US consumer confidence boosts late London trading May 26, 2009 BETTER than expected consumer confidence data out of the US gave the FTSE 100 a much-needed boost yesterday afternoon, after Asia’s sell-off – driven by concerns of heightening geopolictical tension on the Korean peninsula – infected the London markets in early trading. “Following the release of the US consumer confidence data there was an immediate [...]
Henderson Global names new head of 150m property fund May 26, 2009 HENDERSON Global Investors has named Cameron Fraser as head of its £150m institutional UK property fund, replacing Ludo MacKenzie who is jumping ship to become a partner at rival property fund Melford Capital Partners. Fraser is joining from CBRE Investors, where he was manager of the Unilever account and oversaw the growth of its fund [...]
Spending boost for West End’s stores May 25, 2009 HALF a million shoppers were drawn to London’s West End this bank holiday by a day of free parking and in-store entertainment. The event, which saw shoppers spend around £50m on Saturday alone, took the New West End Company six months to organise with co-operation from West End retailers, Westminster City Council and Transport for [...]
CHEQUERED FORTUNES May 19, 2009 LUXURY retailer Burberry, known for its distinctive beige plaid, warned yesterday trading will remain tough, as it revealed profit for the year fell 12.5 per cent, resulting in a £ 5.1m loss after it heavily discounted products, wrote down the value of Spanish stores and bore the cost of moving its London and New York [...]
Oil hits six month high on hopes of a US recovery May 19, 2009 OIL prices hit a six-month high yesterday, as the cost of a barrel hit $60 (£48), on hopes that the US economy was on its way to recovery. US crude rose as high as $60.05, while London Brent crude went up to $59.22, although both later dropped back. Earlier this week, oil prices were sharply [...]
Blank’s exit won’t end Lloyds’ troubles May 17, 2009 IT was always Sir Victor Blank, one of the Labour Party’s favourite businessmen, who was most likely to be Lloyds Banking Group’s sacrificial lamb. It was he, after all, who was the main driver of Lloyds TSB’s ill-fated takeover of HBOS; he first discussed the idea of the deal with Gordon Brown over drinks in [...]
London retail sales ahead of rest of UK May 17, 2009 RETAIL sales in central London were up 5.4 per cent in April, compared with the previous year – beating the 4.6 per cent increase in the UK as a whole – according to data released by the British Retail Consortium today. “April was a good month for retail, with Easter falling in the month and [...]
Trio join the cash call craze May 17, 2009 A TRIO of property companies are setting their sights on fundraising this week to exploit opportunities created in the downturn. Great Portland Estates, Big Yellow Group and Shaftesbury have all been working with advisers on how to tap investors for extra cash. West End property specialist Great Portland Estates, is expected to announce a fundraising [...]
Dresdner Kleinwort set for job cuts after Commerzbank seals the deal September 2, 2008 Dresdner Kleinwort employees were bracing themselves for a round of sweeping job cuts yesterday, after German bank Commerzbank completed a deal to buy Dresdner Bank from insurers Allianz at the weekend. Dresdner Kleinwort, led by CEO Stefan Jentzsch and his team employs about 5,500 staff in the UK, with 2,000 of those based in the [...]
Allianz sells Dresdner in £8bn deal September 1, 2008 German insurance giant Allianz last night agreed to sell its beleaguered banking arm Dresdner to rival Commerzbank in a deal worth €9.8bn (£7.9bn) – a tie up that will lead to at least 1,000 job losses in the City. In what will be the biggest German banking merger in nearly a decade, Commerzbank will buy [...]