Best of the Brokers for 17 August 2015 August 16, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com STANDARD LIFE S&P Capital IQ cut its rating for the savings and insurance company to “hold” from “buy”. It cut its forecast for earnings per share by eight per cent in 2015 to 24p as the company has seen lower growth in assets [...]
Inflation data set to fuel debate over Bank rate increase – London Report August 16, 2015 SEVERAL data releases over the coming week will add more fuel to debates about interest rates hikes in the UK, with inflation figures being published. Tomorrow sees UK producer, retail and consumer prices index (PPI, RPI and CPI) inflation. Britain’s CPI inflation fell back to zero per cent annual and monthly growth in June, while [...]
Fed minutes at centre of focus – New York Report August 16, 2015 INVESTORS will comb through Wednesday’s minutes of the most recent Federal Reserve meeting for indications on how it will react to the recent yuan devaluation and the further decline in oil prices. The recent outperformance of bank shares and underperformance of utilities, both on expectations of higher Treasury yields, support current market bets that the [...]
Capitalising on sponsorship: Tissot’s president Francois Thiebaud on making the most of their rugby links August 16, 2015 When Jonny Wilkinson swung his cultured right boot through the ball that famous night in Sydney at the Rugby World Cup 12 years ago there were 26 seconds of extra time left on the clock. Seven weeks of furious action concluded with England’s poster boy delivering that late, killer blow to the tournament hosts Australia [...]
Jeremy Corbyn’s dangerous foreign policy would be a disaster for Britain August 16, 2015 I assume that soon-to-be Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has more than a passing understanding of Lenin, if of little else. One of the Soviet revolutionary’s more piercing insights involves his belief that non-revolutionary members of the European left – or useful idiots, as he apocryphally put it – should be taken advantage of by genuine [...]
Don’t be quiet: Why the City needs to shout about its good work in wider society August 16, 2015 Over the past year, I have said frequently that firms in the City are too quiet when there is good news to tell. All too often, the negative stories are the ones that gain the most headlines – normally involving rogue operators or massive fines. This coverage is wholly disproportionate – and wholly depressing. This [...]
Investors are abandoning France: It needs serious reform – and fast August 16, 2015 Exceptionalism has long characterised France. On the cultural front, two years ago the country requested the audio-visual sector (including French cinema) be excluded from the US-EU free trade agreement. The French labour market also has its own idiosyncrasies. On average, the French work much less than their EU peers (186 and 239 hours fewer a [...]
Can Alexis Tsipras survive as Greece’s Prime Minister? August 16, 2015 Dennis Novy, a professor at Warwick University, says Yes. Alexis Tsipras will be able to survive, for one simple reason: there’s no better alternative. The Greeks don’t want to leave the Eurozone. The last months have shown that the government’s previous approach hasn’t worked. Predominantly, this is because of too much resistance from other countries, [...]
Becoming Mr Matchmaker: Venntro founder Ross Williams talks going mobile, nature v nurture, and ginger dating August 16, 2015 A week today, Ross Williams will be a married man. “Oh, I’m not stressed, nervous, anxious, oh no,” he laughs. But Williams shouldn’t worry – after all, he’s got a wife and mother-in-law-to-be who are “absolutely fantastic” organisers, and his relationship was founded on a very firm footing: he and his fiancée met on an [...]
Investec Comment: Why UK investors have warmed to tech firms August 16, 2015 London has all the ingredients to remain an attractive location for technology companies to grow and seek investment. The capital has thriving public markets that have warmed to tech stocks. More and more VCs are putting money into London startups. There’s a greater number of incubators and accelerator programmes around. UK investors have also [...]
