China confirms it is detaining worker from Britain’s Hong Kong consulate August 21, 2019 China has confirmed that an employee of Britain’s Hong Kong consulate is being detained in the Chinese border city of Shenzhen for violating the law. Simon Cheng, a Hong Kong citizen, had failed to report back to his office on 9 August after visiting mainland China for a meeting. Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang confirmed at [...]
Companies that buy divested assets more likely to outperform index August 21, 2019 Companies that bought carved-out portions of other businesses were more likely to outperform their industry average, a study has found. Over half (53 per cent) of companies that bought divested assets during the first half of the year outperformed their MSCI Global index by an average of one percentage point, according to research published today [...]
Bayer to sell animal health business to Elanco in $7.6bn deal August 20, 2019 Bayer is selling its animal health business to US firm Elanco for $7.6bn (£6.3bn) as the German pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant continues to offload assets in the face of mounting legal costs related to its Roundup weedkiller. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, will create the second largest veterinary medicine business in the [...]
Persimmon profit falls as it tries to tackle quality complaints August 20, 2019 Persimmon has reported a drop in profit for the first half of the year as it spent heavily on schemes to aimed to counter complaints over the quality and fire safety of its homes. The figures Britain’s second largest housebuilder reported a 1.4 per cent drop in pre-tax profit, which fell to £509.3m for the [...]
Sainsbury’s shares lifted by strong performance but hottest day fails to revive flagging grocery sales August 20, 2019 Sainsbury’s led FTSE 100 risers this morning following the news the supermarket had put in its strongest performance since November 2017. The supermarket put in the strongest performance of all the big four grocers, but still saw its market share slip 0.6 per cent over the past 12 weeks, according to Kantar data released this [...]
Customers click but don’t collect £228m of goods per year August 20, 2019 Click and collect services have been touted as a potential way of reviving ailing high streets, but customers are failing to collect £228m of ordered goods per year, new research has found. One in seven shoppers surveyed admitted to not collecting items they had ordered online, according to research by Barclaycard, which also found that [...]
Greene King shares surge 50 per cent on news of purchase by Hong Kong’s richest man August 19, 2019 Investors raised a glass to Greene King after the pub and brewery group agreed to be taken over by Hong Kong’s richest man in a £2.7bn deal. Shares shot up more than 50 per cent yesterday following the announcement that a subsidiary of CK Asset Holdings (CKA) will buy the entirety of Greene King’s shares [...]
Finance bodies start talks to cut stock market trading hours August 19, 2019 Banking and investment groups are working on proposals that could see stock market trading hours shortened across Europe. The Investment Association (IA), which represents the UK’s asset management industry, and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), a banking lobby group, are planning to consult their members on plans to cut European trading hours, [...]
Wealth manager Tilney confirms Smith & Williamson merger talks August 19, 2019 Tilney has confirmed that it is in merger talks with rival Smith & Williamson, following reports of a potential tie-up between the two private wealth managers. Tilney confirmed it is in talks with Smith & Williamson “about a potential combination of our businesses” in a statement this morning. A merger would create a firm with [...]
Trump says he doesn’t want to do business with Huawei over ‘national security threat’ August 19, 2019 President Donald Trump has said he doesn’t want the US to do business with Huawei, following reports that his administration is set to extend a licence allowing the Chinese company to purchase US goods. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said he did not want to do business with Huawei over national security concerns. “At [...]
