Strikes hit West Coast Mainline January 11, 2010 Ticket office workers on the West Coast Main Line will stage three rush-hour strikes over the next three weeks. About 200 Virgin Trains booking office staff at 12 stations say the planned strike is provoked by cutbacks. The line is a key route linking London with Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. They are planned this [...]
Barclays wins Dubai foreclosure January 11, 2010 Barclays won Dubai’s first foreclosure cases yesterday, clearing the way for lenders holding $16bn (£10bn) of Dubai home loans to take action when borrowers don’t pay. Islamic lender Tamweel PJSC, the emirate’s biggest mortgage bank, estimates about three per cent of its mortgages are in default. Dubai’s property market recently turned sour after heating up [...]
PartyGaming signs Danish deal January 11, 2010 Online gaming group PartyGaming has signed an exclusive five year deal to provide an online gaming platform for poker and casino games for Danish state-run firm Danske Spil. The move follows the Danish government publishing draft legislation last year liberalising the gaming market. When the legislation becomes law in 2011 poker and casino will be [...]
BANKERS STAY QUIET ON UNITED BOND DEAL January 11, 2010 CITY bankers are not usually backwards in coming forwards when it comes to getting publicity for their transactions, so why the reticence yesterday when it came to taking the credit for Manchester United’s £500m bond issue. United’s initial press release was as brief as could possibly be, with no mention even of the banks involved [...]
CITY EYE January 11, 2010 Inside the Lloyds of London “Inside-Out” Building things are looking up,with a dizzying view of the atrium
Wolseley out of Ireland in £24m sell-off January 11, 2010 PLUMBING giant Wolseley has sold off its loss-making Irish arm to private investor-backed company WIBHM in a €26.5m (£23.8m) deal. The sale of its 67-strong branch network includes its Heat Merchants, Brooks, Tubs and Tiles and Encon Ireland trading brands in the Republic of Ireland, along with its Northern Irish Brooks business. In the year [...]
Tech-savvy entrepreneurs want less government January 11, 2010 AT the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, new smartphones, e-readers and tablet PCs were unveiled. Although the event was over 5,000 miles away, it’s worth considering the implications for the impending general election here in Britain. As we live more of our lives online and request on-demand information from an array of [...]
Planned retail investment down by half January 11, 2010 THE number of retail investors planning to invest in 2010 has halved since last May, according to new research by the Investment Management Association. A survey of 3,451 small investors showed the number planning to invest has dropped from 30 per cent to 17 per cent. Most investors saw a brighter outlook for global markets [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 11, 2010 TOMKINS Numis has upgraded its 2009 and 2010 estimates by 15 and 20 per cent respectively on the basis of rising automotive production and benefits feeding through from restructuring initiatives. However, the broker issued a target price of 180p – below yesterday’s closing price of 210.4p – in the belief 15.8x 2010 EPS is looking [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 11, 2010 Weir Group Jon Stanton will join the company this Spring as group finance director. Stanton, 42, arrives from Ernst & Young where he has worked since 1988. He has been a partner in the London office since 2001 with responsibility for the audit of several FTSE 100 clients, including Invensys, Hanson and InterContinental Hotels. Stanton [...]