Let’s get fracking: Government pledges to clamp down on sluggish planning applications August 13, 2015 The government has taken its biggest step yet towards giving the green-light to fracking, saying today that ministers could override local councils and fast-track planning applications. Whitehall will intervene when shale gas planning applications to local authorities are “dragged out for months, or even years on end”. The announcement comes less than two months after [...]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp sales fall short of expectations August 12, 2015 The figures News Corp’s sales missed analysts’ expectations, with total revenue falling two per cent to $2.14bn from $2.19bn. Rupert Murdoch’s publishing company reported a net loss of $379m, against a $12m profit a year ago. At 7 cents, earnings per share beat forecasts, with analysts’ predicting earnings per share of 5 cents. News Corp [...]
Struggling banks must not be immune to watchdog’s bite August 12, 2015 It's two years since “saying it with Flowers” gained entry into the lexicon of British banking. This week’s dual censure from the banking and City regulators will have felt like groundhog day to Niall Booker and the rest of the Co-operative Bank’s management. The Treasury Select Committee and a review by Sir Christopher [...]
Gold prices rise for fifth consecutive day on worries about China’s economic slowdown August 12, 2015 The price of gold went up for the fifth day in a row today, as uncertainty about China’s flagging economic growth had investors fleeing to safer havens. Rising 1.4 per cent to $1,124.01 an ounce, gold prices are recovering from the five-year low that had gold miners feeling the squeeze. Mining companies were buoyed by [...]
Did Google forget to Google Alphabet? BMW owns Alphabet.com – and has no intention of selling August 12, 2015 Looks like Google forgot to Google Alphabet before radically restructuring their whole company. Google’s new parent company won’t be able to register alphabet.com, because it’s already owned by German carmaker BMW, who have a fleet of cars under the same name, and are unamused to say the least by Google’s surprise move. The two giants [...]
Mapped: These are London’s “filthiest” supermarkets August 12, 2015 Hygiene inspectors have found around a third of Britain's "filthiest supermarkets" are located in London, according to data from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) crunched by the Mirror. The FSA ranking stretches from zero which means urgent improvement is required, to "5" which means the hygiene standards are very good. Those listed were among a handful of [...]
G4S revenue up as new contract sales reach £1.4bn August 12, 2015 G4S said revenues rose to £3.3bn in the first half of this year, thanks to new contracts and growth in emerging markets. G4S share price is trading 0.8 per cent down on the news at 264.9p. The figures The outsourcing giant reported underlying profit before interest, tax and amortisation of £193m in the first six months [...]
IEA: Oil supply glut to last until the end of 2016 August 12, 2015 Low oil prices are set to spur on the fastest growth in oil demand for five years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today, but prices could stay lower for a long period as producers opt not to rapidly cut back production. Global oil demand is set to grow by 1.5m barrels per day this [...]
Tesco share price dips on Dunnhumby and Korea deal discount troubles August 12, 2015 More troubles could be coming down the checkout line for supermarket boss Dave Lewis. Tesco is in for a "big blow" if it fails to make the £2bn it has been expecting on the sale of its Dunnhumby data arm, a deal which has had several firms scrambling to make an offer. The deal may [...]
Eurozone industrial production hits growth outlook August 12, 2015 The Eurozone's growth prospects have been dented slightly after industrial production posted a drab performance in the month of June. Industrial production – which is mostly composed of the manufacturing sector, but also mining and quarrying – was 0.4 per cent lower in June than in May, according to figures released by Eurostat today. It [...]