Financial crisis fuels shareholder engagement with boardrooms September 7, 2009 SHAREHOLDERS have begun wielding their voting power amid the financial crisis, according to research showing that the number of investors in European firms exercising their voting rights at annual general meetings has risen above 50 per cent. Data from shareholder advisory firm Manifest showed that the number of investors using their votes at firms in [...]
Theo Fennell topples into red September 7, 2009 EXCLUSIVE jewellery firm Theo Fennell yesterday blamed its previous management for losing £3.3m on a series of failed projects and dragging the business into the red. The group posted a pre-exceptional loss of £2m for the year ended 31 March, compared to a profit of £1.9m the year before. And a series of ill-judged expansionary [...]
Galliford Try bags new contracts in hotel space September 7, 2009 CONSTRUCTION and housebuilding group Galliford Try has secured four lucrative new contracts in the hotel and residential sectors worth a combined £82.8m. The contracts include a £30m deal to develop a 186-bedroom Radisson Hotel in Guildford and the £28m redevelopment of Coworth Park Estate in Berkshire to create a country house hotel. Galliford Try will [...]
INM tried to cut O’Brien’s shareholding September 7, 2009 INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) held talks with Axel Springer regarding the German media group making an investment in the debt-laden firm in a bid to reduce the stake of rebel investor Denis O’Brien. The talks – which have since broken down – centred around Springer supporting a rights issue that would have diluted O’Brien’s [...]
Wall Street to catch up with Europe September 7, 2009 WITH US equity markets shut yesterday for the Labor Day holiday, the Dow will be playing catch-up with European markets which enjoyed healthy gains across the board yesterday, spurred on by a combination of bid stories and a broadly optimistic mood following the G20 meeting. The weekend news from the G20 that the fiscal and [...]
City Moves who’s switching jobs September 7, 2009 ActantLars Hjaltman has joined the exchange trading solutions firm as head of development, based in the UK but operating in the firm’s major markets across Europe and the US. Hjaltman has over 20 years of experience in technology and software development, having most recently been chief operating officer of Electronic Shipping Solutions. He has also [...]
THE RIVALS September 7, 2009 DENIS O’BRIENINM’s second largest shareholder ANTHONY O’REILLYFounder, former chief executive and largest INM shareholder
CITY VIEWS: Do you think house prices are beginning to stabilise? September 7, 2009 JONATHAN HIPSON STATE BANK OF INDIA“I think it depends on the availability of finance. At the moment there is a real squeeze. New buyers are really struggling to get a mortgage, which now requires a 40 per cent deposit paid upfront. And with interest rates going back up, any rise in prices is just not [...]
Hotel goes bust every other day September 7, 2009 The number of property and construction companies going bust is now running at more than twice the rate than in the third quarter of 2007, according to research out yesterday from Wilkins Kennedy. More than 17 real estate and construction businesses are currently going bust everyday, and despite a rise in so called “staycations” a [...]
Large fall in vacant property September 7, 2009 The risk of companies flooding the commercial property market with their excess space may be easing, says property firm NB Real Estate. Empty space at European property firms has fallen from 18.8 per cent of portfolios last year to just three per cent in 2009. And 56 per cent of corporate occupiers surveyed said that [...]