Supermarket sales slide into reverse as price war hits petrol pumps August 10, 2015 A fierce supermarket price war at both the tills and the petrol pumps has caused sales in the sector to shrink for the first time since records began over 20 years ago. With retailers kicking off another round of petrol price cuts today, fresh data shows how supermarket giants’ troubles are dragging on the UK’s [...]
Weak performance in mining sector is a drag on the FTSE – London Report June 25, 2015 WEAK mining stocks and persistent concerns over Greece’s debt problems weighed on the UK market yesterday. The benchmark FTSE 100 equity index closed down 0.5 per cent at 6,807.82 points. Miners took most points off the index, with the FTSE 350 Mining Index falling 1.8 per cent as copper prices lost ground. The FTSE 100 [...]
Commodity and oil heavy FTSE dragged down – London Report August 4, 2015 DATA showing an uptick in UK manufacturing growth in July did little to boost share prices yesterday, as mining stocks were impacted by weaker-than-expected manufacturing figures out of China. Global oil prices also fell yesterday, with benchmark brent crude dropping to below $50 per barrel, which pulled oil companies’ share prices downward. The FTSE 100, [...]
Businesses are scared to speak out against Brexit July 13, 2015 Even though two thirds of UK companies believe a so-called Brexit would be damaging for them, only seven per cent would speak out in favour of staying in the EU, new research has found. Read more: Sajid Javid questions CBI stance on European Union membership Close to two thirds of the FTSE 350 company secretaries surveyed [...]
Why everyone should stop panicking about Berkeley Group boss Tony Pidgley’s £23m bonus August 11, 2015 Yesterday’s revelation that Tony Pidgley – founder, chairman and general grandfather figure at housebuilding giant Berkeley Group – is about to net himself £23m-odd in bonus payouts has created something of a storm. There’s no denying it’s a vast sum: it puts Pidgley above Wayne Rooney in the pay scale, making him the second [...]
Oil prices: Has black gold lost its shine? As Royal Dutch Shell takes a $4bn hit from a failed venture, are oil companies still investable? September 29, 2015 Royal Dutch Shell has halted oil exploration in the Arctic, after a $7bn (£4.6bn) quest failed to yield enough crude to justify continued spending. The venture has been a “very costly error” and will damage the company both financially and reputationally, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Lucas Herrman. Shell said it is likely [...]
The National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank and Alphabank share price: Banks send Greek stocks to lowest level since 1990 February 8, 2016 Heavy losses among Greek bank shares, sparked by fresh political uncertainty over the country's €86bn (£66.4bn) bailout, sent its stocks to their lowest level since 1990 today. Traders and analysts attributed the turbulence to uncertainty that a bailout review by the country's lenders could drag on. Greece's "troika" of creditors – the European Commission, the European Central [...]
Rio Tinto posts record-high iron output despite plunging commodities prices January 19, 2016 Rio Tinto has shrugged off the woes of the continuing global commodities rout to post record high iron ore shipments in its fourth quarter results today. Despite the rout, the world’s second-largest mining company is aiming to boost production further next year, setting a 2016 target for global iron ore production of around 350m tonnes. [...]
Dividend hike expected for FTSE 350 firms July 7, 2014 DIVIDENDS from FTSE 350 firms are projected to climb by £74.5bn this year, up 4.7 per cent, with an even larger increase expected for the year afterwards. A new forecast by Markit suggests that after a significant rise this year, dividends among the UK’s large listed firms will surge by nine per cent in the [...]
Retailers’ relationships with suppliers go under the microscope in wake of Tesco profit overstatement May 29, 2015 The relationship between grocers and their suppliers will go under the microscope next year, as regulators attempt to stamp out the sort of behaviour that led to Tesco overstating its profits by £263m. The Financial Reporting Council, which monitors auditing and accountancy in the UK, said it would spend next year paying particular attention [...]