Commodities rout, competition issues and zero-hours contracts: Here’s Santa Plc’s annual report December 14, 2015 Last year City PM reported that after the financial crisis Santa Claus was in line for his merriest Christmas in years. But things are looking decidedly less festive in 2015. At the top of his naughty list this year? Governments, we suspect, who have not only created controversy over the zero-hours contracts he (probably) uses to [...]
Greene King boss Rooney Anand joins Morrisons’ board December 14, 2015 The chief executive of Greene King, Rooney Anand, has been appointed as non-executive director and senior independent director of the supermarket Morrisons. Anand, whose career includes stints at United Biscuits and Sara Lee, before joining Greene King as managing director in 2001, will join the board from 1 January. His appointment is one of several key hires [...]
AB InBev to list on Johannesburg Stock Exchange as mega-brew deal with SabMiller nears completion December 14, 2015 Belgian-based brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev has received the green light to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange ahead of its merger with SabMiller. The firm said the move demonstrated its "commitment" to South Africa and the continent as a whole "which will be a critical driver of future growth for the company" after the merger. Once listed, AB InBev's ordinary [...]
HSBC and Citibank are struggling to meet new regulations on banks based outside of the European Economic Area December 14, 2015 High street banks in the UK that are based outside of the European Economic Area are rushing to comply with new regulations that could leave senior bankers based abroad to be held accountable for failings in branches. From March 2016 managers at banks such as Citibank based in the US could be made to be [...]
TalkTalk style cyber attacks on firms could be set to worsen next year December 14, 2015 Hackers will increasingly use distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to knock websites offline and dodge cyber security, businesses are being warned. Experts predict that business is likely to see an increase in the use of DDoS attacks being used as a smokescreen to distract IT teams. Labelled “dark DDoS”, this technique was reportedly used by [...]
Pearson, Bellway, SThree: Best of the Brokers for 14 December 2015 December 14, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to [email protected] It’s been a bad few days for publisher Pearson, after a whole host of analysts sent the share price down by cutting its profit expectations. Deutsche Bank cut its price target on Pearson shares from 950p to 770p, while Jefferies’ David Reynolds slashed [...]
FTSE 100 hopes for Santa rally after week of decline -London Report December 14, 2015 This week the market is looking to put aside last week’s pain, which saw the FTSE dip below the 6,000 mark again, as it prepares itself for a much heralded interest rate rise from the US Federal Reserve. Don’t bet on anything other than volatility, however, with markets already nervous about what surprises a change [...]
KPMG in firing line over HBOS as MPs call for investigation December 14, 2015 MPs are calling for accountancy giant KPMG to be investigated for its role in the collapse of HBOS, branding its auditing practices a failure. Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the influential Treasury Select Committee, is urging the accountancy regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), to reconsider the need for a probe into the “big four” accountant. Tyrie [...]
Tata in talks to save Scunthorpe plant as steel industry continues to suffer December 13, 2015 Tata Steel UK has reportedly put together a restructuring plan that could save it’s Scunthorpe refinery from shutting down. A new investor has come onto the scene that could potentially see £400m being pumped into the business, it was reported in the Sunday Telegraph, citing sources close to the proposal. The deal could include an [...]
Waitrose targets 1,500 new jobs as part of store expansion plans December 13, 2015 Waitrose is ramping up its expansion with plans to launch 14 stores from the spring of next year, creating 1,500 jobs. The upmarket grocer said the new openings will include five supermarkets in towns such as Truro in Cornwall and Worcester in the Midlands. They also comprise of nine new little Waitrose convenience shops, one of [...]
