Ralph Lauren shares plunge as luxury fashion group slashes forecasts, blaming mild weather February 4, 2016 Ralph Lauren shares have plummeted by nearly 18 per cent after the US fashion brand reported a worse-than-expected decline in third quarter sales, blaming the mild winter weather and fewer tourists visiting its stores. The luxury goods group, whose brands include Polo Ralph Lauren and Club Monaco, said net revenues fell by four per cent, or one [...]
Barclays “to hand over Qatar documents” to Serious Fraud Office February 4, 2016 Barclays is set to hand over much-disputed internal documents relating to its dealings in Qatar to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Bloomberg has reported. The bank has been under investigation by the SFO since 2012 concerning two emergency cash injections received from its Middle Eastern investors in 2008 during the financial crisis. The money Barclays [...]
Glencore share price rises despite S&P cutting its credit rating to just above junk February 4, 2016 Miner and trader Glencore’s credit rating was left hovering above junk grade today, after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) spliced it to the lowest investment grade, citing concern over the impact of China’s slowing economy on commodity prices. S&P downgraded the Switzerland-based group by one notch to BB- from BBB. It had recently lowered forecasts for [...]
Mark Carney keeps quiet on Bank of England’s Brexit contingency plans February 4, 2016 Bank of England governor Mark Carney refused to speculate on the economic impact of a referendum on EU membership or disclose any information regarding the Bank's contingency plans. "It serves no-one at all to talk at length about the specifics of those contingency plans in advance," he told journalists after the monetary policy committee decided [...]
Christine Lagarde: IMF to mull strengthening the global safety net February 4, 2016 The International Monetary Fund will begin looking into ways to make the global financial system safer as the US Federal Reserve looks to raise interest rates and emerging markets continue to suffer. "One could think about strengthening and broadening the global precautionary financing instruments that work for everyone," IMF chief Christine Lagarde told an audience at Maryland [...]
Private equity firms Blackstone and Catalyst win consent for Stratford Island scheme February 4, 2016 Plans for a major regeneration scheme at the centre of Stratford have been given the go-ahead by Newham council, paving the way for 600 new homes. Private equity firms Blackstone Real Estate Partners and Catalyst Capital have won planning permission to two tower blocks on the Stratford Centre site – one of 42 storeys and the other of 25 – [...]
Hound of Hounslow trader Navinder Singh Sarao allegedly “heavily engaged” in spoofing on day of “flash crash” February 4, 2016 Lawyers for the US government in an extradition case against a British trader nicknamed the "hound of Hounslow" have said that he was allegedly heavily invested in spoofing on the day of the flash crash. Navinder Singh Sarao, who appeared in Westminster Magistrates' Court today, has been accused of contributing to 2010's so-called flash crash. [...]
These are the world’s most miserable economies: Venezuela tops the misery index – but the UK is among the happiest February 4, 2016 More bad news for the troubled Venezuelan economy. With inflation running rampant, the South American country has once again been awarded the unflattering top spot in the Misery Index of the world’s economies. Bloomberg has surveyed top economists to compile a ranking of 63 economies based on their unemployment rates and inflation. Venezuela’s misery rating [...]
Tory NHS reforms boost Primary Health Properties February 4, 2016 Primary Health Properties (PHP) said government plans to invest more in GP premises would help boost its prospects next year as it posted strong full-year results. The company, which owns a £1.1bn portfolio comprising of 275 properties let primarily to GPs, said its net asset value per share increased by 10 per cent to 87.7 pence [...]
Philip Morris’ share price rises as cigarette seller coughs up mixed results February 4, 2016 Cigarette seller Philip Morris has missed fourth-quarter revenue expectations and signalled a low profit outlook for 2016. Revenue for the quarter slipped 11 per cent to $6.39bn (£4.38bn), with revenue declining in every geographic region. Chief executive André Calantzopoulos said: “Against a backdrop of improving industry volume trends in many key geographies, our cigarette brand portfolio performed superbly, [...]
