Category: Articles

George Johnson, Oil & Gas Executive Advisor at KPMG comments on the recent oil price movements:

The strengthening U.S. dollar is a double-edged sword for the economy and investors, according to a report released today by The American Institute for Economic Research.

Juniper Research, the leading high-tech analyst house, has revealed the key technologies that it believes will become the most disruptive by 2020. The new report 'The World in 2020 - A Technology Vision' is being offered as a free download in celebration of the launch of its new online research platform.

In response to today's FCA Occasional Paper on Consumer Vulnerability, Executive Director of Retail Banking at the BBA Eric Leenders, said:

A recent white paper from Navigant Research examines the major trends and market forces that are expected to shape the future of the smart grid market, including summary forecasts for five smart grid application areas.

New research out today shows that Britain is on the cusp of a global, technology-driven 4th industrial revolution, with eight in ten manufacturers (80%) saying it will become a business reality by 2025.

The value of new construction starts climbed 9% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $621.0 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The increase for total construction was the result of an especially strong performance by the non-building construction sector, which benefitted from the start of a massive liquefied natural gas terminal facility in Texas.

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, announces today that it has reached financial close and completed the acquisition of the £352 million Gwynt y Môr offshore transmission project (OFTO) in the UK. Balfour Beatty will jointly own Gwynt y Môr OFTO with Equitix. Balfour Beatty will invest £28 million of equity, which represents 60% of equity required.

The European Central Bank (ECB) published its first-ever minutes of a policy meeting in which it revealed its plans to expand its Quantitative Easing (QE) programme.

Credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued in the U.S. with MasterCard and Visa brands generated $3.629 trillion in purchase volume at merchants in 2014.

New research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has found that despite three fifths (60%) of small firms questioned using cloud computing services, the remaining two fifths (38%) remain sceptical about the benefits of the technology in the face of perceived risks.

Cloudtract introduces a free and simple online contract management platform for small and medium sized companies, where they can store contracts and set alerts. Businesses often waste a lot of money, because they forget to cancel contracts they no longer want.

Leading wealth manager firm, Equilibrium Asset Management, is throwing down the gauntlet to uncover a new generation of wealth managers and paraplanners.

Following a decision by the Board of Governors of the European Investment Bank (EIB), small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) across Europe should be able to benefit from the first funds from the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) before the summer.

Carl Hasty, Director of international payment specialist SmartCurrencyBusiness.com, comments on finacial implications of UK elections.

The CBI commented in advance of a speech due to be given today by Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband.

Latest research from Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs) reveals that more than three quarters (76 per cent) of UK businesses are being forced to wait at least a month beyond their agreed contract terms before getting paid.

Nokia Labs Head of Operations Jarkko Pellikka, Ph.D says the Nordic region boasts some of the finest examples of process and operational excellence in the world today. He went on to say that while some industries might be lagging behind, it seems that the Nordic Region is toe-to-toe with the US and the rest of Europe when it comes to process excellence.

Thousands of people have started new businesses already this year. For anyone thinking of starting a new business, there are some questions you need to know the answer for before you get going.

eDreams, the largest distributor of online flights in the world, has chosen Japan to continue its process of international expansion. Starting this January, the company, which is the largest online travel agency in Europe and the fifth-largest worldwide (as well as being Europe's largest e-commerce company) will offer flights from more than 440 aircraft operators, with over 150,000 different combinations and over 550,000 hotels in 40,000 destinations, plus car rentals, for Japanese travellers.

According to data released today by Eurostat, GDP in the Eurozone grew by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter during Q4 2014, faster than expected. This means annual growth over 2014 was 0.9%.

The CBI has upgraded its growth prediction for 2015 in its latest economic forecast against a backdrop of lower oil prices and inflation.

With new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM 2015) about to come into force, EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, is reminding manufacturers not to get caught out by thinking that 'construction' means just that.

Schroders Chief Economist, Keith Wade gives his view on the outlook for the US economy ahead of the release of retail sales and consumer confidence data later this week.

Barclays and Techstars plan to launch their flagship Accelerator program in New York, following its resounding success in London; ten companies will have the chance to shape the future of financial services.

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group is pleased to announce that Philip Aiken will join the Board as non-executive Chairman with effect from 26 March 2015.

Mesirow Financial’s Chief Economist says a profound shift has occurred in American consumer confidence, as well as the ability to spend. After seeking shelter for years following the storm of the Great Recession, consumers of all income levels are finally equipped to step out into the sunshine.

A new report from the BBA and KPMG looks at how to unlock more private finance to help fund the UK's infrastructure needs.

Lightning-fast growth in China's solar power industry is set to provide opportunities to UK businesses over the next five years, according to China market research firm CCM.

Six months after the SEC voted on reforms, money fund managers are beginning to take steps to comply with the new rules and position themselves to retain and attract clients. While clients continue to be patient and industry assets remain stable, fund managers are launching, closing, and merging funds, updating investment guidelines, and working through the operational aspects of reform.

Barclays' Fast Growth Tech survey, which questioned owners and CEOs of UK tech firms, has revealed that many of the industry's bright lights are feeling confident about delivering a stellar year of growth in 2015.

Major power outages caused by extreme weather, along with the spread of distributed, renewable energy resources, have set the stage for regulatory reforms that are likely to enable both customer-owned microgrids and utility distribution microgrids (UDMs) to expand strongly in the next decade. According to Navigant Research, worldwide revenue from UDMs is expected to grow from $1.4 billion annually in 2014 to more than $3 billion in 2023.

Predictive modeling has notably increased in value across several areas of property & casualty (P&C) insurers’ business over the past six years, according to global professional services company Towers Watson’s annual Predictive Modeling Survey.

Experian, the global information services group, published the findings of its “Dawn of the Chief Data Officer (CDO)” survey, confirming that an increasing number of organisations are waking up to the strategic value of data.

The UK trade deficit widened in December 2014 to £2.9 billion, up from the £1.8 billion recorded in November. These figures released by the ONS today show that the trade deficit for 2014 as a whole was the largest since 2010, as any sign of a trade-led recovery remains elusive for now.

Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield's catastrophe model development team, launches latest edition of its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, which evaluates the impact of the natural disaster events that occurred worldwide during January 2015.