Tesco trading update sends investors running for cover January 13, 2011 BRITAIN’S leading share index fell yesterday as a disappointing trading update from Tesco upset food retailers and tobacco stocks were hit by a broker’s downgrade. At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 26.84 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 6,023.88, after hitting a 31-month closing peak on Wednesday. Tesco was the biggest FTSE 100 [...]
Commodities drag on sluggish Wall St January 13, 2011 US stocks edged lower yesterday, hurt by a slide in drugmaker Merck and as falling commodities prices hit shares of natural resource companies. The S&P 500, however, held near 28-month highs as investors saw stocks’ upward trend continuing, focusing on expectations for strong earnings. Intel confirmed those bets as it posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and [...]
How a fit blonde girl sparked a £200k idea January 13, 2011 OH MY God, have you seen that gorgeous guy in the library? The one that’s always on the third floor, you must have seen him.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? If not, it’s probably because you weren’t at university recently and have forgotten the bizarre methods of procrastination students devise to keep them from their books. [...]
I LEARNT MORE FROM FAILURE THAN SUCCESS January 13, 2011 AUTHOR AND FOUNDER OF ANTAL INTERNATIONAL IBUILT a recruitment organisation which spanned Europe and then nearly lost the whole thing when the market turned down post 9/11. And the fact that it’s now back on its feet again, with offices in 30 countries, is because I learned a lot more from getting things wrong than [...]
MEET THE EXPERT ON CRISIS MANAGEMENT January 13, 2011 Tim Weller, founder and CEO of the business-to-business service provider Incisive Media will be speaking to an audience of entrepreneurs about how he dealt with the fallout from the banking crisis over a relaxed lunch. This event is hosted by Entrepreneurs World, a peer-to-peer collaboration group for entrepreneurs running businesses that have a turnover greater [...]
GROWING CONFIDENCE IN UK ECONOMY January 13, 2011 The Investec entrepreneur confidence index that tracks the confidence levels of entrepreneurs in the UK economy has seen a small rise of 2 per cent since June. Some 56 per cent of the entrepreneurs interviewed believe that the economy will improve over the next 12 months. Ed Cottrell of Investec said: “The overall findings from [...]
ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR 2011 January 13, 2011 This year’s Ernst & Young’s entrepreneur of the year award is now open for nominations. The award starts at a regional level. Regional winners then progress to the UK finals, and the overall UK winner then goes on to compete for the title of world entrepreneur of the year in Monte Carlo. Richard Harpin, the [...]
The fees you need to watch out for January 12, 2011 CEO, HASSIUM ASSET MANAGEMENT AT A TIME when interest rates are low and many asset classes are struggling to post a positive return, fees can have a significant effect on your long-term investment returns. Current estimates from the Financial Services Authority put the total expense ratio (TER) incurred by investors at around 3 per cent [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS January 12, 2011 BILLS HIGHER FOR THE OFFLINE Hot water and heating bills are £140 a year more for offline customers than for online customers, according to new figures from uSwitch.com. The average household energy bill is £1,239 per year, but that drops to £1,010 for online customers. Of that, the average cost of hot water and heating [...]
London hits 31-month closing high as Portuguese fears fade January 12, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a 31-month closing high yesterday, boosted by banks after a successful bond sale in Portugal eased investor concerns over Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, and as miners tracked metals prices higher. The FTSE 100 ended up 36.69 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 6,050.72, its highest close since early June 2008, [...]