January, 2019

• 9 January

  SEB to launch new sustainability push

  

  Bloomberg Swedish lender SEB AB plans to hire 10 advisers to kick start a new push into all things energy. The bank is building a new unit within investment banking to focus on energy, an area that for SEB involves the shift away from fossil fuels to renewables, sustainable infrastructure projects, electrification and building sustainable societies, Chief Executive Officer Johan …

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• 9 January

  Barclays raider’s strategy is wrong, say analysts

  

  Bloomberg Analysts at Citigroup Inc and Berenberg poured cold water on Edward Bramson’s plans to obtain a seat on Barclays Plc’s board and shift its strategy away from the investment bank. “We believe Mr Bramson will ultimately prove unsuccessful in his objective to obtain a board seat,” said ana- lysts at Citigroup including Andrew Coombs. He “would need a shareholder …

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• 9 January

  Thailand bank merger could give Scotiabank path to exit from nation

  

  Bloomberg A bank merger in Thailand may finally give Bank of Nova Scotia a path to retreat from the Southeast Asian nation after three years of trying. Thai lenders Thanachart Bank Pcl and TMB Bank Pcl are in talks to merge in a deal supported by Thailand’s government. Such a transaction could give Canada’s Scotiabank — which owns 49 percent …

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• 9 January

  HSBC reveals gender pay gap widened to 61 pct

  Bloomberg Pay for female staff at HSBC Holdings Plc’s UK business fell further behind male colleagues’ in the last year, according to new figures from the London-based bank. Women at HSBC earned 61 percent less on average compared with male employees at the lender, a wider gap than the 59 percent difference the firm reported a year ago, already the …

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• 9 January

  Heathrow resumes flights after latest drone menace

  

  Bloomberg Heathrow airport resumed flights after being partially shut for more than an hour as drone sightings near its runways raised safety concerns, marking the second time in a month that a London hub has had to suspend flights because of dangers from the modern-day gadgets. Departures were halted after the sightings in the vicinity of Europe’s busiest airport after …

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• 9 January

  Air France growth lags behind KLM

  

  Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group’s annual traffic figures show that the company’s Dutch arm again grew faster than its French sister carrier, where flights were disrupted by strikes as pilots pushed for higher pay. KLM boosted revenue passenger kilometres — the number of customers times the distance flown — by 4 percent in 2018, compared with a gain of just 1.9 …

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• 9 January

  Vegan roll maker a rare bright spot in UK retail

  

  Bloomberg UK bakery chain Greggs Plc provided some relief to the country’s beleaguered shopping districts with a bullish update on sales performance as year-end demand for its festive pastries surged. The shares rose as much as 7.7 percent to a record as the company raised its outlook for full-year adjusted pretax profit to at least 88 million pounds ($112 million), …

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• 9 January

  Sainsbury sales fall as consumers hold back

  

  Bloomberg J Sainsbury Plc’s Christmas sales fell more than analysts expected as price-conscious UK shoppers turned to discounters for their turkey and stocking stuffers. The supermarket chain became the second of the big four UK grocers to highlight consumer unease over the holiday season, with Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc warning that the political stalemate over Brexit was making shoppers rein …

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• 9 January

  The shopping mall’s savior is starting to eat itself

  

  Bloomberg Stephen Wall’s restaurant chain Pho is the kind of tenant that mall landlords would love to attract. The Vietnamese menu is right on trend, the business is expanding and, even better, it has a track record of success in shopping centres. Yet he thinks that even restaurants like his won’t be the savior of malls suffering from the rise …

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• 8 January

  Opec doesn’t dictate oil prices: Al Mazrouei

  

  ABU DHABi / WAM Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Industry, has said that Opec and its members “don’t control” oil prices and that the market “dictates” them. “What Opec strives to achieve”, he added, “is a balanced oil market that is fair for both consumers and producers, and encourages the many trillions of dollars of investment …

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