ANALYST VIEWS | WHAT WAS YOUR INITIAL REACTION TO MICHAEL PAGE’S TRADING UPDATE? July 9, 2012 HENRY CARVER PEEL HUNT The results were slightly below expectations, but management expects profits for 2012 to be “broadly in line”…But the outlook remains highly uncertain, and we note that key regions such as France and Brazil have got tougher. We are leaving 2012 forecasts unchanged, but downgrade 2013 by 25 per cent. PAUL JONES [...]
OECD: Slowdown is going global July 9, 2012 MAJOR economies across the globe are set to slow down further over the next six months, according to an influential leading index published yesterday, raising fears of a prolonged recession in the UK and Eurozone. The downturn is focused on the Eurozone, according to the figures from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), [...]
Rain washes away June’s retail gains July 9, 2012 THE DIAMOND Jubilee and warm spell at the start of June gave retailers a great start to the month, according to industry data out today – but that rapidly disappeared as bad weather took over. Total retail sales were up 3.5 per cent compared with June 2011, while like-for-like sales – those covering the same [...]
Surveyors: housing woe is here to stay July 9, 2012 THE HOUSING market remained depressed in June, as demand stayed low and supply shrunk, according to data published yesterday by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). House prices slumped further, with 22 per cent more respondents reporting drops than upturn. Though London was an exception, prices in the capital still grew at a slower [...]
Estimates of output gap getting worse July 9, 2012 ECONOMIC estimates used to determine monetary policy have become less accurate, a working paper released by the Bank of England revealed yesterday. Absolute output gap revisions have gone up, even as revisions due to delayed inclusion of previously available data have declined. The output gap is the difference between actual GDP and potential GDP at [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 9, 2012 Debrett’s Joanne Milner has been appointed chief executive at Debrett’s, the etiquette authority and provider of luxury products and insurance. She joins from leading LDC, the mid-market private equity house. Milner will use her experience of business in China and Hong Kong to drive forward Debrett’s future plans in the region. Camco The clean energy [...]
BEST of the BROKERS July 9, 2012 MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM Numis has downgraded the price comparison website from “reduce” to “sell” on the back of an “intensifying threat” from Google. The broker, which predicted in May that Google’s experiment with financial price comparison would divert traffic away from sites like Moneysupermarket, says the threat has been “stepped up a notch” and Moneysupermarket’s valuation is too [...]
Oil and mining shares weigh down on FTSE as third quarter rally fades July 9, 2012 COMMODITY stocks led Britain’s top share index lower yesterday as equities’ bright start to the third-quarter continued to fade against a backdrop of waning global growth and as investors geared themselves up for the earnings season. London’s blue chip index closed down 35.30 points, or 0.6 per cent at 5,627.33 and is now 1.8 per [...]
Global worries hit as Wall St awaits earnings July 9, 2012 STOCKS in the US slipped in light trading yesterday, weighed down by weak economic data from Asia and signs of economic trouble in Europe, underscored by higher Spanish and Italian bond yields. Yesterday’s decline, the third in a row for the S&P 500 index, comes as quarterly earnings reports get under way. Investors are anxious [...]
The Bank of Dave: How one man is challenging the high street giants July 9, 2012 IT’S only 240 miles from Burnley to the City of London, but sometimes it feels like it’s a completely different world. Unlike the skyscrapers of the City, my “bank” is based on a high street in Burnley. And it used to be a florist’s shop. That’s just one of the things that makes my little [...]
