Asos sales soar by 54 per cent July 14, 2010 ONLINE fashion retailer ASOS has posted a 54 per cent jump in first-quarter sales, fuelled by demand from abroad. The firm – which provides the latest fashions at cheap prices – made £61.7m of sales in the three months to 30 June. UK sales rose 32 per cent, while international sales were up 111 per [...]
EU bank body to be based in City July 13, 2010 LONDON defeated a Frankfurt power-grab yesterday when EU finance ministers decided to seat a new European banking watchdog in the City. Germany had hoped to locate the agency next to the European Central Bank (ECB) in its financial hub with an eleventh hour tweaking of the legislation last week. Britain and France reacted furiously to [...]
BP close to success in capping oil July 13, 2010 A SUCCESSFUL new cap on the leaking Macondo well sent BP shares rallying yesterday as the oil major came closer to stopping the Gulf of Mexico spill. Shares spiked to 420p in early trading, before closing 2.5 per cent higher at 409.25p, as London reacted to news that BP had installed the new sealing cap, [...]
Inflation: a crippling tax on savings July 13, 2010 INFLATION did fall in June but once again it was a case of too little, too late. Consumer price inflation (CPI)?dipped to 3.2 per cent, reflecting a slowdown in fuel costs; yet that remains higher than the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target (and 1-3 per cent band). The retail price index, the older, [...]
At a glance: EU finance summit July 13, 2010 The meeting is focused on the creation of a EU-wide supervisory system covering banks, insurers and securities markets, and is intended to avoid a repeat of the worldwide financial crisis prompted by Lehman’s collapse in 2008. Both EU member states and the EU parliament need to approve the final legislation. If agreed at the current [...]
Citi sells $1.1bn of assets July 13, 2010 CITIGROUP said yesterday it has agreed to sell its private equity unit to StepStone Group and Lexington Partners, in a deal that will reduce the bank’s assets by about $1.1bn (£725m). America’s third-largest bank has not disclosed the terms of the deal, but reports last week suggested the unit would be sold for $900m, a [...]
BT trustees in court over deficit July 13, 2010 BT pension trustees have asked the High Court to determine how much of the firm’s final salary pension fund is guaranteed by the state. The taxpayer could be liable for between £7.3bn and £22.8bn if the company went bankrupt, court papers said yesterday. The case aims to clarify whether employees who joined the scheme after [...]
BarCap equities chief resigns July 13, 2010 Barclays Capital’s head of EMEA equities Dixit Joshi has resigned from the bank. He will take up an equivalent role at Deutsche Bank in October, according to reports last night. Joshi oversaw a massive expansion of BarCap’s European and Asian businesses as BarCap sought to become a full-service investment bank, and hired close to 1,000 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 13, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BANK TEAMS RUSH TO SET UP NEW FUNDS The hedge fund industry is seeing a rush of start-ups amid a series of high-profile spin-outs from the in-house trading teams at investment banks. In spite of one of the worst second-quarter performances for the industry on record, the new funds also are attracting strong [...]
Bullish Ocado defies calls to cut IPO?price July 13, 2010 ONLINE grocer Ocado dismissed more calls to cut the price of its planned flotation yesterday, saying analysts had misunderstood the fundamentals of the business. Several analysts claimed yesterday the Waitrose grocery distributor is worth much less than its intended £1bn valuation, and urged the firm to lower its sights. Shore Capital analyst Clive Black said [...]