BILL OF THE WEEK July 5, 2009 THESE may be recessionary times, but there’s no stopping us girls when we just wanna have fun. These ten ladies popped down to Old Spitalfields Market on Wednesday evening “from a nearby major bank” (no prizes for guessing which one), to celebrate one of their 28th birthdays. They ordered four bottles of Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque [...]
Rivals home in on Opel bid July 5, 2009 MAGNA INTERNATIONAL, the Canadian car parts supplier in the top running to buy General Motors’ (GM) Opel brand, looked to be losing its grip on the deal this weekend, as Beijing Automotive Industry Holding also submitted a bid, and Belgian holding company RHJ International waited in the wings. The administration in Germany, where Opel is [...]
Bridgepoint plays down IPO rumours at Pets at Home July 5, 2009 BRIDGEPOINT, the private equity owner of the UK’s biggest retailer of pet products, Pets At Home, yesterday played down reports it is planning a £700m stock market flotation for the business. Bridgepoint was said to have held talks with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Cazenove, NM Rothschild and BOA Merrill Lynch about timing, valuation and investor [...]
Luxury retailers set to face six per cent sales drop worldwide July 5, 2009 SALES of luxury items are set to fall by six per cent across the globe, according to an exclusive report by Verdict Research. Global luxury expenditure is expected to fall to €211bn (£180bn) in 2009. In particular Japan is expected to suffer a 14.6 per cent drop and the US a 12.1 per cent drop. [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 5, 2009 HEINEKENBroker JP Morgan yesterday raised its price target for beer brewer Heineken from €23.00 (£19.70) to €26.00, forecasting an improvement in beer volumes during this year and next. JP Morgan added it did not believe that Heineken is again the “cheap value, recovery player” in the sector, but said that the worst is over in [...]
The property boss who can see the light at the end of the tunnel July 5, 2009 The airy offices of Knight Frank chairman Nick Thomlinson are as good a place as any to survey the wreckage of the property market over the last two years. So it can only be good news that the head of the UK’s largest privately-owned property business shows no sign of panic as he holds court [...]
Rural homes near London see price rise July 5, 2009 PRIME country properties around London saw prices rising by 0.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2009 after five consecutive quarters of falls, according to the Knight Frank/ City A.M. prime commuter property price index. For the UK as a whole, the average value of prime country property fell by 0.9 per cent over [...]
Glass heads race to be the new finance director at RBS July 5, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) is considering the appointment of Simon Glass to replace Guy Whittaker as finance director. Glass, who joined RBS as deputy finance director three months ago from Standard Chartered, is believed to be heading the race to succeed Whittaker, who will part company with the 70 per cent state-owned bank before [...]
FULL HOUSE FOR CENTRE POINT July 4, 2009 Centre Point, the iconic London office tower has finally become fully occupied for the first time in its 40 year history after controversially spending the first 15 years of its life empty in a bid to reduce tax payments. Owner Targetfellow has now secured its last leasing to Onalytica, which is owned by the original [...]
CITY BANKERS CHEER AS BONUSES RETURN July 2, 2009 THE CITY is set for a return to the champagne-soaked days of old, after it emerged yesterday that bankers at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are on track for bumper full-year bonuses to rival those from the pre-credit crunch compensation heyday. Goldman Sachs is on course to pay out up to $700,000 (£427,000) per employee [...]