Total reaches £585m deal to sell North Sea oil and gas assets August 28, 2015 French oil major Total plans to rid itself of £585m of its North Sea assets to North Sea Midstream Partners. The company is selling all of its interests in the Fuka and Sirge gas pipelines and the St. Fergus gas terminal. The Fuka pipeline, in which Total has a 100 per cent operated interest, [...]
Profits double at Aldermore as lending grows August 28, 2015 The Chief executive of Aldermore yesterday shrugged off the impact of UK tax changes on the challenger bank’s growth trajectory, as the firm revealed that it more than doubled profit in the first half of the year. The six-year-old bank beat expectations with an underlying pre-tax profit of £44m as it issued more mortgages [...]
Oil prices jump more than 10 per cent in biggest one-day rally since 2009 August 27, 2015 Oil prices went through their sharpest rise in six and a half years today, as the commodity benefited from recovering equity markets and reduced fears over China's economic slowdown. Read more: Commodities plunge to 16 year low as China fears push oil prices down further US crude finished the day 10.3 per cent higher [...]
Libor rate-fixing scandal: Serious Fraud Office grills Deutsche Bank traders August 27, 2015 Deutsche Bank traders have been interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in recent weeks in relation to the Libor scandal. A number of traders, both current and past, have been questioned by UK prosecutors about the manipulation of Libor – the rate at which banks lend to each other, according to Bloomberg. The SFO [...]
FTSE 100 gains £60bn in one day as investors regain confidence August 27, 2015 It's been a rollercoaster of a week for the FTSE 100. Having lost £72bn on Monday, won half of it back on Tuesday and then suffered losses again on Wednesday, the direction the blue-chip index would head in next seemed far from certain. Read more: Emerging Market stocks and currencies rally on doubts of a [...]
Internet of Things, digital assistant and 3D tablets: Four projects Amazon’s Lab 126 is secretly working on August 27, 2015 They may be laying off “dozens” of engineers, but Amazon’s labs are still working on some pretty interesting projects. After the company’s anticipated “iPhone killer”, the Fire, failed to deliver, it was reported today that engineers will be laid off after Amazon decided to retreat from smartphones – and from several other consumer hardware products. Read [...]
Emerging market stocks and currencies rally on doubts of a US rate rise August 27, 2015 Emerging markets made major gains today after doubts were cast over a US interest rate rise next month. Read more: US stocks rise sharply as investors recover from China panic The MSCI emerging markets index is currently 3.3 per cent higher, having climbed steadily since the start of trading. The rouble has also [...]
Fitbug share price jumps after appointment of new chief executive Anna Gudmundson August 27, 2015 Shares in penny stock Fitbug closed up 15 per cent to 2.5p today after the wearable fitness tracker-maker announced the appointment of a new chief exec Anna Gudmundson. Gudmundson has held the role of interim product director since February, leading Fitbug's ongoing development of its digital coaching system, Kiqplan. She'll replace Malcolm Fried who stepped down after he completed his [...]
Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s interest rate rise comments prompted a flurry of house buying in July August 27, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney's suggestion that the rate decision will "likely come into sharper relief around the turn of this year" has prompted a flurry of homebuying, new figures suggest. Demand for houses rose 4.1 per cent in the year to July, and 5.3 per cent in the last month alone, according to [...]
Is your company about to merge? Let this 8-point plan for employees guide you on what to do next August 27, 2015 As Betfair and Paddy Power announce plans to merge, in a deal that would create one of the world's biggest online betting and gaming companies, what should you do if you’re in the employee waiting room – ready to be called in and delivered your fate? 1) Don’t panic – mergers happen all the time [...]