British Home Stores goes under

British high street retailer BHS will file for administration today, putting nearly 11,000 jobs at risk.

In a letter to staff, BHS owner Dominic Chappell said: “It is with a deep heart that I have to report, despite a massive effort from the team, we have been unable to secure a funder or a trade sale.”

Chappell, who leads retail consortium Retail Acquisitions, bought the failing chain from Sir Phillip Green for just £1.

Talks for a takeover with Sports Direct collapsed over the weekend, and a buyer will only be found if they are willing to take on BHS’s £571 million pension deficit.

Ball-Rexam to sell assets to Ardagh Group

Drinks can makers Ball Corp and Rexam Plc have agreed to sell assets to Luxembourg-based packaging maker Ardagh Group for about $3.42 billion, in a sale that includes 22 of both companies European manufacturing plants.

US-based Ball are planning a £4.4 billion takeover of Rexam, merging the world’s two largest beverage can makers by volume and triggering competition concerns from the European Commission.

Sony shares down 6 percent after earnings delay

Electronics giant Sony closed down 6 percent on Monday, after a delay in its earnings release due to earthquakes in southwest Japan.

The company, who were due to release earnings this, have postponed to next month after uncertainties in its supply chain.

25/04/2016

Government to part-nationalise Tata Steel plants The UK government have announced plans to part-nationalise Tata Steel’s Port Talbot plant, according to business secretary Sajid Javid. The new package will amount to hundreds of millions of pounds in state support through loans, grants and a possible equity stake, raising hopes that up to 40,000 jobs could be saved. The two potential buyers – Liberty House and a management consortium – have reacted positively to the news and say that it makes the prospective deal more attractive. Microsoft shares down on disappointing figures

Microsoft shares fell over 4 percent in after-hours trading after quarterly profits came in below analysts’ estimates.

Microsoft saw stiff competition in the personal computer market in the last quarter, causing net income to fall to $3.76 billion from $4.99 billion a year earlier.

Revenue also fell to $20.53 billion from $21.73 billion, again below analysts expectations. Daimler opens investigation into emissions

German carmaker Daimler has started a probe into its diesel emissions at the request of the US Justice Department, just days after Mitsubishi Motors became the latest car company to get caught up in scandal.

In a statement, the company said that “Daimler is cooperating fully with the authorities” and will “investigate possible indications of irregularities and of course take all necessary action”.

 

22/04/2016

US President Barack Obama landed at London Stansted yesterday for a three day visit, with plans to meet with politicians as well as lunching with the Queen on her 90th birthday. However, the most controversial talking point of his visit is his stance on Brexit. In an article published by the Telegraph yesterday evening, Obama weighed in on the Brexit debate and encouraged Britons to vote to stay within the European Union: “You should be proud that the EU has helped spread British values and practices – democracy, the rule of law, open markets – across the continent and to its periphery. The European Union doesn’t moderate British influence – it magnifies it. A strong Europe is not a threat to Britain’s global leadership; it enhances Britain’s global leadership.” Many have criticised Obama for choosing to enter the fray on the subject. Liam Fox, the UK’s former defence secretary, commented: “While the President will be heard respectfully, many of us will be raising an eyebrow at the fact that he thinks that we should accept a diminution of sovereignty that he would never accept.” Most world leaders outside of the European Union have chosen to stay out of the debate, marking Obama’s comments as a departure from the norm.

22/04/2016

UK public borrowing has gone over the target set by George Osborne just over a month ago, according to figure released today. Public borrowing has fallen to £74.0 billion in the 2015/16 tax year, a massive drop from £91.7 billion the year before. However, it remains above the £72.2 billion target released by Osborne in his annual budget statement on March 16. The disappointing figures were accompanied by further bad news in the form of a drop in retail sales, an warning for those watching for signs of a slowdown in the economy. Retail sales volumes dropped 1.3 percent on the month in March, a far bigger fall than was forecast by analysts. George Osborne remains committed to returning the country to a surplus by 2020 – universally acknowledged as a tall order considering the current deficit. Critics may well be offset by the latest figures however, which sees public borrowing fall to 3.9 percent of GDP – a considerable improvement on the 10 percent of GDP that it amounted to when Osborne took office.

21/04/2016

The EU has charged Google with abusing the dominance of its Android operating system, limiting competition and “stifling innovation”. In a statement released today, the European Commission accused Google of implementing a strategy across its mobile devices that would advance in dominance in internet search. It said: “First, the practices mean that Google Search is pre-installed and set as the default, or exclusive, search service on most Android devices sold in Europe. Second, the practices appear to close off ways for rival search engines to access the market, via competing mobile browsers and operating systems. In addition, they also seem to harm consumers by stifling competition and restricting innovation in the wider mobile space.” 80 percent of smart mobile devices in Europe and the world run on Android, Google’s own operating system. By pre-installing Google apps such as Maps and Gmail, competition from other internet companies is inherently limited. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager commented: “A competitive mobile internet sector is increasingly important for consumers and businesses in Europe. Based on our investigation thus far, we believe that Google’s behaviour denies consumers a wider choice of mobile apps and services and stands in the way of innovation by other players, in breach of EU antitrust rules”. Google have swiftly responded to the EU’s accusations with a statement from general counsel Kent Walker, who made it clear that Google will work “with the European Commission to demonstrate the careful way we’ve designed the Android model in a way that’s good for competition and for consumers.” This is not the first case made against Google, who have previously been subject to EU charges over its shopping service in Internet searches.

20/04/2016

Mitsubishi front new emissions scandal Mitsubishi have become the latest car maker to be hit by an emissions scandal, after the company admitted to falsifying fuel economy test data for 600,000 cars. Mitsubishi Motors president Tetsuro Aikawa said the misconduct had been reported to Japan’s transportation ministry, and involved 157,000 own brand cards and 468,000 made for Nissan. Shares in the company closed down over 15 percent last night, their biggest drop in 12 years. FTSE falls from heights of Tuesday The FTSE fell this morning, dropping down from its highest close of the year on Tuesday evening. The index, which got off to a rocky start in January, is now up almost 16 percent from three and a half year lows reached earlier this year. Energy shares pushed the market down, after a renewed drop in the price of oil and weakening of investor sentiment. UK unemployment rises by 21,000 UK unemployment rose by 21,000 in the three months to February, its first increase in nearly a year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Earnings, rose by 1.8 percent in the three months to February, down from the 2.1 percent rate seen in the last quarter. “It’s too soon to be certain, but with unemployment up for the first time since mid-2015 – and employment seeing its slowest rise since that period – it’s possible that recent improvements in the labour market may be easing off,” ONS statistician Nick Palmer said. The surprise rise in unemployment can be largely put down to employers caution ahead fo the European referendum, as well as this month’s introduction of a higher minimum wage.

20/04/2016