The 12 big business stories of 2015
From oil tumbling to the US finally increasing interest rates, these were the major stories on the business pages
2015 is drawing to an end. Tomorrow is the first day of the twelve days of Christmas - and to celebrate, here we present the 12 big business stories that have defined the past year.
1. FTSE breaks above 7,000
The FTSE-100 had a strong start to the year and made history in March when it broke through 7,000 for the first time. The record came on the back of investor confidence that interest rates would stay low and the Greek crisis wouldn’t get any worse. Unfortunately, Greek’s financial woes worsened, the Chinese economy slowed and the FTSE-100 is finishing the year around 14 per cent below its peak.
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2. Pensioners free to buy a Lamborghini
In April the new pension freedoms kicked in allowing anyone over the age of 55 full access to their pension savings. Some experts feared the move would lead to people blowing their life savings on fast cars or luxury holidays, but so far the nation has kept its head. Research by Fidelity International found that only 6 per cent of customers had accessed their pension pots in the first six months of the freedoms.
3. Oil prices tumbled
Tumbling oil prices have made it a great year for drivers. Brent crude prices have fallen below $40 a barrel for the first time since the financial crisis as Opec has flooded the market in order to cut prices and wipe competitors out of the market. As a result petrol has cost less than £1 a litre at the pumps.
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4. Commodities crisis claims big victims
Plummeting commodity prices have led to a very difficult year for the mining sector. Shares in Anglo American fell 73.4 per cent over the year, making it the worst performing stock in the FTSE 100 in 2015. The company has suspended dividends until the end of 2016, cut $1bn from its capital expenditure this year and announced it will be making 85,000 redundancies – a third of its work force – as it struggles to stay afloat.
The second worst performing FTSE 100 stock was another miner, Glencore. Formerly one of the world’s biggest companies its shares have tumbled 72.1 per cent over the year.
5. Uber took over city streets
One of the big winners of 2015 was taxi-hailing app Uber. The public love it, but black cab drivers hate it. The company won a high court ruling that stated the way it calculated fares was legal and over the year has gone from strength to strength. It now operates in 80 cities across the world and is valued at $62.5m (£43.1bn) – higher than 89 companies on the FTSE 100. Legal battles around the world are ongoing, though, and it is facing a clampdown on its model here by Transport for London.
6. Financial Times sold to Nikkei
In July the 127-year-old Financial Times left British ownership. The iconic pink-paged paper was sold to Nikkei, a Japanese financial media company, for £844m. It ended years of speculation over whether FTSE-listed Pearson, which has increasingly concentrated on education publishing over the years, would exit the newspaper business.
7. Volkswagen caught out
Back in September car manufacturer Volkswagen’s reputation was ruined when it emerged that the company had been fixing emissions results. The US Environmental Protection Agency found ‘defeat devices’ – or software – in diesel engines that changed the emission levels during testing. The scandal also spread to cars manufactured in Europe. The company recalled millions of cars worldwide and posted its first quarterly loss (of €2.5bn) for 15 years in October.
8. Government sells Lloyds
The Treasury has been selling more shares in Lloyds Banking Group in October. Back in 2008 during the banking crisis the Government bailed out Lloyds with £20.5bn of taxpayer cash, acquiring a 43% stake in the firm in the process. The latest sell-off reduced the government’s stake to under 10 per cent with the remainder set to be sold in spring 2016, including through a discounted retail sale.
9. Mark Zuckerberg gives $45bn to charity
Following the birth of his first child Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that he was donating 99% of his Facebook shares to charity, a gift worth around $45bn. The move has sparked speculation that other billionaires may make similarly generous lifetime and legacy donations.
10. Starbucks paid up
After years of controversy surrounding how much tax the coffee chain pays in the UK, this year Starbucks finally coughed up. While reporting its largest ever UK profit for the year in December the company revealed it has paid a £8.1m tax bill on pre-tax profits of £34.2m. That is only slightly less than the total tax it paid in the 14 years following its arrival in the UK in 1998.
11. The Sports Direct workhouse
The sports retailer faced a storm of criticism towards the end of the year as a Guardian investigation revealed poor working conditions at its warehouses and stores, including allegations staff were not paid the minimum wage. Staff faced 15 minute searches after they’d clocked out, worked on zero-hours contracts and were afraid to take sick days in case they simply weren’t given any more shifts.
The news caused the company’s shares to drop 15% and the CEO billionaire, Mike Ashley, will face questions before parliament next year about working conditions.
12. US increases rates
After months of ‘will they won’t they’ speculation the Federal Reserve finally raised US interest rates in December. After seven years of holding rates in the 0 to 0.25 per cent range to stave off a worsening of the financial crisis the Federal Open Market Committee voted to raise its target by 0.25 percentage points.