CITY VIEWS | WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE PASTY TAX U-TURN? May 29, 2012 HOWARD WATT FIDELITY I bought a pasty from Greggs this morning and it did seem a little expensive, but it’s still much cheaper than a lot of the other food that is being sold in the City. I think booze and cigarettes should be taxed to encourage healthy lifestyles and pasties are quite fattening too. To [...]
Falling inflation prompts hopes for more ECB interest rate cuts May 29, 2012 PRICE rises slowed again in April across the OECD, new figures showed yesterday, while government data also pointed to lower price pressures across Germany in May. Slowing energy price rises are the largest contributor, and economists believe this gives the European Central Bank (ECB) more room to loosen monetary policy further if it wants to [...]
Spanish retail sales plummet at record pace May 29, 2012 THE SPANISH economy took another huge blow as retail sales plunged at record speed in April, official figures showed yesterday, as the recession continues to bite. Spanish retail sales were down 9.6 per cent in April compared with the same month of 2011 – the 22nd consecutive drop and the largest fall ever, according to [...]
Europe’s markets stay positive May 29, 2012 EUROPE’S stocks rose yesterday to a one-week closing high on rumours on ECB support. The French CAC rose 1.37 per cent, the German DAX jumped 1.16 per cent, and the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.58 per cent. “The rumour mill has been busy, with talk of an ECB press conference about bank recapitalisation, supporting [...]
VOICE OF THE CITY May 29, 2012 CAN Spain refrain from more financial pain? This week we are asking members of our Voice of the City panel, run with PoliticsHome, how confident they are that Spain can remain in the Eurozone. Will the country successfully rescue stricken lender Bankia, and can leader Mariano Rajoy bring spending under control in the regions? Answer these questions [...]
De La Rue silent on drachma as revenues rise May 29, 2012 DE LA Rue chief executive Tim Cobbold refused to comment on rumours that the money-printing company is preparing to make a new Greek drachma as the firm unveiled a 73 per cent rise in underlying profits. Posting an underlying pre-tax profit of £57.7m for the year to March, the banknote printer said that it has [...]
Banknote printer recovering – even without drachma May 29, 2012 IT has become la question du jour: how are you preparing for a Greek exit, or “Grexit” as the latest parlance would have it? Most executives will tell you they are looking at cash, treasury and currency issues – but some are having to be more inventive than others. Dixons, for example, is stockpiling security [...]
Brewin boss confident despite euro turmoil as profits increase May 29, 2012 THE HEAD of Brewin Dolphin said the 250-year-old investment manager could confidently ride out the Eurozone crisis despite rising anxiety over Greece. Executive chairman Jamie Matheson said Britain is “not immune” to the problems surrounding the single currency but struck an upbeat tone as Brewin posted a 3.3 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to [...]
US growth helps Wolseley to counter weak sales in Europe May 29, 2012 WOLSELEY, the world’s biggest building supplies company, posted a rise in third quarter profits yesterday, but weaker-than-expected third-quarter sales in Europe sent shares down two per cent. The owner of the Plumb Centre and Ferguson chains in Britain and the United States said trading profits rose 10.3 per cent to £139m for the three months [...]
ANALYST VIEWS | WAS WOLSELEY’S THIRD QUARTER TRADING PERFORMANCE IN LINE WITH EXPECTATIONS? May 29, 2012 CAROLINE DE LA SOUJEOLE SEYMOUR PIERCE As expected Wolseley’s third quarter trading performance was a mixed bag with continued high growth rates in North America and Europe still lagging: UK is still declining but the trends are improving…we leave our 2012 numbers unchanged, expecting adjusted EBIT of £647m and adjusted profit before tax of £587.3m. [...]