Investment in UK hotels on the rise January 27, 2014 The UK hotel sector claimed a 37 per cent share of the total hotel investment volumes for Europe, Middle East and Africa last year thanks to large portfolio acquisitions and refinancings by banks. According to research by Jones Lang LaSalle published yesterday, a continued sell-down of over leveraged assets by lenders and disposals by private [...]
Estate agent Foxtons picks brokers January 27, 2014 Foxtons Group, the estate agency which floated on the stock market last year, said yesterday it has appointed Credit Suisse and Numis Securities as its joint corporate brokers with immediate effect. The pair were among the banks that advised Foxtons on its over-subscribed float in September. The group’s shares are 40 per cent above their [...]
Caterpillar profit beats forecasts January 27, 2014 Caterpillar posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday as cost cuts and an uptick in demand for its building equipment offset continued weak sales to the mining industry. It expects construction-equipment sales, which jumped 20 per cent in the most recent quarter, to rise another five per cent in the coming year. The firm reported fourth-quarter [...]
City Moves for 28 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 27, 2014 Salamanca Group The merchant banking and operational risk management firm has announced the appointment of Martin Devenish as group head of strategy. He previously spent 20 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was a partner and advisory director. KPMG The professional services firm has hired Nick Roome as a partner to lead its legal services [...]
Best of the Brokers for 28 January 2014 January 27, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com SMITH & NEPHEW UBS has upgraded the medical technology group from “neutral” to “buy” with a target price raised from 780p to 1,000p. The broker is impressed by the popularity of S&N’s new knee replacement, and thinks the firm’s wound care product Santyl can [...]
London Report: FTSE slides to a five-week low on market fears January 27, 2014 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 slipped to fresh five-week lows yesterday, extending last week’s falls on the back of turmoil in emerging markets and steep slumps in oil and gas firm BG Group and Vodafone. The FTSE closed down 113.08 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 6,550.66, adding to last week’s 2.4 per cent fall, as worries [...]
New York Report: US stocks down but Caterpillar climbs higher January 27, 2014 US STOCKS extended recent losses yesterday, with the S&P 500 falling for a third straight session as concern grew about the Federal Reserve’s plans for withdrawing stimulus. The losses, which picked up late in the session after the S&P 500 briefly traded in positive territory, followed a steep selloff late last week tied to emerging [...]
Labour’s 50p tax populism ignores the most important debate of the century January 27, 2014 ED BALLS’S announcement that the 50 per cent top rate of income tax could make a comeback is an act of political opportunism devoid of any economic sense. Opinion polls may show that two-thirds of voters would support such a hike, but satisfying the politics of envy is a dangerous economic game. Raising the top [...]
Emerging markets need a structural overhaul before they can return to favour January 27, 2014 PEOPLE talk about emerging markets as if they were one homogenous group, but nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing that really links Argentina, Turkey and Indonesia is that they all look vulnerable to further volatility in their currency, bond and equity markets. The diversity of the emerging market universe is such [...]
We’re slashing rules that hold business back while Labour imperils recovery January 27, 2014 THE GDP figures released today, expected to show further evidence of economic growth, will tell us how far the recovery has progressed. They follow last week’s employment stats which showed that our long-term plan is beginning to work. We are creating more jobs by backing small business and enterprise with better infrastructure and lower jobs [...]
