ECONOMIST VIEWS: WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS FOR THE UK HOUSING MARKET ? June 21, 2009 NICK BATES MERRILL LYNCHIt has picked up over the past few months – you’ve seen realised mortgage approvals picking up a bit from their troughs and there seem to be improvements in credit supply conditions, but supply is still relatively tight. It’s a mixed housing market at the moment and overall, a lot of the [...]
Stewart: Run of divi cuts has bottomed June 21, 2009 RENOWNED equity analyst Alex Stewart has urged income investors to stop focusing on avoiding stocks they fear will cut their dividends in the recession, as the cycle of dividend-cuts begins to slow. Stewart, who recently joined Evolution Securities from Dresdner, said income investors should instead focus on stocks that look likely to be able to [...]
Better regulation should never stifle risk-taking June 21, 2009 ALMOST as soon as this financial crisis began, policy makers, central bankers and business leaders began waxing lyrical about regulatory failure and the importance of improving regulation to ensure that such a crisis is not repeated. However, now the mist is beginning to clear and we are moving from crisis mode into the recovery period [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 21, 2009 FormjetThe alternative software firm has appointed Andrew Monk, the former chief executive of stockbroker Blue Oar, as its new chief executive. Monk previously founded and jointly ran Oriel Securities, which, like Blue Oar, he named after his rowing exploits at Oxford University. Blue Oar has since been rebranded as Astaire under new chief executive Edward [...]
Lloyds to help struggling firms June 21, 2009 Lloyds Banking Group yesterday confirmed that it will beef up its corporate restructuring team to help struggling companies battle through the recession. The bank has already increased the size of its restructuring team from 250 employees to 400 in the past 12 months, but plans to increase the headcount to 800 by the end of [...]
Banks face ‘unfair’ charges bill June 21, 2009 British banks could be facing a multi-billion pound bill, depending on the outcome of a House of Lords hearing into “unfair” bank charges, which begins this week. The case, which opens tomorrow in the upper chamber, will determine whether or not to overturn an Appeal Court decision ruling that seven banks which charged customers for [...]
Lords defy Darling on pensions June 21, 2009 Chancellor Alistair Darling will face harsh criticism over his plans to tax pension provisions, with the publication of a report by the House of Lords economic affairs committee this week. The committee, led by Lord Vallance, will say that the plans outlined in the chancellor’s Budget, will affect far more people than the chancellor has [...]
How the King of the UK back office plans to keep his business growing June 21, 2009 IT is fascinating to listen to David Andrews talk about his business. For most of us, back offices may seem deadly boring – but when you discover Andrew’s passion for Xchanging, the FTSE 250 back office outsourcing giant he founded 10 years ago, you suddenly realise just how true it is that finance and corporate [...]
Making sure you’re fashionably on time June 21, 2009 THE true sign of a top-notch timepiece is not the beautiful design of its exterior, but the technological quality of its interior. The leading Swiss watch producers pride themselves on a level of finesse that can boggle the mind. For that reason, luxury watch enthusiasts have tended to have a rather sniffy attitude towards fashion [...]
SALTY OLD SEADOG OF PROPERTY TAKES TO HIGH SEAS ONCE AGAIN June 21, 2009 PROPERTY guru Mike Slade’s firm Helical Bar might have crashed further into the red over the past year as its annual losses tripled, but it hasn’t stopped the salty old seadog getting up to his usual tricks. Outside of the property world, the 61-year-old is best known for his passion for sailing, having racked up [...]