Uber safety: “Lax” background checks slammed as convicted criminals allowed to become drivers August 20, 2015 Background checks by taxi-hailing app Uber have come under fire, after California prosecutors slammed it for security routines so lax that convicted sex offenders and even murderers were allegedly allowed to become drivers. California prosecutors are widening a civil lawsuit they originally brought against Uber in December last year, alleging that the company misleads customers [...]
FTSE 100 poised for longest losing streak since 2011 August 20, 2015 Britain's top share index fell for the eighth straight session today, putting it on course to clock its longest losing streak since 2011. The FTSE 100 was also down more than 10 per cent from its recent record high of 7,122.74 points hit in April – taking it into official correction territory, Britain's FTSE 100 [...]
Co-operative Bank losses nearly treble as turnaround plan gets underway August 20, 2015 The figures Co-op Bank said it made a loss of £204.2m in the first half of 2015, up from a £77m loss in the same period last year, however this was slightly better than expected. The bank’s operating income slumped to £236.5m during this period, from £307.3m in the first half of 2014. This included losses [...]
Amazon Web Services opens first startup support centre outside US in London’s Silicon Roundabout August 20, 2015 If you were looking for more evidence that Tech City is booming: Amazon has just announced it will open its first startup support centre outside the US – and is basing it in London’s Silicon Roundabout. Competition between cloud-based infrastructure providers has heated up recently, with Alibaba, Microsoft and Google all reporting rapid growth in [...]
Tesco share price falls as supermarkets suffer for third day amid renewed concerns about discounters Aldi and Lidl August 20, 2015 When one supermarket sneezes, it seems the rest catch a cold. Shares in troubled supermarket Tesco fell to their lowest level since January this morning, two days after Asda reignited concerns over the threat from German discounters. Tesco shares dropped 1.77 per cent today, while Sainsbury's shed 0.77 per cent. Both are down about four percent since [...]
WH Smith’s share price falls as retailer reveals full year results to beat expectations August 20, 2015 WH Smith's share price nudged down as it said sales would beat expectations for the full year to the end of August, in a pre-close announcement issued this morning. The retailer said there had been a strong performance in its travel division during the second half, with “good sales across all of our core [...]
Pension Insurance Corporation prospers despite fall in new business August 20, 2015 Pension Insurance Corporation yesterday said profits rose during the first half of the year despite a fall in the amount of new business. The company, chaired by Sir Mark Weinberg and led by ex-Goldman Sachs exec Tracy Blackwell, buys the stocks and bonds of final salary pension schemes and takes over responsibility of pensioner payments, [...]
Twitter’s share price is diving… again August 19, 2015 Twitter shares have taken another dive after recovering moderately from an all-time low in recent weeks. Shares are down by nearly four per cent to $27.18 per share in morning US trading, their second lowest intraday price after hitting an all-time low almost a fortnight ago. Shares touched $26.87 on 7 August and closed at $27.04 [...]
Glencore share price falls to record low as profits plunge amid commodities rout August 19, 2015 The figures Glencore reported a net loss of $676m (£431m) in the first half of 2014, thanks to tumbling commodity prices. That's down 139 per cent from a $1.72bn profit during the same period a year earlier. The company said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – another measure of profitability – fell [...]
Lost cost airline Norwegian will offer £179 flights from London to Boston August 19, 2015 If the price of travel to the States was putting you off, fret no more. You will soon be able to travel to the city of the Boston Celtics and sitcom Cheers for just £179. Norwegian, a low cost airline, will be offering four flights a week from Gatwick to Boston from May 2016, the [...]