Coca-Cola scoops up Costa August 31, 2018 | City Talk For some time Whitbread CEO Allison Brittain has swatted aside speculation that the company should divest itself of its Costa coffee business saying that it didn’t make sense to do so in the middle of a restructuring program. In April she bowed to investor pressure but said that the process could take up to two [...]
Coco Cola scoops up Costa August 31, 2018 | City Talk For some time Whitbread CEO Allison Brittain has swatted aside speculation that the company should divest itself of its Costa Coffee business saying that it didn’t make sense to do so in the middle of a restructuring program. In April she bowed to investor pressure but said that the process could take up to two [...]
Turkey makes fresh attempt to boost struggling lira August 31, 2018 Turkey has cut tax levels on lira bank deposits today in an attempt to boost the weakened currency. Withholding tax on lira savings of more than a year will be cut from 10 per cent to zero, while tax on deposits of less than a year will be cut to three per cent from 12 per cent. [...]
China is winning the race on cryptocurrency tech patents, despite having banned ICOs August 31, 2018 Chinese firms own more cryptocurrency patents than any other country in the world, despite initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency exchanges being banned there. China owns more than a quarter of the 437 granted and pending cryptocurrency patents currently in existence, according to data released today by Cipher and venture capital firm Beringea. Significantly, the state-owned Bank [...]
Argentina hikes interest rates after peso plunge August 30, 2018 Argentina has hiked interest rates to 60 per cent today after the value of the peso plunged to a record low. The 15 per cent increase follows an urgent call from the government for the early release of at $50bn (£38.5bn) credit line from the International Monetary fund after the currency toppled on Wednesday amid a worsening [...]
Lira continues decline as emerging market currencies struggle August 30, 2018 The Turkish lira has continued to decline today as it fell almost five per cent to 6.78 against the dollar. It is the fourth day of decline in a row for the currency, which has lost almost 40 per cent of its value against the dollar this year, as neither Washington nor Ankara backs down over a crisis [...]
Dating app Grindr is planning an overseas IPO August 30, 2018 The Chinese owner of gay dating app Grindr has revealed plans to spin off the company and list it on an overseas bourse. Kunlun Technology, which bought a 61.5 per cent stake in Grindr in 2016 before acquiring the remainder in January this year, published news of Grindr's upcoming initial public offering (IPO) overnight on [...]
Hays helped by international business August 30, 2018 | City Talk Hays reported a 15% jump in full-year operating profit to £243.4 million, which was slightly ahead of the £240.9 million expected by analysts. Net fees for the year ticked up by 12% to £1.07 billion. The core dividend and the special dividend were hiked by 18% each. The company had a ‘landmark year’ as it [...]
Hunting’s share price shoots up as oil giant leaps from loss to profit August 30, 2018 British-based oil and gas supplier Hunting’s shares jumped more than 10 per cent in early morning trading as the firm moved into the black for the first half of the year. The FTSE 250 firm reported profit from operations of $38.9m (£29.8m) in the first six months of 2018, compared with a loss of $23.9m [...]
Apache slammed for using trainees to cover offshore shifts in the North Sea August 29, 2018 Oil firm Apache has been slammed by the UK's health and safety watchdog for using trainees and apprentices to cover shifts on an offshore North Sea platform. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Apache has been "significantly failing" to meet standards on its Beryl Bravo platform north-east of Aberdeen. Read more: Petrofac wins major [...]