Why the British love of greeting cards could help this company float on the stock market April 22, 2014 What employs 100,000 people around the country, has sales of £1.6bn and is stocked by one in six retailers around the country? No, not booze, it’s greeting cards. One of the biggest players in the sector, The Card Factory, this morning unveiled plans to float on the stock market. The company has used the British [...]
Deflation is already a reality for a quarter of prices in the Eurozone April 22, 2014 The European Central Bank (ECB) has repeatedly insisted that it does not see deflation as likely for the Eurozone – but new research indicates that falling consumer prices are already a reality for almost a quarter of items in the basket used by the ECB to measure inflation. Jefferies International tracks the items included in [...]
Investor risk appetite for European property set to keep growing this year April 22, 2014 Investor appetite for risk is set to keep rising throughout 2014 after helping to push deal volumes in the European property market to a five-year high last year, according M&G Real Estate. The fund manager’s latest market outlook predicts that this year will be at least as active as 2013, when transaction volumes topped €80bn [...]
Forget Twitter, why Weibo is the social stock to watch April 22, 2014 Last week’s US float of Chinese social network Weibo – think a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook – saw investors rush into the stock buoying it 33 per cent in the first two days of trading. One of the reasons for this is Weibo looks like a great deal for those hoping to capitalise on [...]
London’s top six Airbnb rentals April 22, 2014 New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman really doesn’t like Airbnb. He’s meeting the holiday rental company in court today, as Schneiderman wages war on what he describes as “illegal sublets” which appear on the site. Airbnb has already removed thousands of New York-based lets in a bid to appease Schneiderman, who has issued a [...]
What you need to know before the US open April 22, 2014 Futures have stayed flat in the US, despite the pharma-driven gains seen this side of the pond and Netflix jumping on its earnings report. The Ukraine crisis continues to trim investor risk sentiment, and the euro’s dipped to a two-week low against the dollar, ahead of manufacturing data from France and Germany later this week. [...]
Down with property – lending to the real economy is coming back April 22, 2014 The crunch in business lending could be over at last, Bank of England figures show today, with non-real estate firms leading the way. British firms borrowed an extra £100m in February – small in the grand scheme of things, but a positive result. Net lending is down 2.1 per cent on the year and 0.5 [...]
Here’s why Goldman Sachs think the US is on the verge of a beer renaissance April 22, 2014 The US could be on the cusp of a beer renaissance, according to leading investment bank Goldman Sachs. An improving employment market combined with improved innovation and marketing, could see US beer volumes enjoy a substantial recovery. Over the past 15 years, wine and spirits have been making most of the running when it comes [...]
What does GSK’s “transformational deal” mean for the rest of the sector? April 22, 2014 It looks like pharma M&A frenzy may have returned, with the slew of activity over the Easter weekend buoying European markets as big players see substantial gains. A $16bn (£9.5bn) three-part tie-up between GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Novartis will see the former buy the latter’s oncology unit, along with the setting up of a global consumer [...]
Win tickets to Chesterton Humberts Polo in the Park April 22, 2014 POLO fans would do well to get themselves down to West Brompton or Barons Court tube stations this morning, or indeed hang about in Fulham and Chelsea for the day, because there’s an opportunity to bag tickets to Chesterton Humberts Polo in the Park’s Chukka Friday and a cheeky bottle of champagne. Look out for the Chesterton [...]