Ryanair share price jumps as profit soars following new customer service programme May 26, 2015 Ryanair's share price soared this morning as it celebrated its 30th birthday with a 66 per cent increase in net profit for the year – beating analysts' expectations. The figures The low-cost carrier reported net profit of €867m (£614m) in the 12 months ended March 31 from €523m at the same period last year. Revenue rose more steadily [...]
Business leaders slam ‘shameful’ Thomas Cook as pressure builds on former boss Harriet Green over £10.5m share award May 25, 2015 Thomas Cook is under pressure to review a £10.5m payout to former boss Harriet Green amid mounting criticism over its response to the deaths of two British children in Corfu. Green is set to collect seven million Thomas Cook shares – worth £1.47 each – under a pay deal struck in 2012. The timing [...]
Japan Tobacco to sell £798m drink business to Suntory Beverage & Food May 25, 2015 Suntory Beverage & Food announced yesterday its intention to purchase Japan Tobacco Inc.’s drink and vending and machine businesses for close to ¥150bn (£798m). As part of the deal, Japan Tobacco which owns the Camel and Amber Leaf cigarette brands in the UK, will offload its shares in its subsidiaries Japan Beverage Holdings and JT [...]
Vatican Bank profits soar but it turns down wealth accumulation May 25, 2015 Scandal-hit lender the Vatican Bank yesterday reported surging profits for 2014, as its leaders continue to try to turn the troubled institution around. The bank, formally known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), made €69.3m (£49m) in the year, up from €2.7m in 2013. Of that profit, €15.3m is retained by the bank with [...]
BlackBerry announces more job cuts as reorganisation takes hold May 25, 2015 BlackBerry has announced that it will make job cuts as it consolidates. However, the struggling Canadian smartphone maker declined to say how many jobs would go, and where specifically the cuts would fall. A statement from the firm said: “We have made the decision to consolidate our device software, hardware and applications business, impacting a [...]
Taiwanese insurer Fubon Life Insurance snaps up site of Madame Tussauds May 25, 2015 Top tourist attraction Madame Tussauds Marylebone site has been snapped up by a Taiwanese insurer in a multi-million pound deal. Fubon Life Insurance bought the premises, which has been home to the waxwork museum for about 130 years, for £348.8m according to media reports. It's located on Marylebone Road near Regents Park and displays waxworks figures of [...]
After banning Uber in Guangzhou, the Chinese government is starting its own online taxi service in the city May 25, 2015 The Chinese city of Guangzhou may have banned Uber, but that hasn’t stopped its municipal government setting up its own, strikingly similar, online taxi company. The new company will be named Ruyue, which means “by appointment”. Uber was shut down in the city a matter of weeks ago, after authorities raided its offices, murmuring about [...]
Patrick Drahi’s Altice and John Malone’s Charter Communications are fighting to take over Time Warner Cable May 25, 2015 Time Warner Cable (TWC), one of the biggest US cable companies, could become the subject of a takeover clash. John Malone, a US cable tycoon who owns Charter Communications, and France’s Altice are vying to buy TWC for $48bn (£31bn), sources told the Financial Times. Discussions are said to be ongoing through the weekend, with [...]
Germany denies reports Greece could get a parallel currency May 22, 2015 Germany's finance ministry has denied reports it was considering offering Greece its own parallel currency. Earlier today Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was said to have raised the possibility of offering it a parallel currency during a recent meeting, according to a a report by Bloomberg. This prompted speculation that Germany was preparing for the cash strapped country's [...]
Plus500 suspends shares after it suffers a shorting attack May 22, 2015 Beleaguered spread-betting firm Plus500 today suspended trading in its shares on London's junior market, following a sell-off sparked by a hedge fund's blog post which said it was shorting the company's stock. US hedge fund Cable Car said it was shorting the trading platform with a price target of 76 pence per share. This sent the [...]
