Baby on Board? February 27, 2013 Frustrated by the lack of power that the boards of Russian state-owned companies have, banking and media mogul Alexander Lebedev has recommended his own son for the board of Aeroflot. The news was released by the airline's press team. His son is 15-months old. Lebedev Tweeted: Мораль сей шутки такова:в советах госкомпании практически нет реальных полномочий-зачем [...]
Italy auction strong despite electoral woes February 27, 2013 A good auction saw all €6.5bn of bonds sell. The costs of Italian political uncertainty have been translated into higher borrowing costs, as the 10-yr 4.5 per cent bond sells at 4.83 per cent, when the same bond sold for 4.17% on Jan 30. Given the circumstances, a good auction and it looks like Italian risk is [...]
Vodafone takeover of Kabel Deutschland off February 27, 2013 Bloomberg is reporting that Vodafone's planned takeover of Kabel Deutschland Holding AG has been suspended. This has not yet been confirmed. Kabel Deutschland shares were indicated 6 percent lower in premarket trades, according to data from brokerage Lang & Schwarz. A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters last week that Vodafone hired Goldman [...]
Bleak end to 2012 for the UK February 27, 2013 While many focus on that slight upwards revision to UK GDP for last year as a whole, the components of the last quarter GDP slump by 0.3 per cent are troubling. Government spending is up 0.6 per cent, while the coalition tells us that they are committed to austerity. As a smaller rise of 0.1 [...]
Revision sees UK growth in 2012 February 27, 2013 The UK's GDP growth has been revised up from stagnation to 0.3 per cent for 2012 while growth for the fourth quarter remains unrevised at -0.3 per cent.
Italian confidence falls ahead of crucial bond auction February 27, 2013 The ISAE index for Italian consumer confidence saw a fall to 77.4 in February from 80 last month. Not a terrible number, as the country remains locked in political uncertainty. Open Europe's Vincenzo Scarpetta discusses the role political uncertainty will play: Italy’s borrowing costs have been rising over recent days, but they remain well below [...]
European markets looking healthier February 27, 2013 Most European indices are in the green this morning: FTSE100 +0.38 per centDAX +0.44 per centCAC +0.69 per centIBEX +0.81 per centFTSE MIB +0.89 per cent There was some improved consumer confidence data out of Germany as the Gfk Consumer Confidence Survey increased from 5.8 to 5.9. French consumer confidence remained unchanged. Generally markets are calming after yesterday's Italian panic. [...]
Sterling still reeling from a Tucker punch February 27, 2013 When Monetary Policy Committee member Paul Tucker mentioned that some at the Bank had been considering negative nominal interests rates yesterday he knocked the pound down to below 1.51 against the dollar. While sterling regained some strength during the day, it's fallen back down to around that 1.51 level again this morning. Our banking specialist Tim [...]
FTSE 250 Results Round-up – 27/02 February 27, 2013 Barratt Developments, the residential property development company, released results for the six months to December (results) with profits increased by 113.4 per cent to £46.1m. Chief executive Mark Clare said that: Although we remain cautious as to whether the thaw in lending conditions will be sustained, improvements in mortgage lending and the success of the [...]
FTSE 100 Results Round-up – 27/02 February 27, 2013 Weir Group, the engineering company, has released full year results for the year ended December (results). They saw pre-tax profits rise from £396.3m to £443.1m. Chief executive Keith Cochrane has said that 2013 will bring more challenging markets. ITV, the media company, has released full year results for the year ended December (results). The [...]