Interserve expects to meet targets May 13, 2014 FTSE 250-listed outsourcing group Interserve yesterday said it is confident of meeting expectations for 2014, after securing a strong pipeline of contracts, including projects with the Ministry of Defence, alongside oil and gas industry and infrastructure deals in the Middle East. “Conditions in most of our markets are improving and work winning during the period [...]
Melrose Industries trading in line May 13, 2014 Engineering buyout specialist Melrose Industries yesterday said that trading is in line with full-year expectations and that its order intake this year to date is up three per cent over the same period last year. The FTSE 100 firm said it is confident of meeting expectations for the full year, with the order book suggesting [...]
National Express is on track May 13, 2014 Rail and bus group National Express said yesterday it has increased revenues two per cent since the start of the year, despite the freezing winter weather in North America. The firm’s UK business delivered a five per cent increase in revenues, boosted by the firm’s coach operations and a four per cent rise in passengers. [...]
City’s old guard gets together over gulls’ eggs May 13, 2014 “PINSTRIPE is dead, long live pinstripe,” Matthew Wright, partner at NewSmith told The Capitalist, as we surveyed the crowd at Macmillan’s annual Gulls’ Egg Luncheon yesterday. “Seventy five per cent used to be pin stripe, now it’s deemed too brash,” he lamented. Taking place at Merchant Taylor’s Hall on Threadneedle Street, the luncheon sees the [...]
Animals: the new lingua franca between MPs and corporates? May 13, 2014 LABOUR MP Adrian Bailey likes metaphors. He likes them so much, he risked causing mass confusion yesterday by asking Pfizer chief Ian Read which animal his firm was, during the select committee’s first meeting with the pharma giant. Bailey demanded to know if Pfizer was a “praying mantis” or a “shark that needs feeding”? Hmm, [...]
Markets cool on Germany after Ukraine tension May 13, 2014 INVESTOR confidence in Germany appears to be weakening, with the political crisis in Ukraine helping to send a major index of sentiment to its lowest level since the beginning of 2013. The Zew index for economic sentiment announced yesterday stood at just 33.1 for May. It has now fallen for five months in a row, [...]
Weaker retail sales cast shadow over growth outlook for the US May 13, 2014 US RETAIL sales grew by a meagre 0.1 per cent in April, a shadow of the previous month when sales jumped by a revised 1.5 per cent. Sales in April were four per cent higher than a year earlier, the Commerce Department said, but still disappointed investors. Analysts at HSBC had expected sales “to turn [...]
Strong demand for Spain bond May 13, 2014 SPAIN raised billions of euros for both public and corporate coffers yesterday, taking advantage of massive demand for Eurozone peripheral debt as concerns ease and investors search for yield. Spain introduced its first inflation-linked bond, sold €4.5bn of short-term debt at a T-bill auction while bailed-out bank Bankia and telecoms giant Telefonica also raised cash [...]
London Stock Exchange mulls bid for Russell May 13, 2014 THE LONDON Stock Exchange (LSE) emerged yesterday as a potential bidder for Seattle-based asset management firm Frank Russell investments, in a deal that could see it tap investors for cash. Parent company Northwestern Mutual life insurance started exploring the potential sale of Russell in January, following the decision that the firm was not one of [...]
Royal London boss calls on FCA chief to look at pension rules May 13, 2014 THE BOSS of mutual Royal London has called on the financial regulator to tighten up the rules on advice offered to people on their retirement, specifically around pensions. Announcing the group’s first quarter results, Phil Loney said the government’s guarantee of guidance, outlined in the Budget in March, does not go far enough. “There is [...]
