [...]
Catlin’s premiums climb to near $5bn as London business grows November 13, 2014 INSURANCE group Catlin has reported gross written premium of $4.9bn (£3.1bn) for the first nine months of 2014, up 11 per cent on the $4.4bn reported in the same period of last year. Of the total premiums during the period, $2.2bn were by the firm’s London underwriting hub. The speciality insurer and reinsurer, which is [...]
G4S share price plummets after fake press release “reveals” £400m profit overstatement November 12, 2014 Outsourcing firm G4S was the subject of a hoax press release yesterday, which falsely claimed that the company had overstated its profit by almost £400m. The firm’s share price dropped by more than 3.5 per cent around the time that the email was sent out. However, it recovered to finish up by more than two [...]
Goldman Sachs’ share of new female partners steadies November 12, 2014 Investment bank Goldman Sachs yesterday revealed it had appointed 78 new partners, bringing the total number of partners to 467, or about 1.6 per cent of total current headcount. Women make up 11 of the 78, up slightly from the 10 women in 2012, but flat proportion-wise at 14 per cent of the intake. Meanwhile, [...]