Hedge fund managers buy up financial holdings in a sign of industry recovery February 17, 2010 Prominent hedge fund managers voted with their wallets in the fourth quarter to declare the long financial crisis over, and made big bets on banks and other lenders to back that view. John Paulson, Edward Lampert and Carl Icahn were among those who raised their bets on financial stocks during the last three months of [...]
Atkins says trading is on track despite hard market February 17, 2010 ATKINS, the design and engineering consultancy group, said yesterday its year to date results are in line with expectations. It warned that market conditions remained turbulent and that it continues to adjust staffing levels in line with prospective demand. The design and engineering company has continued to undertake significant restructuring due to crumbling construction markets [...]
FSA heaps censure on Wills February 17, 2010 WILLS & CO, the 127-year-old City stockbroker, was yesterday publicly censured by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which said the firm had consistently failed to remedy poor sales practices and properly monitor its advisers despite previous regulatory warnings. The FSA, which has barred Wills from giving investment advice, said the firm would have been slapped [...]
Apple leads the way on mobile phone design February 17, 2010 Apple is casting a long shadow over this year’s Mobile World Congress. The iPhone maker isn’t in attendance – it is far too cool for an annual trade fair – but its name is still on everyone’s lips. For a firm that has just 2.5 per cent of the mobile handset market, its ability to [...]
Stelios uses EasyJet shares as collateral to secure a £5m loan February 17, 2010 EasyJet owner Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has raised £5m by using shares as collateral for a loan. An unnamed lender accepted 1.27m shares as collateral in a deal arranged by UBS. The arrangement mirrors a deal in September, when Stelios raised £7.5m by using 2m shares as collateral on a loan through Credit Suisse. EasyGroup has [...]
Westfield sales up February 17, 2010 SALES at Westfield shopping centre were up 11 per cent last month lifting some of the gloom from the retail market. The mall in West London’s Shepherds Bush also saw spending in the run-up to Christmas soaring by 18 per cent compared with the same period in 2008 when the UK was in the grip of [...]
Jarvis shares tumble after profit warning February 17, 2010 SHARES in troubled rail and plant firm Jarvis plunged more than 14 per cent after it today issued a profit warning to round off a “disappointing year”. The FTSE Fledgling company spooked investors with forecasts of a £5m operating loss this year following a “very considerable reduction” in the volume of rail and plant [...]
ING reports loss after bailout repayment February 17, 2010 DUTCH banking group ING has reported a fourth quarter loss after repaying some of its bailout funds. ING reported a loss of 712m euros (£621m) after giving back 930m euros to the Dutch government. However, the loss was less than the 3.71bn-euros it reported in the same quarter last year. The group will sell its [...]
Unemployment dips but benefit claimants up February 17, 2010 THE jobless total in the UK has fallen slightly but the number of benefits claimants has gone up, official figures have shown. Total unemployment stood at 2.46m for the three months to December, down 3,000 on the figure for the previous three months. The rate of unemployment was unchanged at 7.8 per cent, the Office [...]
BNP Paribas sees profits jump February 17, 2010 FRENCH bank BNP Paribas made a 1.37bn euros (£1.2bn) profit in the three months to December last year. The lender recorded a loss of almost the amount in the equivalent period the year before. BNP Paribas made total profits of 5.83bn euros for the whole of 2009 – up by 93 per cent from 2008. [...]