Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is facing pressure from MPs, music fans and the Football Association to stop listing Viagogo, the ticket website, at the top of the search engine’s results.
An open letter sent to top Google executives said that the top search rankings are encouraging consumers to buy tickets to events that may be invalid.
The letter referred to legal proceedings brought against the ticket resell site by the Competition and Markets Authority last month.
“In effect, one of the world’s most trusted brands – Google – is being paid to actively promote one of the least trusted,” the letter said.
“We understand that Viagogo is a valuable client to Google, spending considerable sums each year on paid search advertising. However, we urge you to protect consumers who daily put their trust in Google, and act now to restrict Viagogo’s ability to pay for prominence.”
A spokesperson for Viagogo said: “All tickets listed on viagogo are valid. It is perfectly legal to resell a ticket if you want to. Any promoter trying to cancel a genuine ticket is not acting in the interests of fans.”
The site has received a barrage of criticism from MPs, trade bodies and associations from the worlds of sports, theatre and music.
Sharon Hodgson, a Labour MP who signed the open letter, said: “I have heard too many times from distressed customers of Viagogo that they were led to the website because it was at the top of their Google search. It is totally wrong that a trusted website like Google would direct consumers to such an untrustworthy website.”
“Google needs to take action in order to protect consumers, and I look forward to working with them on this in the very near future,” she added.
A spokesperson for Google said: “The CMA has been looking at the business practices of ticket resellers. We await the conclusion of these inquiries and we hope that they will clarify the rules in the interests of consumers. We will abide by the rulings of these inquiries and local law.”
A survey from data analysis website SimilarWeb found that 75 percent of Google’s traffic comes from the referral of search engines.
LondonMetric Property PLC (LON:LMP) has announced the sale of its retail park in Launceston. The retail park was sold for £21.9 million and reflects a net initial yield of 5.6%.
Notably, LondonMetric acquired the the approximately 70,000 sq ft retail park in August 2010 for £13.5 million. It formed part of the Metric portfolio.
Additionally, the property has generated a profit on cost of 13% and an ungeared return of 7% pa. A long term investor purchased the property for a value above March 2018 book value.
Chief Executive of LondonMetric, Andrew Jones, said:
“This disposal is in line with our strategy to reduce our ownership of operational retail assets once business plans have been executed. Following the sale, we will own only four retail parks.
“Demand for physical retail assets continues to polarise and so future investments will be targeted within the logistics and convenience sectors where income growth prospects are superior.”
Currently, shares are trading + 0.21% at 10.23 BST.
Shares in Debenhams plunged 17 percent as the retailer called in KPMG to help turn the business around.
Having admitted that the current high street market conditions are “challenging”, the retailer is thought to be considering a range of options including a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).
The department store’s share price has fallen by two-thirds since January and the group has also issued three profit warnings this year.
“Like all companies, Debenhams frequently works with different advisors on various projects in the normal course of business,” said the group in a statement.
Richard Lim, from Retail Economics, said: “The fact KPMG have been brought in does not surprise me. Debenhams will be wanting to look at all the options open to them.”
“The harsh reality is that they are operating in one of the most challenging parts of retailing at the moment. Consumers are increasingly shopping online, and they are also spending more on things like holidays and the experience economy.”
“The other part of the pincer movement Debenhams is facing, is that they are being squeezed on costs, with things like increasing rents and business rates, and rising wage and utilities bills,” he added.
“It all means that department stores are incredibly expensive to operate.”
The department store has issued a series of job cuts this past year. In February, the group announced plans to slash 320 store management roles. More recently, Debenhams said it could cut a further 90 roles.
Debenham’s talks with KPMG come at a troubling time for the high street.
House of Fraser recently collapsed into administration and the chain was bought by Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley in a £90 million deal. Mothercare has announced plans to close 50 stores under a CVA, and Marks & Spencer said it would close 100 shops over the next four years.
Shares in Debenhams (LON: DEB) are trading down 17.27 percent at 10,59 (0849GMT).
Department store John Lewis has made over 1,800 employees redundant in the year to the end of June.
In the group’s staff magazine, the Gazette, they revealed the rise in employment redundancies by 289 percent compared to the previous 12 months.
Last week, the retailer revealed plans to change its name to “John Lewis & Partners”, whilst also planning a further 270 job cuts.
“Our annual results reflect the challenging market conditions all department store groups are facing,” said a spokesperson. “We have restructured parts of the business and have made the difficult decision to cut staff numbers.”
John Lewis also said that it had created many jobs over the past 12 months including 600 staff when it opened its new Westfield store in White City.
The group has a total of 83,000 staff.
John Lewis said it expects full-year profits to be significantly down after they warned of a likely fall in profits in June amid the Brexit uncertainty.
