M&A activity prompts further flurry of delistings from London’s Aim market January 3, 2010 LONDON’s junior stock market saw the flood gates reopen in the final quarter of last year as the number of companies delisting rose almost 16 per cent, new research from law firm Trowers & Hamlins and accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young has shown. The unexpected jump in firms leaving the Aim market up to 73 [...]
London must not be sacrificed in age of austerity January 3, 2010 As was recently reported, I am taking a hands-on approach to the Mayoralty – from basting the family Christmas Turkey down in the kitchens of Mansion House to defending the City’s interests against Nicholas Sarkozy’s plans for European domination, I am not afraid to get my hands dirty! That is why, if I were to [...]
Dubai shares sent upwards by skyscraper January 3, 2010 SHARES of firms in the troubled Gulf state of Dubai began 2010 on a high yesterday ahead of today’s opening of the world’s tallest building. The emirate’s stock index closed at its highest level for two weeks as investors predicted the official launch of the Burj Dubai will lift earnings at developer Emaar Properties. Emaar’s [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF January 3, 2010 Ski breaks hit by the recession Almost 20 per cent of UK consumers intend to sacrifice their annual winter sun or ski break this year to combat the financial pressures of the recession, research from accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has shown. But consumers will balance their winter thriftiness with a travel spending spree in the summer, [...]
Seasonal trends can hurt FTSE100 January 3, 2010 IT’S worth remembering that seasonal trends can cause some unexpected moves in the financial markets. So far this decade January has been a bad month for the equity markets. The FTSE 100 has declined seven times out of the last 10 Januarys and lost on average more than 5 per cent during this seasonal trend. [...]
London is the big smoke for cigar connoisseurs January 3, 2010 Those resolutions are going up in flames in the city’s new breed of smoking terraces, writes Timothy Barber SITTING back on a luxurious sofa with a glass of fine champagne in one hand and a cigar in the other, I’m among a group of around 25 men and a couple of women sending up a [...]
BAA VICTORY ON AIRPORT SALES December 21, 2009 AIRPORT operator BAA won an appeal against the Competition Commission yesterday, a development that may help it delay the sale of terminals in London and Scotland. A tribunal unanimously decided there was “a real possibility of bias” in the commission’s March ruling that BAA should sell three of its seven airports within two years to [...]
Bonus tax: no breach of rights December 21, 2009 BANKERS smarting from the government’s new super-tax on bonuses were yesterday warned by MPs that attempts to use human rights law to challenge the levy are likely to fall flat. Those searching for ways to get around the tax are unlikely to be able to “demonstrate hardship amounting to an excessive individual burden”, the parliamentary [...]
Brown agrees to TV debates with rivals December 21, 2009 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown will go head-to-head with opposition leaders David Cameron and Nick Clegg in a groundbreaking series of US-style televised debates. The party leaders yesterday agreed to three live discussions before the 2010 general election that will hand each of them an unprecedented set of pitfalls and opportunities. After wrangling between Labour, the [...]
Bankers must get act together December 21, 2009 IT SEEMS an age away now but back in July, on one of those long summer evenings that makes London such a marvellous place to live in, a group of the country’s foremost politicians, business leaders and bankers gathered at the home of Roland Rudd. Rudd, the founder of the City’s foremost public relations firm [...]