Hall & Woodhouse receives £20m loan from M&G Investments fund January 12, 2014 INDEPENDENT brewer Hall & Woodhouse has received a £20m loan from M&G Investments as part of the fund’s effort to support mid-sized UK firms. Hall & Woodhouse, a regional brewer and owner of over 200 public houses, has over 1,400 employees in the UK and is looking to use the 10-year investment to acquire and [...]
Saudi British Bank fourth quarter net profit jumps by 20 per cent January 12, 2014 SAUDI British Bank, Saudi Arabia’s fourth-largest listed bank, said yesterday its fourth-quarter net profit rose 20 per cent over the same period of 2012, beating analyst expectations. The lender, an affiliate of HSBC Holdings, said it made 976m riyals (£157.8m) in the three months to 31 December, compared to 815m riyals in the corresponding period [...]
Actual Experience prepares a £17m London public offering January 12, 2014 ANALYTICS firm Actual Experience Limited is planning an initial public offering (IPO) on London’s Alternative Investment Market at the end of the month that is set to value the company at £17m. Actual Experience (AE) works with over 40 blue-chip clients including Cisco, Ofcom and Accenture to improve the experience of staff and customers using [...]
City Moves for 13 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 12, 2014 Smith & Williamson The accountancy and wealth management group has announced the appointment of Tina Riches as national tax partner. She was most recently at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, where she was a technical director. Royal Bank of Canada The bank has recruited Tim Houghton as head of business development in its wealth management [...]
Best of the Brokers for 13 January 2014 January 12, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ASTRAZENECA UBS has started covering the pharmaceutical giant with a “buy” rating and a target price or 4,000p. The broker thinks AZ’s earnings outlook is tough until 2017 as the firm prioritises investment, but thinks this will store up a strong pipeline of [...]
London Report: Retailers reveal where tills rang for Christmas January 12, 2014 RETAILERS are expected to reveal where UK shoppers showed their Christmas cheer, with a round of results in contrast to last week’s gloomy December tidings. Figures out this week from retailers such as Argos, Asos, Dixons, Ocado and Primark are expected to show increased sales. The successes are in contrast to the sales dips seen [...]
Wall St The Week Ahead: Big banks will set pace in new earnings round January 12, 2014 AFTER the S&P 500’s impressive 30 per cent return in 2013, Wall Street will get a better picture of reality this week as the pace picks up for companies reporting earnings. A number of big banks are due to report quarterly and full-year results, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo tomorrow, Bank of America on [...]
Carney welcomes nomination of former colleague Stanley Fischer as Fed vice chair January 10, 2014 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has shared some kind words for a former colleague, Stanley Fischer (pictured). Carney says that he is "delighted by the prospect of Stan Fischer re-joining the global community of central bankers" as Fischer was nominated to the position of Federal Reserve vice chairman by US President Barack Obama today. [...]
This analyst says the Federal Reserve needs to learn a crucial hockey skill January 10, 2014 The Federal Reserve's job is complex. It has to simultaneously avoid high unemployment while keeping inflation steady, and that can sometimes lead it to cause "new, potentially bigger problems down the road" says Deutsche Bank strategist Oleg Melentyev. That's meant that policy makers have created new and complex monetary tools. Current monetary policy is "creating [...]
Bitcoin wins the heart of libertarian CEO January 10, 2014 Encouraged by positive Senate hearings in November and enthusiastic Bitcoin processors, online retailer Overstock.com has decided to take the plunge and accept the cryptocurrency. In the first 90 minutes of Bitcoin sales, the site received around 150 orders. Overstock took the decision several months earlier than had been planned. The libertarian chief executive of Overstock.com, [...]