Tesco’s share price falls as supermarket sells half of stake in ecommerce site Lazada to Alibaba for £90m April 12, 2016 Tesco is continuing to shed itself of unwanted assets as management continues to plug the gaps in its balance sheet, this morning revealing it has partially offloaded its stake in ecommerce site Lazada to Chinese giant Alibaba. The supermarket received $129m (£90m) for its 8.6 per cent stake in the business, which acts a platform to sell global [...]
Asos’s share price surges as etailer reveals double-digit profit and sales growth as retailer consolidates return to strength April 12, 2016 Asos' share price surged more than 5.1 per cent this morning, after reporting six month double-digit sales and profit growth. The figures The etailer grew group revenue 21 per cent to £667.3m in the six months to 29 February, with UK retail sales up 25 per cent while international sales grew 18 per cent. Gross profit was up 22 per [...]
Panama Papers: David Cameron comes out all guns blazing, insisting MPs will not have to publish tax returns – as Labour MP Dennis Skinner is suspended over “dodgy Dave” jibe April 11, 2016 David Cameron came out all guns blazing this afternoon, slamming critics for their "deeply hurtful and profoundly untrue" comments about his father, while unveiling new measures designed to tackle tax evasion. The Prime Minister, who has been under growing pressure since his father was named in the so-called Panama Papers, accepted he should have addressed [...]
This is how much tax Boris Johnson paid (and it’s the most of any politician so far) April 11, 2016 Tax returns are like buses. You spend ages waiting for one to turn up (or not, depending on your view of the world) and then three arrive all at once. Hot on the heels of George Osborne's and Jeremy Corbyn's comes that of London mayor Boris Johnson and it shows the now-Uxbridge MP has paid [...]
It’s time for the FCA to build on its pro-innovation reputation April 11, 2016 Credit where it’s due. That the Financial Conduct Authority has chosen to make “Innovation and Technology” one of its seven priority areas for the year ahead, as revealed in its 2016-17 business plan recently, underlines why the regulator has a global reputation for its forward-thinking approach to technology. In an international marketplace for fintech innovation, [...]
Panama Papers: Labour is determined to keep pressure on David Cameron – but it’s a deeply cynical move April 11, 2016 Things go from bad to worse for David Cameron. Downing Street spent much of last week avoiding questions over the PM’s connections to offshore funds, before having to concede that he did, in fact, once own shares in his late father’s offshore trust, Blairmore Holdings. Cameron’s critics often reduce his professional experience to having been “a [...]
London house prices: More than 35,000 high-end homes planned in next decade – just as the prime property market starts to falter April 11, 2016 London's prime residential market is already suffering from the early signs of a slowdown but a flood of new properties is coming in the next decade that could exacerbate it further. A new report out today suggests there are 35,000 prime London homes due for construction in the next 10 years – a 40 per [...]
Heathrow passenger traffic reaches record high in March as airport claims it has queue of 30 airlines waiting for slots April 11, 2016 Heathrow is boasting a record month for passengers in March – and using it as further leverage to press its case for expansion. The west London airport saw 6.1 million passengers go through its door last month, up 2.5 per cent on the year before. Larger, quieter, fuller aircraft continued boosted passenger volumes, Heathrow said. Emerging markets drove much [...]
Tesco to accept Sainsbury’s brand match coupons after rival supermarket pulls out of promotional deals April 11, 2016 Promotional deals might be on their way out across the UK's supermarket sector but there is one place where they are still thriving. Tesco has said it will accept customers' brand match coupons issued by Sainsbury's – just days after the rival supermarket said it was shutting down its scheme. Sainsbury's said last week that coupons would no [...]
CMA urges European Commission to force Three or O2 sell-off before approving Telefonica-Hutchison 3G merger April 11, 2016 The head of the CMA has written to the European Commission, warning that the merger between Hutchison 3G and Telefonica would create "a significant impediment to effective competition" in the British telecoms market. The £10.25bn deal, which was agreed in March 2015, has been undergoing a lengthy probe by the European Commission. In January Ofcom came out against [...]