BILL OF THE WEEK August 16, 2009 OUR BILL this week comes from four diners who sampled the Chino-Latino delights at St Martin’s Lane Hotel’s Asia de Cuba restaurant this week – though you wouldn’t envy them the rum-induced headache the next day. After warming up with Latino cocktails and starters – including fusion-themed tuna, calamari and duck dishes – they moved [...]
Asking prices fall despite lack of stock August 16, 2009 AVERAGE asking prices slipped back in August despite a scarcity of fresh stock and record search activity, according to property website Rightmove. Rightmove figures showed a 2.2 per cent fall in new sellers’ asking prices as summer sellers price more realistically, putting the average property asking price at £222,762. The yearly decline remained at 3.1 [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 16, 2009 Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has appointed Joe Carrell, currently an official at its global health policy and advocacy group, to head its new London office. Carrell, who joined the foundation in 2001, will move over from Seattle in January 2010, to oversee the organisation’s first European outpost, which is [...]
City broker KBC Peel Hunt defies slump August 16, 2009 KBC Peel Hunt (KBCPH), the mid-cap broker, yesterday declared a surge in first-half profits and reported it was snapping up market share in the downturn. The City firm said it has doubled its net revenues to £24m for the six months to 30 June, compared to £11.5m for the same period last year. In its [...]
City should not fear new regulations on bonuses August 16, 2009 No sooner had the Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced new proposals on how financial institutions should determine salaries and incentives last week, they were attacked for being too soft on bankers’ pay. Some critics even went so far as to call for a windfall tax on bonuses. However, now that we have seen several banks [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 16, 2009 PREMIER OILGoldman Sachs updated its estimates for Premier Oil following the firm’s recent successes in Vietnam and its prospects in Norway. As a result of the estimate changes, the broker has increased its 12-month price target to 1,507p from 1,423p, and continues to believe that Premier represents good value in its sector.WELLSTREAMAhead of Wellstream’s interim [...]
Brokers remain bullish but still wary on stocks August 16, 2009 INSTITUTIONAL brokers in the world’s financial centres remain cautiously bullish despite a slight dip in stock market performance at the end of last week. European shares hit earlier a 10-month high before falling back on Friday, the FTSE 100 closing down almost one per cent at 4,714. On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average [...]
Aviva to launch property fund August 16, 2009 Aviva Investors, the asset management arm of the insurance group, is poised to launch a £250m fund to take advantage of the depressed commercial property market. Aviva’s real estate team, which is headed by chief executive Ian Womack, is understood to have begun contacting potential investors for the so-called “opportunities fund” ahead of an official [...]
How Mr Wigan has put JJB and the City behind him to live the dream August 16, 2009 EVAN at 72 Wigan serial entrepreneur Dave Whelan still gives an impression of a man in a hurry. Whelan moves at a sprightly pace between tables in the director’s box at Wigan Athletic, the Premier League football club he owns, and his trim figure still hints at a man who played professional football for Blackburn, [...]
WINDFALL TAX PROFS WON’T BE FOBBED OFF August 13, 2009 THE City may have slammed ideas of a windfall tax on bonuses yesterday, but the group of university professors who originally mooted the idea in a letter to The Guardian are far from deterred. The dusty academics’ plans, which would see the money from the tax injected back into public services, were labelled “gratuitous”, “impossible” [...]