WEST END SUMMER BOOM July 14, 2009 LONDON’S West End is expecting a “gold rush” of 140,000 shoppers from the Middle East over the Summer in advance of Ramadan, spending an estimated £250m. As the Euro shopper market softens, retailers are for the first time pulling out all the stops, including extending opening hours and making key additions to the services on [...]
Miners, banks and oil groups emerge as stars of the index July 14, 2009 LONDON’S top share index closed up 0.9 per cent yesterday, led by miners, banks and oil producers as impressive corporate data from the United States outweighed mixed economic figures. The FTSE ended 35.55 points higher at 4,237.68, extending Monday’s 1.8 per cent gains. The index has risen more than 23 per cent since hitting a [...]
Primark growth accelerates July 9, 2009 DISCOUNT fashion retailer Primark saw its third-quarter growth accelerate, helped by good weather and the attraction of its low prices in a downturn, but its owner Associated British Foods held to its flat year earnings forecast. The 190-strong stores division reported its sales rose 21 per cent in the 16-week quarter to 20 June, and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 9, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESSTRATEGIC REVAMP FOR LLOYD’SLloyd’s of London has begun the biggest strategic review it has undertaken this decade in an attempt to ensure the more than 320-year-old insurance market does not fail in exploiting the gaps in the market thrown up by the financial crisis. The institution, which deals in insurance risks from all over the [...]
Sky Capital six in fraud charge July 8, 2009 SIX former employees of Wall Street retail brokerage Sky Capital were yesterday charged with running a $140m (£87.2m) “trans-Atlantic boiler room” to defraud investors in both the US and the UK. US prosecutors announced a criminal indictment of fraud against Sky Capital’s founder and chief executive Ross Mandell and five others, while the Securities and Exchange [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 7, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES RECESSION INCREASES SUICIDE AND MURDERUnemployment and recession add to the death toll from suicide, murder and heart attacks but cut the number killed in road accidents, according to the most comprehensive analysis so far of the health effects of economic downturn. Researchers at Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical [...]
Strike threat as tube staff are balloted July 7, 2009 THOUSANDS of London commuters face further disruption this summer, as 600 staff at London Underground (LU) prepare to be balloted on industrial action, after union leaders rejected a final pay offer. Unite union said LU’s offer of 1.5 per cent in the first year and retail prices index (RPI) plus 0.5 per cent in the [...]
Landbank drops its 250m LSE launch July 7, 2009 PROPERTY firm Landbank has abandoned plans for a £250m share listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), in favour of raising money privately. The recently-launched firm had been pencilled to complete an initial public offering (IPO) today, under plans to raise capital to buy vast swathes of residential land from distressed housebuilders at bargain prices. [...]
CITY MOVES Who’s switching jobs July 6, 2009 BDO Stoy HaywardThe accountancy firm has hired three new partners to its London business restructuring team. Danny Dartnaill joined BDO in 2003 and has recently been involved in high-profile restructurings in the retail and asset management sectors. Nick Goldstone, who joined the firm in 2002, specialises in the leisure and hospitality sector, while insolvency practitioner [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 5, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphPRU ENSURES CHANGES TO CAZENOVE RESEARCHJP Morgan Cazenove has rewritten a piece of research about Prudential that initially made a string of adverse comments about the insurer’s accounting procedures. The research note is understood to have made disparaging remarks about reporting decisions taken by Tidjane Thiam, set to take over as chief [...]