KNEES UP AT TREASURY IF GEORGE HAS A BEER March 22, 2011 AHEAD of today’s Budget, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) is trying to loosen up chancellor George Osborne – and his stance on beer tax – by dropping by the Treasury to hand-deliver a hamper of Britain’s finest beers. With the Budget speech the one day that the chancellor is allowed an on-duty tipple, [...]
T-Mobile USA owner sees shares spike March 21, 2011 Deutsche Telekom’s shares soared as much as 16 per cent yesterday after news it will sell its beleaguered T-Mobile US venture to AT&T for $39bn (£24bn). The German telecoms giant will instead focus on its European operations. It says it plans to grow organically and will use the cash to pay down debt and return [...]
Savills profit up but Asia could drag March 17, 2011 REAL ESTATE consultant Savills posted an 88 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £47.3m yesterday but warned that transactions in Asia are likely to fall this year in the wake of the Japanese disaster. The firm has evacuated all but one of its 70 Tokyo staff to the west of the country but said [...]
Fear and loathing stalk the global financial markets March 15, 2011 EVERYTHING always seems to go wrong at the same time. Global investors are always extraordinarily naïve about geopolitics and natural disasters; they have suddenly awoken from their stupor and realised that the world is a much more dangerous place that they thought. The earthquake in Japan, a devastating catastrophe for that country, was the tipping [...]
Collins Stewart brand to add Hawkpoint March 15, 2011 MID-CAP broker Collins Stewart is to re-brand itself to reflect its growing number of joint mandates with its recent acquisition, Hawkpoint. The resulting entity, Collins Stewart Hawkpoint, would only use the new name for specific advisory work and is subject to shareholder approval. The announcement came as the broker posted a moderate increase in earnings [...]
IG Group warns on tough final quarter despite revenue increase March 10, 2011 BRITISH spread-betting company IG Group yesterday warned it would face tough comparatives in the final quarter of the year after it posted revenue up ten per cent in the third-quarter due to increasing client activity. IG said volatility which typically boosts client activity had been generally low in the last quarter and particularly subdued in [...]
Even an alien apocalypses can be dull March 10, 2011 Film BATTLE: LOS ANGELES Cert: 12a Only in Steven Spielberg’s head do aliens ever come in peace. So here they are invading once again, superior to us in numbers, technology, firepower and tentacles. Just like Independence Day, War of the Worlds, District 9, last year’s terribly bad Skyline, last year’s terribly good Monsters and any [...]
UK in manufacturing bounce back March 10, 2011 Manufacturing output rebounded more than expected in January to rise at its fastest monthly pace in 10 months, after firms made up for a weather-related drop in output in December, official data showed on Thursday. The Office for National Statistics said manufacturing output rose one per cent in January, more than reversing a 0.1 per [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 9, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BARCLAYS WINS SUIT OVER SALE RISK LEVEL Barclays has won a legal case brought against it by a small San Marino bank which alleged the UK bank sold it complex debt products which were “much riskier” than the triple A credit rating they had been given. Cassa di Risparmio della Repubblica di San [...]
Why filling in the census improves your life March 9, 2011 SO, how old are you? Have you ever been married? Who do you live with? Do you have a mortgage? How many bedrooms do you have? What religion are you? Yes, it might feel like Big Brother plopped on our doormats this week. The 2011 census asks questions that probably many of us would find [...]