Barclays boss John McFarlane looks to cut costs despite profit rise in bid to streamline bank July 30, 2015 Barclays, Britain’s largest bank after HSBC, yesterday delivered £3.1bn of pre-tax profits for the first half of this year, boosted by a 36 per cent rise in the performance of its investment banking arm, which chipped in almost half the total. The investment bank made £1.44bn pre-tax profit. John McFarlane, who joined the bank as [...]
RBS to cut Citizens stake to 20pc after $2.6bn sell-off of shares July 30, 2015 The Royal Bank of Scotland is accelerating its exit from US bank Citizens Financial after unveiling a proposal to sell its remaining stake in the lender within the next five months. The bank, which is expected to unveil a half-year loss this morning, will sell up to a 18.4 per cent stake in the Citizens [...]
John ‘Mac the Knife’ McFarlane raises fears with investors that egos will rule the roost at Barclays July 29, 2015 Is there a bank director with a thicker hide than John McFarlane? The tone of yesterday’s interim results from Barclays, which comfortably beat City forecasts, would more ordinarily be accompanied by the praise of a chairman for their chief executive. Instead, the newly installed executive chairman, McFarlane, struggled to find reasons for burying him. The [...]
Taylor Wimpey boosted by General Election as profits rise July 29, 2015 Taylor Wimpey said yesterday it would return more cash to shareholders after pre-tax profit rose by a third to £238m in the first half, boosted by a pick-up in trading following the General Election. Chief executive Peter Redfern said that since May it has seen a significant improvement in consumer confidence and mortgage availability, which [...]
Twitter share price plucked on user growth worries wiping billions from value July 29, 2015 Twitter investors must be spitting feathers. Shares in the social network have swooped 13 per cent lower, wiping several billion from the company's market value, after reporting muted growth in user numbers. “Monthly users grew only 0.7 per cent sequentially to 304m, while US monthly users remained at 65m, showing no growth. Annually, global users [...]
GSK share price rises as it beats expectations – but profits dip July 29, 2015 GSK's shares leaped 3.7 per cent to 1,377p in early afternoon trading after earnings per share beat expectations – despite it taking a hit on Advair. The figures The British pharmaceutical giant's core operating profit for the second quarter fell four per cent to £1.35bn. Net profit fell 77 per cent to £149m compared to the same period last [...]
UK house prices: Rightmove share price jumps as it absorbs business from rivals July 29, 2015 It seems the launch of an estate agent-run portal which forces agents to choose between Rightmove and Zoopla has done no harm to the former, after it reported a 16 per cent rise in revenues during the first half of the year. The figures The housing boom continues to benefit Rightmove: revenues rose to £93.1m in [...]
Sainsbury’s share price edges up as it sells pharmacy business for £125m July 29, 2015 Shares in Sainsbury's rose 0.7 per cent to 261.1p after it announced a deal with the German owner of UK chain LloydsPharmacy to sell its pharmacy business for £125m. Read more: Growth at Co-op for the first time in a year as Tesco and Asda decline yet again As part of the deal, Celesio’s LloydsPharmacy will [...]
This chart shows how many current account switchers Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest have lost July 29, 2015 New rules which make it easier for customers to change current accounts resulted in a four per cent increase to 1.1m switches, compared to 1.06m during in same period a year earlier. The rules, introduced in October 2013, allow customers to switch accounts within seven working days, with all outgoing and incoming payments transferred automatically. [...]
European Central Bank says Twitter can predict which direction stocks are heading July 29, 2015 Market mavens should keep an eye on Twitter if they want to know which direction their stock picks are heading, or at least that's what recently published research conducted by the European Central Bank has found. Researchers crunched over 310,000 tweets between 2010 and 2012 containing the words "bullish" or "bearish" – because these are generally used [...]