British Gas owner Centrica warns political uncertainty could hit investment March 26, 2015 British Gas owner Centrica yesterday warned that the run-up to the 7 May election would have a knock-on effect on investment in the UK energy sector. “The UK market faces potential pressure in both the run-up to the UK General Election and in the policy decisions taken by the next government,” Centrica said in its [...]
“Do business abroad,” enthuses export expert Myleene Klass March 26, 2015 Fresh from lambasting Ed Miliband about his plans to redistribute the wealth through a mansion tax, former pop star and Littlewoods brand ambassador Myleene Klass has climbed back onto her soapbox – this time, to tell businesses they should be doing more exporting. Klass, who famously told Miliband he "may as well tax this glass [...]
Markets riled after Saudi Arabia launches airstrikes in Yemen March 26, 2015 Tensions in the Middle East stirred global markets today pushing nervous investors into safe-haven assets. Investors sought safety in gold, pushing bullion prices up to a two-and-a-half week high of $1,219.40 an ounce, on news that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies had launched air strikes in the Yemen city of Aden. Meanwhile, the dollar fell [...]
Shell to cut 250 North Sea oil jobs as oil prices plummet March 26, 2015 Oil giant Shell has said it will shed around 300 North Sea oil and gas jobs as part of a cost management drive. "The North Sea has been a challenging operating environment for some time," Paul Goodfellow, Shell's upstream vice president for the UK and Ireland at, said. "Reforms to the fiscal regime announced in the budget [...]
RBS increases the size of its Citizens sale March 26, 2015 RBS has increased the size of the tranche of US bank Citizens Financial it's planning to sell off, as investor demand showed promising signs. That means the UK bank is likely to raise between $3.2bn (£2.1bn) and $3.7bn from the sale of 135m Citizens shares, up from the original plan to sell off 132.25m. Under [...]
Supergroup’s share price surges as new strategy includes an Idris Elba designed fashion range and 2016 dividend March 26, 2015 British fashion retailer Supergroup, the maker of Superdry clothing, is roping in potential future Bond Idris Elba to help grow its business. The star of Luther and The Wire will collaborate on designing a premium fashion range for Supergroup, the retailer has revealed, among a host of plans which sent shares surging six per cent [...]
EasyJet share price slides after narrowing first half losses March 26, 2015 The figures For the six months ended 31 March EasyJet is expecting narrow post pre-tax result of a loss of £5m to a profit of £10m. The outlook for first half capacity growth has been revised up 0.2 per cent to 3.7 per cent and revenue per seat has also been hiked by 0.5 per [...]
London Capital Group churns 75pc of staff and moves Charles-Henri Sabet to CEO role as losses deepen March 25, 2015 Troubled trading firm London Capital Group replaced 75 per cent of its staff last year, and yesterday announced its executive chairman Charles-Henri Sabet has been appointed as chief executive. The firm made a statutory pre-tax loss of £7.8m for 2014, more than twice the £3.7m loss made in 2013. Its revenues from continuing operations fell [...]
The AA to raise £935m for debt repayment plan March 25, 2015 The AA announced plans to raise £935m yesterday in a bid to pay off debts and reduce interest payments at the motoring organisation. The 110-year-old company plans to raise £200m in equity through a placing and a further £735m in a bond issue. The restructuring will involve the refinancing of £655m class B notes and [...]
Confidence knock? How the election is hitting businesses March 25, 2015 HOW CONFIDENT do high-growth companies feel about the coming year? For The Leap 100, the future looks bright. A whopping 98 per cent were either optimistic or very optimistic about their business’s prospects over the next 12 months, and 83 per cent expect the state of the economy to improve or greatly improve. Significantly, however, [...]
