Santander UK to replace Barclays as 'Boris bikes' sponsor
5th Feb 2015 16:46
Santander UK could soon replace Barclays as the backer of London's cycle-sharing scheme. According to Sky News, the lender is close to seal a £50m deal to replace its sector peer as sponsor of the British capital's cycle scheme. Santander and Coca Cola have been locked in a race to replace Barclays
Read moreBarclays, HSBC, RBS have ratings cut by S&P
3rd Feb 2015 17:41
Standard & Poor's has downgraded a number of UK and European banks on Tuesday. Barclays and Lloyds were lowered by two notches to 'BBB', while Royal Bank of Scotland was downgraded two notches to 'BBB-' and S&P cut HSBC by a notch to 'A'. Standard Chartered was downgraded one level to 'A-', while t
Read moreBroker tips: Mining stocks, CRH, Barclays
2nd Feb 2015 11:38
The recent re-rating in mining stocks and weak commodity prices has prompted Liberum to downgrade its recommendations on sector giants BHP Billiton, Glencore, Anglo American and Rio Tinto. The broker lowered its ratings on all four from 'sell' to 'hold' and slashed target prices, saying that copper
Read moreInvestec says Barclays still cheap despite recent outperformance
2nd Feb 2015 10:02
A currency tailwind at Barclays, owing to a weaker pound-dollar exchange rate, has prompted broker Investec to reiterate its positive stance on the banking stock. The broker maintained a 'buy' rating and 295p target price, saying that "Barclays remains our preferred UK bank". "Although the London-l
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Chinese data boosts commodities and retail, Unilever sinks on dissapointing growth
20th Jan 2015 13:57
Fast-moving consumer goods giant Unilever was among the fallers after revealing slower-than-expected growth in 2014. Underlying sales were up 2.9%, faster than the markets they operate in but lower than analyst forecasts, with volumes higher by 1% and prices advancing by 1.9%. The company's core
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: Tesco, Flotations, ECB
5th Jan 2015 02:29
Tesco will scrap the system of rebates and penalty fees it uses to extract money from suppliers, the Sunday Times said. In a trading statement due on January 8th, Chief Executive Dave Lewis will replace the complex arrangements with a simple scheme based on sales volumes. The change will put pressur
Read moreSmall businesses activity in 2014 strongest for more than a decade
2nd Jan 2015 13:41
Last year small businesses' credit turnover, or income, grew at its strongest rate since 2000, research by Barclays found. The value of payments into the current accounts of the lender's small business customers was up 20% from 2000, according to the bank's Small Business Income Index. "This reflec
Read moreBarclays completes sale of Spanish business to CaixaBank
2nd Jan 2015 11:45
Barclays has completed the sale of its Spanish subsidiary for an estimated €800m (around £630m) in cash. The completion of the sale to Barcelona-based lender CaixaBank, which was initially announced on 31 August 2014, follows receipt of regulatory and other approvals and will be reflected in Barclay
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: Tesco, Oil explorers, Sainsbury´s
28th Dec 2014 17:17
Tesco is testing a discount format in its One Stop chain, indicating the group could be considering new ways to combat Aldi and Lidl, the Sunday Times said. Three One Stop branches have been trading as discounters with low prices and limited ranges for the past seven weeks. The trial is the idea of
Read moreFCA wants banks to fund FX fines out of their bonuses
21st Dec 2014 10:49
The banks involved in the foreign exchange rigging scandal should fund their fines out of this year's bonuses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said. Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC, JP Morgan and UBS were fined a combined £1.1bn by the FCA in November for allowing traders to
Read moreLondon midday: UK stocks back in the red ahead of Fed meeting
17th Dec 2014 12:18
UK stocks were back in the red on Wednesday after their first gain in seven days the previous session, with investors scaling back risk appetite ahead of a number of risk events. Along with a host of economic data due out during the session, markets were keeping an eye out for minutes for the latest
Read moreLondon close: Shares soar on upbeat Eurozone and bank news
16th Dec 2014 16:26
London shares bounced back on Tuesday in the wake of some long-awaited upbeat economic data in the Eurozone and positive news for UK banks. The FTSE 100 Index climbed 149.11 points to 6331.83 as Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for euro-area manufacturing rose to 50.8 in December from 50.1
Read moreSeven out of eight UK banks pass BoE stress tests, Co-op Bank fails
16th Dec 2014 07:10
Seven out of eight of the UK's largest banks and building societies have passed the Bank of England's (BoE) latest round of stress tests, with the struggling Co-operative Bank being the only lender to have failed. BoE governor Mark Carney said that the results show that "the core of the banking syst
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: BT, RBS, Tesco
14th Dec 2014 19:45
BT is expected to announce as soon as December 15th whether it plans to buy EE or O2 to reenter the mobile phone market, The Sunday Times reported. The FTSE 100 telecoms company was working on a deal at the weekend with a statement due early in the coming week. BT is thought to favour O2 but could s
Read moreLondon midday: Stocks tumble as oil prices extend losses, data disappoints
12th Dec 2014 11:36
Weaker-than-expected data from across the globe and a continued plunge in oil prices meant that there was no let-up in the sell-off for UK equity markets on Friday. Stocks were falling for the fifth day straight, with shares in the oil and gas sector faring the worst. London's FTSE 100 was down a s
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