Big Yellow on a pre-downturn high March 26, 2012 Big Yellow said yesterday its March occupancy level will be above the previous September’s level for the first time in five years. The storage company said wholly-owned occupancy of its 32-strong portfolio is at 64 per cent, up from 59.3 per cent this time last year. The group, which last week discovered its service could [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 26, 2012 Strategic Minerals The iron ore producer and exploration company has announced the appointment of George Cardona as non-executive director, with immediate effect. Cardona was formerly a special adviser at the Treasury, and spent the first half of his career in banking and politics, notably at HSBC. He left HSBC in 2000 and formed Cardona Lloyd, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 26, 2012 BT GROUP UBS rates the telecoms group as “neutral” but raises its target price from 210p to 230p after BT announced on Friday that it will halve its pension deficit by end of March 2012 and said the current deficit stood at £4.1bn – below the expected £6bn. UBS now expects the company’s dividend to [...]
EPISODE 50 – A sudden end, but the cheque’s in the post March 26, 2012 DEAR Cicely, I am writing to inform you that I will not be attending our scheduled session tomorrow. I might have attended, or called, to inform you of my decision but frankly, I felt you might encourage me to reconsider. And I don’t wish to do that. My apologies for the abrupt decision and my [...]
Fuel tanker drivers vote for strike March 26, 2012 Fuel tanker drivers have voted in favour of taking strike action raising the prospect of troops delivering fuel to petrol stations. The strike ballot over terms and conditions was held by the Unite union. The government is holding a meeting with fuel delivery companies and supermarkets to work out a strategy to deal with any [...]
Mobile banking firm Monitise buys US rival for £108m March 26, 2012 UK mobile banking technology firm Monitise has agreed to buy privately held US rival Clairmail for $173m (£108m), expanding its reach on the key North American market. In the UK the firm currently provides mobile banking applications for customers of Natwest, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC. After the deal Monitise will reach [...]
Game plunges into administration March 26, 2012 Struggling video games retailer Game said on Monday it has entered administration, becoming the latest household name to fall by the wayside in the consumer downturn. The firm, which employs 10,000 staff in 1,270 stores in nine European countries and Australia, said it has appointed PwC as its administrator after failing to find a buyer [...]
FSA fines Coutts £8.7m March 26, 2012 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulator has fined Coutts – the exclusive private bank owned by Royal Bank of Scotland – £8.75m for failings in its anti-money laundering controls systems. In October 2010, the FSA visited Coutts – whose chief executive is Rory Tapner as part of its thematic review into banks’ management of high money-laundering [...]
Energy stocks lift FTSE March 26, 2012 Energy stocks gave the FTSE 100 index renewed impetus in early trading but gains were limited by weaker miners and banks. Fears over China’s growth are still casting a shadow over commodity stocks while banks are still struggling to maintain upward momentum. Aberdeen Asset Management was the top riser, up 2.4 per cent as the [...]
Santander to close 56 branches March 26, 2012 Spain’s Santander is closing 56 branches in Britain to remove overlap in its network after it bolted together three separate businesses, which left it with two branches side by side in some places. Santander’s purchase of Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley during the 2008 financial crisis came four years after it bought Abbey [...]