Author: LoveWorld UK

British online fashion retailer ASOS (ASOS.L) forecast full-year sales and profit significantly ahead of market expectations, saying it was benefiting from stronger than anticipated underlying demand and fewer products being returned by shoppers. Shares in ASOS were up 8.5% at 0734 GMT on Wednesday, extending gains in 2020 to 36% after it said revenue growth for its 2019-20 year was now expected to be between 17% and 19%. It forecast pretax profit in the region of 130 million pounds to 150 million pounds ($170-$196 million), up from 33.1 million in 2018-19. Several British clothing retailers, including Next (NXT.L) and Superdry…

Trade negotiators from the United States and China will discuss the implementation of the phase one trade deal in the coming days, with China likely to bring up issues surrounding TikTok and WeChat, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing sources. Agricultural purchases and the dollar-yuan exchange rate will also be among the topics to be discussed in the virtual meeting that may take place as early as this week, though a date has not been finalized, according to the report bloom.bg/3h1krsw. Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled bans on U.S. transactions with the China-based owners of messaging app WeChat and…

Manchester United were forced to dig deep to reach the Europa League semi-finals as Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes converted a 95th-minute penalty to secure a 1-0 win over a stubborn FC Copenhagen side after extra time on Monday. United, who won Europe’s second-tier competition in 2017, will meet Sevilla or Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday for a berth in the final after grinding down the Danes and their inspired goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson in an entertaining game. Sevilla, who have lifted the Europa League trophy a record five times, face Wolves in Duisburg on Tuesday while 2009 winners Shakhtar Donetsk take on…

France’s data privacy watchdog CNIL said on Tuesday that it has opened a preliminary investigation into Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok after it received a complaint. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, is already under investigation over privacy concerns by U.S., European Union and Dutch authorities. “A complaint about TikTok was received in May. This complaint is now under investigation,” a CNIL spokesman said, confirming a Bloomberg report. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the complaint or the identity of the plaintiff. In the United States, officials have said that TikTok poses a national security risk because of the personal…

Britain’s Rolls-Royce (RR.L) will carry out extra inspections on some of its Trent XWB engines which power the Airbus A350 airliner. Rolls-Royce said on Tuesday that the issue would not cause significant customer disruption or material cost, as it affected a small number of XWBs of a certain age. The Trent XWB-84 engine is set to be subject to an Airworthiness Directive from regulator EASA, Rolls said, because of wear on a small number of Intermediate Pressure Compressor blades found on a minority of engines which have been in service for four to five years. None of those engines have…

Lebanese security officials warned the prime minister and president last month that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut’s port posed a security risk and could destroy the capital if it exploded, according to documents seen by Reuters and senior security sources. Just over two weeks later, the industrial chemicals went up in a massive blast that obliterated most of the port and swathes of the capital, killed at least 163 people, injured 6,000 and destroyed 6,000 buildings, according to municipal authorities. A report by the General Directorate of State Security on events leading up to the explosion included…

British consumers spent the most last month since the country went into a coronavirus lockdown in March, as pubs, restaurants, barbers and beauty salons reopened, according to industry figures published on Tuesday. Data from Barclaycard and the British Retail Consortium showed spending was close to getting back to normal levels though not all sectors were benefiting. Barclaycard said consumer spending was 2.6% lower than in July 2019, the smallest shortfall since the lockdown began. “However, a sense of cautiousness still prevails,” Barclaycard director Esme Harwood said. Official figures due on Wednesday are expected to show Britain suffered the biggest economic…

London-listed shares rose on Monday as a slowdown in China’s factory deflation in July brewed optimism around a post-pandemic economic rebound, while energy stocks tracked a jump in oil prices. The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 was up 0.8%, with BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc the biggest boosts as oil prices rose 1% on Saudi Aramco’s upbeat view on Asian demand and an Iraqi pledge to deepen supply cuts. [O/R] The mid-cap FTSE 250 gained 0.7% to a seven-week high, led by industrial, consumer discretionary and financial stocks. World stocks were also slightly higher as investors awaited more U.S. government…

BP (BP.L) will need to invest tens of billions of dollars over the next decade and may have to accept lower returns than it can get from oil if it is to meet its target of becoming one of the world’s largest renewable power generators. The British oil and gas company wants 50 gigawatts (GW) of renewables such as wind, solar and hydropower in its portfolio by 2030, up from just 2.5 GW now and more than the total renewable capacity in the United Kingdom at the moment. European oil firms are under pressure from activists, banks, investors and some…

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won Formula One’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday to end Mercedes’ dominant start to the season and become Lewis Hamilton’s closest challenger. In a race dictated by tyre wear and strategy, six-times world champion Hamilton swept past Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas two laps from the end to take second place and stay 30 points clear in the standings. Hamilton, who gained an extra point for fastest lap, also equalled Ferrari great Michael Schumacher’s record of 155 career podium finishes and extended his own unmatched scoring run to 38 races in a row.…