These artists hope to challenge people and businesses to think about their relationship to the natural world
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
Each of UK property firm’s shares will be bought for 131p in cash after its directors recommended that shareholders accept offer from private equity group
Quintain Estates and Development, the developer behind Wembley Arena, has been bought by US private equity group Lone Star for £700m.
Dallas-based Lone Star agreed to pay 131p in cash for each Quintain share. It pledged to contribute “significant additional financial resources” to help Quintain build “more homes more quickly” at Wembley. The directors of Quintain voted unanimously to recommend that shareholders accept the offer.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
Housebuilder and property website report strong first halves, despite estate agent Foxtons blaming general election for a slump in its profits
Taylor Wimpey, one of Britain’s largest housebuilders, and Rightmove, the property website, shrugged off the political uncertainty in the run-up to the spring election and enjoyed a strong first half – with further evidence that the housing market is picking up.
Taylor Wimpey said it had a “strong” spring and early summer selling season. It built 5,842 homes across the UK in the first six months of the year, with the average selling price rising 9.2% to £225,000.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
Adopting an open leadership style can bring enormous benefits in terms of company culture, employee engagement, customer loyalty and productivity
Interested in what a company or its chief executive is really like behind the corporate PR machine? These days it’s easy to find out. The internet has enabled employees to share exactly what they think about working where they do, and websites such as Glassdoor give employees the opportunity to leave anonymous reviews about their companies. Glassdoor’s most recent survey of the most popular CEOs attracted a lot of publicity.
So, should CEOs adapt their leadership style now they are open to public criticism? Yes – but not simply with a view to ratings-chasing. Adopting a more transparent leadership style can bring enormous benefits in terms of company culture, employee engagement and productivity. Increased transparency does also tend to have a very positive impact on a company’s reputation.
The benefits of this go way beyond inclusion on lists of top CEOs or best employers. A great reputation leads to increased loyalty from both employees and customers, which brings real bottom-line benefits.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
Deputy governor for financial stability concerned about financial markets and the impact of a US interest rate rise
A leading Bank of England policymaker has expressed concerns about the “fragility” of the global financial markets as he warned against any watering down of regulatory reforms eight years on from the financial crisis.
“I do think financial markets at the moment are quite fragile,” said Sir Jon Cunliffe, a deputy governor for financial stability. Cunliffe said he was not too concerned about the recent sharp falls in China feeding through to other stock markets but highlighted a lack of liquidity in global markets. This, he said, could make it more difficult to sell some investments in strained circumstances.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
Rolling business and financial news, as negotiations over a third Greek bailout continue and markets await the Fed’s decision on interest rates tonight
9.40am BST
After getting off to a bumpy start yesterday, negotiations with mission chiefs representing Greece’s creditor institutions will begin today minus one, we have just been told.
“There’s no particular reason for the delay.
But I can confirm she won’t be coming in today, she’ll be arriving tomorrow.”
@deliavelculescu new @IMFNews delegation chief to #Greece in #Greecrisis – a cool "Draculescu" http://t.co/2qzrapJlAZ pic.twitter.com/Xk5xuOJysc
“As far as reports of prior actions are concerned it should be noted that neither in the agreement of the European summit on the 12 of July nor in the two letters that the Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos sent to the ESM was there the slightest hint of a third package of prior actions.”
9.18am BST
Here’s a few gems from the deluge of corporate news this morning:
Related: Foxtons blames election for fall in sales and profits
Related: Sky profits rise as it passes 12 million UK and Ireland customers
Strong spring selling boosts Taylor Wimpey sales http://t.co/N2PVqyRoWX
Antofagasta lowers full year copper guidance http://t.co/a9yzZ72aFy
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
CEO Roger Whiteside said there was a significant growth in breakfast sales as well as the range of lower-calorie sandwiches
High street baker Greggs has posted a 51% rise in profits for the first half of the year thanks to strong demand for its breakfast range and healthier sandwiches and flatbreads.
The company raised its full-year guidance for the second time in three months as a result of favourable market conditions and well received improvements to its products and shops.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
Bank sets aside further £600m for payment protection insurance mis-selling as it reports a 25% rise in first-half profits
Barclays set aside £1.8bn in the first half of the year to compensate customers for a string of mis-selling scandals and fines.
The figure was revealed as John McFarlane, the chairman who is standing in as chief executive following the ousting of Antony Jenkins earlier this month, pledged to accelerate the disposal of risky businesses, cut costs at the scandal-hit bank and also scale back the dividend policy.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
But chief executive Nic Budden expects stronger sales in the second half of this year
A slump in profits and revenues at estate agent Foxtons in the first half of this year has been blamed on an uncertainty in the property market in the run-up to the election.
Profits before tax were £18.1m, down from £23.1m in the previous first half. Property sales fell almost 11% and overall group revenues reduced by 2.3% to £71.1m.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS
Satellite broadcaster’s annual revenues hit nearly £11.3bn in the first full year since it completed the takeover of Sky businesses in Germany and Italy
Sky has passed the 12 million customer mark in the UK and Ireland for the first time as it reported annual revenues of nearly £11.3bn.
The satellite broadcaster said like-for-like pre-tax profit rose 6% to £1.196bn in the year to the end of June this year, slightly ahead of analysts’ forecasts.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS