City Pub Company guzzles Christmas sales as it prepares to float this year January 18, 2017 City Pub Company has raised a toast to this Christmas after it nearly doubled like-for-like sales over the five-week festive period. The figures The pub owner and operator said sales for the period to 1 January were up 47 per cent compared with the previous year, while sales for the whole of 2016 were up 37 per cent. It also bagged [...]
Oil prices have plummeted below $55 per barrel January 18, 2017 Oil prices plummeted to below $55 per barrel this morning after an initial increase. West Texas Intermediate crude and global benchmark Brent futures were trading down as much as 1.5 per cent this morning. At the time of publishing, Brent was down 83 cents to $54.64 per barrel while WTI futures were down 67 cents to $51.69 per barrel. Read more: Oil [...]
Hochschild Mining surpasses expectations to produce record results January 18, 2017 Hochschild Mining hit record production, beating targets in its 2016 year-end production report. The figures The British-based mining company said it produced 17.3m ounces of silver and 246,100 ounces of gold. It produced 35.5m silver equivalent ounces, up 31 per cent on 2015, and 479,600 gold equivalent ounces, up from 365,400 ounces. Its flagship low-cost Inmaculada mine had a strong first [...]
Despite cost pressures, JD Wetherspoon predicts results will be slightly better than anticipated January 18, 2017 JD Wetherspoon is feeling the pinch as costs are set to rise over the financial year, but chairman Tim Martin said the company is cautiously predicting its results will be slightly better than forecast after positive half-year earnings. The figures In the first half of the year to 15 January, like-for-like sales increased by 3.4 per cent and total sales [...]
The US dollar lifts against Japanese yen ahead of Yellen’s speech January 18, 2017 After falling to a seven-week low against the yen, the dollar lifted today as investors await Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's speech on monetary policy. The dollar was up 0.4 per cent to 113.05 yen after hitting the low of 112.57 yen, while the dollar index was at 100.50, up 0.2 per cent, according to [...]
US toymaker Mattel names former Google Americas president as new chief executive January 17, 2017 Mattel announced today it has named a new chief executive to help put a stopper in floundering sales. Margaret Georgiadis, who previously worked as president of Americas at Google, will take to the helm of the US toymaker 8 February. Georgiadis is set to replace Christopher Sinclair, who had only taken up the role as chief exec in 2015. He [...]
Not so sunny: Low demand pushed profits down for Caribbean travel group Elegant Hotels January 17, 2017 Elegant Hotels faced a tough year as profits fell during 2016 due to the weak pound and lower demand for luxury accommodation. The figures The Caribbean travel group, which owns six upscale hotels and a beachfront restaurant on Barbados, said revenue was down 5.2 per cent in 2016, at $57m (£46.3m). Adjusted pre-tax profit for year to [...]
Rio Tinto hit iron ore targets while prices were up in 2016 January 17, 2017 Rio Tinto stepped up production while prices were up in 2016, according to its fourth quarter production results. The figures The global mining firm's iron ore shipments of 327.6m tonnes were in line with revised guidance, up three per cent from 2015. In 2017, the company expects to ship 330m to 340m tonnes of iron ore. Aluminium production [...]
Oil prices are up on the back of the weak US dollar January 17, 2017 Oil prices rose today, supported by a weak US dollar and Saudi Arabia's promise to stick to the production cut commitments. The Brent crude futures benchmark spiked 77 cents to $56.63 per barrel earlier this morning, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 88 cents at $53.25 per barrel. Earlier this month, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) warned [...]
Gold prices are up more than one per cent ahead of Theresa May’s Brexit speech January 17, 2017 Gold increased up to 1.7 per cent today, remaining well above the $1,200 per ounce mark as the dollar stayed low this morning. Growing concerns over Donald Trump's protectionist policies have pushed the currency down going into his inauguration this week, Reuters reported. The dollar dropped 0.9 against the yen to a five-week low in early [...]
