Closing post
Time for a recap…
British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has credited “improved production and sustained global demand” for a 22% jump in sales last year, including higher sales in the UK and US.
More than 200 jobs are being cut at Ted Baker after the administrators running the retailer, and its landlords, decided to close 15 of its stores.
The head of JP Morgan has warned that we may be entering one of the most dangerous times since the second world war.
In his annual letter to shareholders, Jamie Dimon explained:
The international rules-based order established by the Western world after World War II is clearly under attack by outside forces, somewhat weakened by its own failures and inability to keep up with the increasingly complex world.
Dimon cited the suffering of the Ukrainian people, and the “escalating tragedy in the Middle East”, and warned that America’s global leadership role is being challenged outside by other nations and inside by “our polarized electorate”.
The John Lewis Partnership has appointed the former head of Tesco’s UK operations to be its next chair.
Israel’s central bank has left interest rates on hold at 4.5%.
Global food inflation has dropped to its lowest level since the Ukraine war began, two years ago…..
….while gold has a hit a new record high today.
The high proportion of UK homeowners on fixed-rate mortgages means the Bank of England should be wary of keeping interest rates too high for too long, the International Monetary Fund has warned…..
…while the latest business surveys suggest the UK economy looks to have emerged from recession, as uncertainty drops and growth picks up.
In other news:
Abrdn CIO says mocking name is ‘corporate bullying’
Three years after an ill-advised rebranding, asset manager Abrdn has reportedly complained that jibes over its name are ‘corporate bullying’.
According to Financial News, Abdrn’s chief investment officer, Peter Branner, has hit out at criticism of the vowel-lite renaming, saying:
“I understand that corporate bullying to some extent is part of the game with the press, even though it’s a little childish to keep hammering the missing vowels in our name.
“Would you do that with an individual? How would you look at a person who makes fun of your name day in day out? It’s probably not ethical to do it. But apparently with companies it is different.”
As we covered in April 2021, there was pretty widespread criticism – and guffawing – after Standard Life Aberdeen announced it is changing its name to Abrdn – pronounced “Aberdeen”.
Abrdn’s CEO, Stephen Bird, defended the name change, saying it “reflects a clarity of focus”.
But Abrdn’s recent performance has been a bit of a dgs dnnr – shares are down 20% so far this year, and the company reported a 5% drop in operating profits for 2023.
