FTSE levels out on better news from Beijing – London Report August 14, 2015 BRITAIN’S top index ended flat yesterday as easing concerns over China’s economy helped to offset the impact of falling oil prices and a large number of ex-dividend companies. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down 2.86 points – effectively flat in percentage terms – at 6,568.33, trimming the gains seen earlier in the session and [...]
Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey join the FTSE 100 in quarterly shake-up December 3, 2014 Home-builders Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey will join the FTSE 100 index, replacing Petrofac and IMI, it has been announced today. The latter two have recently been hurt by crumbling commodity prices amid a global sell-off. Jimmy Choo, Allied Minds, CLS Holdings, Game Digital, Greggs and Spirit Pubs will join the FTSE 250. EnQuest, Fenner, [...]
Just half of Britain’s boardrooms expect the economy to improve November 30, 2014 CONFIDENCE in the economy in Britain’s boardrooms is collapsing, with a third of board members believing that global economic conditions will decline, up from just five per cent last year. Meanwhile just 45 per cent of board members expect the UK economy to improve over the next year, down from 80 per cent in December [...]
General Election 2015: What the parties are offering small business March 1, 2015 Before the 2010 General Election, Britain’s small business community was a rather uncoordinated mass, largely invisible to the political elite. This time around, the UK’s 5m small firms can’t and won’t be overlooked. This newly-drawn constituency has legs, and we know how to use them. In a brave small business world, the party that can [...]
A bad year for predictions: Number of UK company profit warnings reaches highest point since middle of financial crisis December 21, 2014 It has been a bad year for UK companies trying to accurately predict their profits. According to a report by financial services firm EY, the number of profit warnings issued by the UK's largest listed companies in 2014 was higher than in any year since the height of the financial crisis. During the [...]
Five charts showing what happens to London-listed companies when oil prices plummet February 19, 2015 Oil companies have been burned by plunging global oil prices, which have shed around 60 per cent since July, prompting them to abandon projects, and some have even had to make job cuts. Oil prices have crumbled 60 per cent since July last year, skidding to a near six-year low of $45.19 per barrel in January, thanks [...]
Drinks giant Diageo drops KPMG for PwC as new rules come in November 11, 2014 Diageo announced yesterday that it had replaced its auditor KPMG with rival PwC, to bring it in line with new regulations compelling companies to consider changing their accountants every decade. The alcoholic drinks giant – which produces Guinness – said PwC’s appointment would take effect for Diageo’s financial year ending 30 June 2016, subject to [...]
Mid-cap firms outperform big companies amid stall in sales November 9, 2014 AVERAGE sales growth at UK companies remains sluggish, with profit margins under pressure, leading retail stockbroker The Share Centre said yesterday. The overall weak figures, however, conceal a strong disparity between different sized companies, with UK mid-caps outperforming their blue chip counterparts, according to the company’s latest Profit Watch UK report. The total annual revenues [...]
Entertainment and tobacco losses add to cautious trading – London Report June 2, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index posted its lowest close in more than three weeks yesterday, as tobacco stocks slipped after a Canadian court ruling and Merlin Entertainments slumped following an accident at a theme park run by the company. Shares in Merlin fell 3.5 per cent on news that four people were seriously hurt at one [...]
My nine key predictions for the City over the 12 months ahead January 7, 2015 It's with some trepidation that I set out my predictions for the year ahead in corporate Britain, not least because the first of them might appear misguided even by the time you read this. ONE Tesco, which today updates the City on Christmas trading, will be the winner among the food retailing establishment’s “big four” [...]