Whitbread shares: Waiting for strategy to bear fruit June 24, 2019 | City Talk It’s not easy being a hotelier in this market, but Whitbread shares are holding their own for now. Despite having previously laid the groundwork in guiding expectations lower, Whitbread (LSE:WTB) has delivered a first-quarter update which is light on cheer. Without the diversification and success that Costa brought, the company is now mostly hostage to the cyclical [...]
Podcast: Funds, dividends and investing basics June 21, 2019 | City Talk interactive investor experts Moira O’Neill, Lee Wild and Richard Hunter kick off ii’s inaugural podcast by focusing on funds and dividends. To listen to the podcast, please click below: Moira O’Neill explains what a fund is, how to start building an investment portfolio, and how ii’s Super 60 funds list could help you get started, as well as [...]
Chance to buy one of the world’s largest retailers cheaply June 20, 2019 | City Talk By Rodney Hobson from interactive investor. After a temporary technical hitch, this highly resilient company should soon shake off the blip. Rodney Hobson is an experienced financial writer and commentator who has held senior editorial positions on publications and websites in the UK and Asia, including Business News Editor on The Times and Editor of Shares magazine. He [...]
UK pay rises of 2.5 per cent falls below inflation rate June 20, 2019 UK pay rises stayed flat year on year at 2.5 per cent in the three months to May, according to industry data released today. Employers opted not to increase salary hikes despite rising inflation. Read more: UK unemployment stays at record lows In fact, 87 per cent of the 238 pay rises analysed by Xpert [...]
The instinctive biases investors must beware – Part 2: Cognitive errors June 20, 2019 | City Talk Behavioural science – and its financial offshoot, behavioural economics – have over the years proved fertile ground for articles. As such, we thought it would be useful to corral the key behavioural biases investors need to be alert against into one handy checklist – albeit one handy checklist divided neatly into two halves. That is [...]
Facebook confirms launch of own cryptocurrency June 19, 2019 | City Talk By Gary McFarlane from interactive investor. The social media giant announces its own cryptocurrency, called ‘Libra’ that aims to be ‘global money’. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has announced Libra coin, a cryptocurrency that aims to be global money and is set to launch in early 2020. A new app is joining the Facebook family called Calibra (https://calibra.com/), which will act as [...]
CYBG to rebrand as Virgin Money to ‘disrupt status quo’ of UK banking June 19, 2019 Clydesdale and Yorkshire bank owner CYBG will be renamed Virgin Money in a major rebranding to “disrupt the status quo” of UK banking. CYBG acquired Virgin Money last year in a £1.7bn deal and will now adopt its name across its business by the end of the year. Read more: CYBG shares jump as it [...]
Fraudsters target children as young as 11 to launder money June 18, 2019 Identity fraud reached record highs last year and criminals targeted children as young as 11 to launder money. Criminals targeted younger people and pensioners, the UK’s fraud prevention service Cifas revealed in its annual report. The figures showed more than 189,000 fraud cases were reported last year with plastic card fraud proving the most common. [...]
Tesco shares: Reasons to be cheerful June 18, 2019 | City Talk Early selling following this Q1 update attracted bargain hunters. Our head of markets explains why. Tesco (LSE:TSCO) recovery from the dark days of having taken its eye off the ball in the UK continues apace. The radical overhaul which the business has undergone has seen Tesco’s shares rise by 50% over the last three years. More [...]
Italy tussle overshadows euro’s birthday party June 17, 2019 | City Talk Europe’s single currency, the euro, is 20 years old, but any celebrations are likely to be muted. Its value against the dollar has been in steady decline for five years and it is now trading well below the level at which it was launched in January 1999. This may be good news for the eurozone’s [...]