Balfour chief’s pay rises in 2013 March 25, 2014 Balfour Beatty’s chief executive Andrew McNaughton was paid around £120,000 more in 2013, having been promoted from chief operating officer last March. The FTSE 250 infrastructure firm raised his total pay to £909,126. Balfour said the adjustments reflected the promotion and challenges in a number of markets. But finance chief Duncan Magrath’s pay fell from [...]
Aviva sells Turkish general unit March 25, 2014 Insurer Aviva said yesterday it has agreed to sell its Turkish general insurance business Aviva Sigorta to a private equity consortium led by venture fund EMF Capital Partners. The firm said its life and pensions business in Turkey, AvivaSA, was unaffected by this transaction. The statement was made on the London and Istanbul stock exchanges [...]
Topps Tiles predicts sales leap after positive start to the year March 25, 2014 TILING specialist Topps Tiles expects to post a near 70 per cent leap in first-half profit after a strong start to the year, in a further sign of improving consumer sentiment. The retailer, which has 330 stores across the country, said it expects to report profits of £8m in the 28 weeks to 29 March [...]
Ecotricity rejects new green support scheme as too risky March 25, 2014 GREEN energy company Ecotricity yesterday said it plans to develop a windfarm in Lincolnshire using the existing renewables support framework rather than a new scheme that it finds unclear. The government’s renewables obligation support closes on 31 March 2017 but has a one-year grace period, after which contracts for difference must be used. “For now [...]
Best of the Brokers for 26 March 2014 March 25, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com GREENCORE Shore Capital sticks to its “hold” rating and 256p target ahead of the food group’s quarterly results on 2 April. The broker predicts double-digit growth in the “food to go” business, tempered by slower growth in ready meals, and expects to upgrade [...]
London Report: FTSE rebound rally spurred by corporate data March 25, 2014 THE UK’S top share index rose yesterday, bouncing off of a six-week closing low, after Kingfisher and EasyJet posted updates raising optimism about the outlook for corporate earnings. Home improvements retailer Kingfisher jumped six per cent as it said it would return about £200m to shareholders in the current year, after meeting forecasts with a [...]
New York Report: Shares bounce back from two days of decline March 25, 2014 US STOCKS ended higher last night, rebounding from a two-day decline as the hard-hit biotechnology sector regained its momentum and a strong read on consumer confidence increased optimism about the economy. Trading was choppy throughout the day with the Nasdaq at one point turning lower, led by a sharp reversal in biotech shares. So-called momentum [...]
Academics tried to rank the best of finance Twitter and made three huge mistakes in the process March 25, 2014 Two academics have set out to find the best of the best of financial Twitter. In their new paper, "How to measure the quality of financial tweets", Cerchiello and Giudici note that data from the social network "may be very useful". They suggest that it could be used to "predict financial tangibles, such as share prices, [...]
UKFI to sell further 7.5 per cent stake in Lloyds March 25, 2014 UK Financial Investments, the body responsible for the government's stake in state-supported banks RBS and Lloyds, has announced that it intends to sell part of the Treasury's shareholding. Approximately 7.5 per cent of Lloyds is up for grabs, or 5.35bn ordinary shares. That should see the government's stake in Lloyds reduced from 32.7 per cent [...]
Two of the ECB’s most hawkish members just hinted at QE March 25, 2014 The heads of both the German and Finnish central banks, two of the most hawkish in the Eurozone, talked with relative ease about negative rates and quantitative easing (QE) today. According to Reuters, Germany and Finland’s governing council members are among the most hawkish in the currency union. Finland’s Erkki Liikanen told the Wall Street [...]