Neil Woodford exits Invesco after 25 years to launch new fund manager October 15, 2013 Neil Woodford, UK head of equities at Invesco Perpetual will leave in April in order to launch a new fund management firm. Woodford has been with Invesco for 25 years. Woodford will establish that new fund management business for institutional and retail clients as soon as possible after his departure. I leave the company on [...]
Food price rises and the folly of inflation targeting October 15, 2013 New figures released this morning show that while above target inflation stays at 2.7 per cent in the year to September, food inflation is at a much higher 4.8 per cent. According to Shore Capital that's a 0.1 percentage point increase in the annual rate from August. Price rises in meat, vegetables and fruit were [...]
Fizz goes out of Coca-Cola as company reports mixed results October 15, 2013 Coca-Cola has reported a varied set of results for the third quarter, with two per cent global volume growth. (Release) The soft drinks giant reported two per cent growth year-to-date, too, with international growth of three per cent and just one per cent in the Americas. European volume was down one per cent, although the [...]
Gold prices fall to three month low and set to go lower October 15, 2013 Gold fell to its lowest point in three months on Tuesday as US policy makers came closer to reaching a deal to avoid default on October 17. US Senate majority leader Harry Reid, after talks with his opposite number Mitch McConnell on Monday, said they had made "tremendous progress." Spot gold fell by 1.2 per [...]
Thohir expands sports team portfolio with purchase of majority Inter Milan stake October 15, 2013 Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir has signed an agreement with Inter Milan owner Massimo Moratti to take a controlling stake in the Italian soccer club. Moratti has said that "everything's been signed". After months of negotiation, the addition will be the latest in Thohir's portfolio of sports teams, which includes Major League Soccer club D.C. United, [...]
Hector Sants to take leave from Barclays until end of year October 15, 2013 Sir Hector Sants is to take a leave of absence from his role at Barclays as a result of a diagnosis of exhaustion and stress, according to Barclays spokesman. The former regulator is not expected to return to work until 2014. Sants started work at Barclays in January of this year, reporting directly to chief [...]
Germany’s renewable energy race pushes prices up and dampens growth October 15, 2013 Germany's surcharge for green energy will go up by almost a fifth next year – to 6.24 euro cents (5.3p) per kilowatt hour (kWh) – say network operators, as first reported by Reuters. The monthly surcharge, levied on consumers via their electricity bills to finance renewable power subsidies, rose by almost two cents (or 47 [...]
Help to Buy may hinder business investment October 15, 2013 Capital Economics has warned that the government's controversial Help to Buy scheme may hinder business investment. By making mortgage lending more attractive to banks than other types of lending, credit may be diverted from firms to households. If Help to Buy were to drive up house prices, leading to more mortgage lending, business loans could [...]
German sentiment strengthens in pre-US default scare data October 15, 2013 Some hope for the German economy if we stay optimistic and assume that a US default can be avoided. The survey data below does not include the greater impact from US debt woes. The ZEW survey for October shows economic sentiment up from 49.6 to 52.8, while analysts had expected no change. That's the strongest [...]
Tiny Royal Mail allocations see Cable’s hopes for long term investors dashed October 15, 2013 Business secretary Vince Cable had hoped for Royal Mail shares to go to long term investors – not just those that he thought would want to make a quick buck. But due to the small allocations granted to retail investors, many are now selling out. As Ishaq Siddiq of ETX Capital points out, with only [...]