N Brown increases turnover July 7, 2009 N Brown, the home shopping firm, reported that turnover increased by 5.1 per cent in the 18 weeks to 4 July, while online sales are up by 25 per cent. Debtor growth is reduced to eight per cent, down from 13 per cent at the end of the year.
New high-speed Eurostar route July 7, 2009 Eurostar yesterday unveiled a new high-speed train service between Brussels and Amsterdam, due to commence next year. The upcoming high-speed Fyra service will reach speeds of 250 km/h (155mph). The firm made the decision in response to increasing demand, with numbers taking the train from London to Amsterdam via Brussels rising 22 per cent over [...]
LSE numbers down July 7, 2009 A total of 19.6m equity trades were carried out across the London Stock Exchange Group’s electronic order books during June 2009, with a combined value of £152.5bn. The average daily number of equity trades across the group’s markets was down by eight per cent compared with the previous year. The average daily value traded was [...]
ABN Amro to sell assets to ease EC fears July 7, 2009 DUTCH state-controlled bank ABN Amro is expected to strike a deal by mid-September to sell some assets to settle European Union competition concerns, the Dutch finance ministry said yesterday. The €70bn (£48bn) purchase of ABN in 2007 by a consortium of Royal Bank of Scotland, Spain’s Santander and Belgian-Dutch group Fortis saw Fortis agree to [...]
Big Yellow buoyant despite revenue fall July 7, 2009 SELF-STORAGE firm Big Yellow Group yesterday reported a slump in quarterly revenues but said trading conditions were beginning to improve. Store revenue for the quarter was £13.5m, six per cent lower than the £14.3m recorded in the same period last year, but up one per cent from £13.4m in the quarter to 31 March. Wholly-owned [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 7, 2009 MICROGENInvestec Securities reiterate their “buy” recommendation for IT group Microgen, which has issued an upbeat trading statement for the first half of the year. Investec believe that Microgen’s Aptitude branch looks particularly strong, having signed major contracts with blue-chip customers. Full-year earnings are ahead of expectations. WM MORRISONBank of America Merrill Lynch feels that Wm [...]
MYNERS HITS OUT AT EU HEDGE FUND GRAB July 7, 2009 CITY minister Lord Myners yesterday lashed out at a draft European law that will crack down on hedge funds, saying it needed “major surgery” before the UK could support it. In a powerful speech, Myners threw his weight behind London’s hedge fund managers who are aghast at European plans to regulate the industry with an [...]
Economy stuck in stagnation July 7, 2009 THE UK economy did not exit recession in the second quarter as had previously been predicted but is instead now stagnating, according to GDP estimates from a leading think-tank. Figures from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) showed that GDP contracted by 0.4 per cent in the three months to June 2009 [...]
Standing room only: coming soon to an airline near you July 7, 2009 YESJEREMY HAZLEHURSTTHE news that Ryanair is offering standing seating to customers should come as a surprise to nobody who has ever travelled on the carrier. Indeed, it is the logical extension of its ethos, which involves turning aeroplanes into a mix of a fairground and a sardine tin. The idea behind this radical new idea [...]
Higher leverage fuelled banking bonanza July 7, 2009 TODAY’S banking White Paper will contain some nasty surprises. Of that we can be sure. In the main, however, it will amount to a rehash of pre-announced policies. Some of the proposals will be firm; others more hypothetical, relying on global agreement. There will be a call for banks to structure themselves so that they [...]