The department store now plans to cut costs at its head office, stopping investment in new stores and review its pension arrangements. It also hopes to invest £500 million a year into refurbishing its stores and website, as well as developing new products and services.
“We are determined to play the long game and our ownership model means we can,” said John Lewis boss Paula Nickolds.
“While others are investing in drones, we are investing in people. Where others are cutting back, we are investing in the very thing that is our point of difference.”
A new report from KPMG has warned the UK’s economy will slow if no Brexit deal is prepared.
According to the consultancy, the growth rate in Britain will slow to 1.3 percent following a fall in business investment and consumer spending.
“If productivity growth remains at around one percent then, as a basic rule of thumb, we would expect wages to rise by around three percent on average,” KPMG said.
“Interest rates are likely be cut to at least 0.25 percent if negotiations are not successful, with additional measures to be announced by the [Bank of England] to ease any significant pressure on the banking sector,” said the report.
Yael Selfin, the chief economist at KPMG UK, said: “If negotiations between the EU and UK result in a relatively friction-free agreement, then growth is likely to remain around 1.4 percent in the medium term as a result of relatively weak productivity.”
“If we see a disorderly Brexit, growth will obviously slow more dramatically. If negotiations end well, the MPC are likely to raise interest rates to one percent at the tail end of 2019. If no deal is reached, the MPC will need to use interest rates to soften the economic impact,” she added.
Regarding the housing market, the group predicted a slowing from 4.5 percent last year to 2.6 percent this year. The trend is predicted to continue with a slowdown to two percent next year and 1.6 per cent in the year 2020.
“High price levels, uncertainty around the future economic outlook and rising interest rates are expected to take their toll in London and the south-east especially. House prices in the capital are expected to drop by 0.7 percent in 2019,” it said.
“In regions with lower pressures on valuations, such as Scotland, there is expected to be growth of 4.9 percent in 2018,” it added.
Workers are also facing increased pressure amid Brexit uncertainty as wages are failing to grow with inflation.
The US nonfarm payroll for August was released today at 8.30a.m EDT. Employment increased by 201,000 in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Additionally, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.9%.
Job gains occurred across a variety of sectors. These include the professional and business services, healthcare, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, and mining.
Additionally, with the unemployment rate remaining at 3.9%, the 6.2 million people unemployed changed only slightly.
Accounting for 21.5% of the unemployed are the 1.3 million people facing long-term unemployment (people jobless for over 27 weeks).
The total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 201,000 in August which remains in line with the average monthly gain of 196,000 over the past year.
Moreover, the average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 10 cents to $27.16. This contributes to a total increase of 77 cents across the year.
Interestingly, economists surveyed by Reuters were expecting earnings to increase by 2.7%, payrolls to rise by 191,000 and the unemployment level to decline one-tenth of a point to 3.8%.
The monthly nonfarm payroll considerably impacts the rate of the Great British Pound against the US Dollar. The better than expected figure has strengthened the value of the dollar against all major currencies, sending GBP/USD back down towards 1.29.
The better than expected figure has increased the chance of the Federal Reserve increasing rates in the future.
International Airways Group (LON:IAG) has seen a decrease in its shares today after subsidiary British Airways reports stolen customer data.
IAG is the multinational airline holding company of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling. Additionally, the company employs over 63,000 people.
British Airways is currently investigating the theft of customer data from its website and the airline’s mobile app. Customers had their personal and financial details stolen. However, this does not include travel or passport details.
The data breech took place for a total of 15 days between August 21 and September 5. That said, it has now been resolved.
Moreover, authorities have been notified and British Airways is currently communicating recommended advice to affected customers.
British Airways’ Chairman and Chief Executive, Alex Cruz, has commented: “We are deeply sorry for the disruption that this criminal activity has caused. We take the protection of our customers’ data very seriously.”
As a result, at 11:27 BST shares in the International Airlines Group has dropped by 2.94%.
The UK’s largest pub retailer and brewer, Greene King (LON:GNK), has reported that 3.7 million pints of beer were sold during England’s seven World Cup Matches.
In the 18 weeks to September 2, like-for-like (LFL) sales were up 2.8%. Moreover, growth over the last 10 weeks was 3.2%.
Trading was particularly successful for the Greene King branded pubs with LFL sales increasing by 5.5%. This strong performance was driven by a successful World Cup and hot weather. On the day of England’s semi-final alone, LFL sales were up 61%.
Greene King runs over 2,900 pubs, restaurants across the nation which makes it the country’s leading pub retailer and brewer. The company employs 39,000 people.
Additionally, total beer volumes in Brewing & Brands increased by 4.0%. Own-brewed volumes increased by 0.3%.
The company has also reported it is on course to dispose of 100-110 pubs this year and are expected to open around 9 new pubs.
