Derwent nets new financing October 1, 2013 Property group Derwent London has agreed a new £550m unsecured credit line with its four main lenders, in a deal the firm said is more flexible than its current banking facilities. Derwent said the deal replaces its £650m secured bank facilities, which were due to expire over the next four years. The move follows a [...]
City Moves for 2 October 2013 | Who’s switching jobs October 1, 2013 Ernst & Young The professional services firm has announced the appointment of Marc Middleton as a partner in its telecoms, media and technology transaction team. Middleton was most recently at Rothschild, where he was a partner and managing director. Investec Specialist Bank The specialist bank has appointed Joanna Turney to its growth and acquisition finance division. She [...]
Best of the Brokers for 2 October 2013 October 1, 2013 ENTERPRISE INNS Deutsche Bank has reaffirmed its “buy” recommendation on pub owner Enterprise Inns and revised its target price from 190p to 205p. The bank said that trading has stabilised and the group has now ticked off all of the debt concerns that have plagued the shares in recent years. GENUS N+1 Singer has reaffirmed [...]
London Report: FTSE kept flat by Unilever and gold price slide October 1, 2013 LONDON’S top share index closed flat yesterday, as weakness in the gold price and poor sales from Unilever hit miners and consumer staples. The FTSE 100 edged down 2.21 points at the close, flat in percentage terms, to 6,460.01, with mining and consumer staples wiping more than 26 points off the index. Fresnillo fell five [...]
New York Report: Markets stay calm despite US shutdown October 1, 2013 US stocks kicked off a new month and a new quarter with gains yesterday as investors, for now, appeared confident that the first partial government shutdown in nearly two decades would be short lived. After declining seven out of the past eight sessions on concerns about a possible shutdown, Wall Street rebounded as investors viewed [...]
Top tips to save on energy this winter October 1, 2013 Annabel Palmer on the simple ways households can cut costs LABOUR leader Ed Miliband thrust energy into the spotlight last week when he announced that, should he win the 2015 election, he will freeze prices for 20 months. Despite energy firms noting that this would prevent crucial investment, he claims that it would save a [...]
Why a smart meter might help cut your bills October 1, 2013 Smart energy meters are expected to change the way consumers manage their energy use. Currently optional, but due to be rolled out nationally from autumn 2015, the devices provide live, detailed data on costs. “These developments are set to revolutionise energy usage,” says Stephen Passmore of the Energy Saving Trust. While the meters themselves do [...]
You can probably be replaced by a robot – and that’s really good news October 1, 2013 A new paper suggests that more jobs could eventually be done by robots that we previously thought. Not just simple tasks either. As many as 47 per cent of positions currently filled by humans could be done by a computerised workforce "over some unspecified number of years, perhaps a decade or two." Most likely to [...]
Virgin annual report for Vatican bank October 1, 2013 The Vatican's bank has published its first-ever annual report today, showing earnings in 2012 were €86.6m (£72.3m) – four times higher than in 2011. The report comes as the bank, which was founded in 1942, tries to distance itself from a rather murky past – in a bid to become more transparent, as part of Pope Francis' reform [...]
Candy Crush saga claims London victim as King opts for New York float October 1, 2013 Powerscourt, the ambitious financial public relations group founded by ex-Goldman Sachs spin doctor Rory Godson, has become the first casualty of the decision by King, the UK-based mobile gaming company, to list in New York rather than London. King, best known for its hit game Candy Crush Saga, has hired Brunswick, to handle its upcoming [...]