Legal & General Group share price up after insurer reveals bond portfolio position to help calm nervous investors February 9, 2016 Shares in Legal & General opened higher this morning after the insurer disclosed its annuity bond position. Following questions from investors and sell side analysts, the company revealed that the bond portfolio backing its annuity business was valued at roughly £39bn, down slightly compared to £40.7bn the year before. Legal & General also revealed that, in [...]
Tui share price down even as the travel group smashes sales forecasts despite geopolitical turbulence February 9, 2016 Tui’s sales smashed expectations, shrugging off the impact of geopolitical turbulence, and the travel group reiterated its full-year outlook. The figures The German-listed group posted sales of €3.7bn in the quarter ending 31 December, a 5.4 per cent growth that beat analysts’ forecasts of around €3.68bn. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation improved three [...]
Hunter hires Arc’teryx boss Vincent Wauters as new chief executive months after James Seuss leaves February 9, 2016 Fancy wellies brand Hunter has appointed a new chief executive, months after the previous incumbent stepped down. Vincent Wauters will join the business on 1 March, taking on the reins from James Seuss, who left the business back in November. Wauters joins from Arc’teryx, where he was president of the premium outdoor and lifestyle brand, [...]
Jobs in tech are the most recession-proof February 9, 2016 Some jobs are more recession-proof than others, but it's jobs in technology which suffered least during the recession as wages in the sector grew more than any other. Wages have rocketed 82 per cent since 2002, rising £15bn in real terms, according to calculations of official figures. Travel agents were the least recession-proof job, with the wage bill plummeting by more than [...]
UK retail sales climbed in January, according to data from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG February 9, 2016 British retailers enjoyed some therapy last month as shoppers cast off the January blues and returned to the high street, according to new figures out today. UK retail sales rose by 2.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis from January 2015, when they had increased 0.2 per cent from the preceding year, according to figures from the [...]
Skills gap could put brakes on UK’s car manufacturing boom – Automotive Council and SMMT February 9, 2016 The UK's booming car industry, one of few bright patches in the country’s struggling manufacturing sector, is being threatened by a shortage of skills. There are up to 5,000 current vacancies in the automotive industry, according to figures published today by the Automotive Council. Around 19 per cent of the unfilled vacancies were having a significant impact [...]
Think tank Niesr criticises quality of facts in UK immigration debate February 9, 2016 A London think tank has slammed the quality of the debate on immigration, arguing that better facts would improve the discussion. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) showed a short video to focus groups to test the view that public attitudes on immigration are stubborn and based on emotion rather than evidence. One [...]
Nearly five per cent of Britain’s shops have been empty for more than three years February 9, 2016 Nearly five per cent of Britain’s town and city centre shops have remained empty for more than three years, new research shows, in a stark reminder of the challenges still facing the high street. The number of empty shops dropped to its lowest level in six years in January, down 12.5 per cent year-on-year, according [...]
Deadpool? 21st Century Fox earnings miss expectations on weak film revenues February 8, 2016 21st Century Fox earnings were more Deadpool than Eddie the Eagle in the three months to the end of December – with film revenues dragging it down. In a statement this evening, the company said quarterly earnings fell one per cent, or $49m (£33.9m), to $7.38bn, against analyst expectations of $7.53bn. Earnings per share fell to $0.44, down from $0.53 last year. [...]
Hold onto your hats: Stocks pare losses in the US but the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones still sink February 8, 2016 US markets pared losses but still finished lower this evening, after a stormy start to the week for global markets sent investors fleeing for shelter in safe havens such as gold and government bonds. The Nasdaq, which at one point dipped three per cent, settled 1.8 per cent lower. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 finished the day 1.4 per [...]