Greene King has said: “We continue to focus on profitably driving top line growth, developing a more streamlined and efficient organisation and further strengthening our capital structure to deliver long-term value creation for our shareholders.”
At 10:42 BST today shares were up by 8.46% at 515.63.
Amidst a period of growth for Iraq’s oil production, its success is now under threat because of political antagonism between domestic parties and outside influences.
So far this summer, southern Iraqi oil production has increased by 40,000 barrels per day since July – which is statement of intent about trying to compete with the currently straggling Iranian output. Officials from Baghdad announced at an OPEC meeting in Vienna that they are working towards a quarterly production average of 3.549 million bpd, which is 109,000 bpd higher than the rate achieved in the first five months of the year.
However, political tensions look set to hamper efforts to maintain high production output, with a power struggle currently under way between Prime Minister Al Abadi and former PM Al Maliki – both of whom face pressures internally and externally. The deciding factor in the current struggles could well be a potential coalition deal between Al Abadi and Shi’ite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr, who leads the rival Sairoon movement.
The issue here is that Al Sadr has already said that time is running out to agree on a deal, and his support for the violent protests over amenities and food shortages in the southern city of Basra are well-known.
Meanwhile, the protests look likely to spill over into the rest of Southern Iraq, and Al Abadi’s opponent, Al Maliki, has just managed to form an alliance with militia commander Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Shi’a militia Hashd al Shaabi – the latter being supported or even partly led by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The group look set to either consolidate their position or get a grip on the Iraqi government, in order to block Baghdad’s attempts to either bring Iraq back into the Arab fold or block Iran’s ability to use Iraq as a route to Syrian battlegrounds.
Despite the unrest, southern oil output continues to exceed expectations, with Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) reporting that 2.727 million bpd of Basrah Light have been shipped from the terminals, as well as 856,000 bpd of Basrah Heavy crude. Between the seven tankers currently berthed and the four tankers to arrive at a later date, there is an expected delivery of round 7 million barrels.
Similarly, oil production in Northern Iraq is promising, though lack of agreement between the Kurdish Regional Government and the government in Baghdad could be costing Iraqi output 200,000 bpd.
Overall, production is promising and continues to increase. However, if current struggles are not resolved they have the potential to escalate into larger scale civil unrest, with the government and prospective Western backers facing off protesters and Iranian militias and proxies.
After a strong start to 2018, emerging markets have faced a procession of headwinds, with the ensuing crises only set to worsen with the latest wave of currency sell-offs.
Yesterday, the FTSE emerging index of the developing world’s largest companies saw its largest slump in three weeks, a dip of 1.6%, continuing the downward trend for a sixth consecutive day to its lowest level in over a year.
Indonesia’s rupiah was trading down close to its lowest level since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, with its Jakarta Composite down 3.8% in its largest one day slump since November 2016. Additionally, the South African rand was down by over a percent and India’s rupee hit a record low of 71.78 to the dollar, causing its central bank to intervene. However, the major slumps have been seen in Turkey and Argentina who are both in crisis, with the worst yet to come.
Capital Economics analyst Oliver Jones, said, “We think there is more to come. We doubt the main factors which have caused equities across much of the emerging world to weaken together recently will go away just yet.”
Charles Robertson, Renaissance Capital’s chief economist, said, “At the moment, emerging markets are under pressure most days and all it needs is another bad headline out of one country or another and the whole asset class gets a bit of a hit.”
With commodities slowing down, investors are shifting away from more risky emerging market investments and are buying the US dollar with increasing enthusiasm. This is normally a tell-tale sign of economic slow-down, but in the short-term poses a problem to developing countries, as the dollar climbs for a fifth day and the Federal Reserve increases interest rates, it becomes harder for developing countries to pay off their dollar-denominated debts.
Christophe Barraud, an economist at Market Securities, said, “People are looking closely at what’s happening in emerging markets, at the trade war and the fact that the United States is likely to implement another wave of tariffs against China. If you look at global growth, more and more signs are that it will slow in coming months.”
Not only are people edging towards lower-risk investments, they are moving away from the developing world asset class, as seen with the FTSE emerging index having dropped 20% since January.
In addition to these ongoing trends, immediate causes of developing world slow-down include the ongoing crisis in Argentina. The country is currently negotiating terms for a $50 billion loan from the IMF, to help its ailing economy. This has caused the country’s currency, the peso, to fall 53% against the dollar so far this year.
Similarly in Turkey, the country are in the midst of a financial crisis as inflation soars and its account deficit grows, both of which have caused the lira to dive by 40%.
While the risk of slow-down in developing countries is increasing, it is not thought that widespread stagnation in growth will occur. Following the latest updates on emerging market dips, fear spread to Europe with the FTSE closing down 1% and the DAX down 1.4%, though it is thought no macroeconomic dips will occur unless either China or the US economies slow down.
