Housing market cools for winter but price growth beating wages November 17, 2013 HOUSE prices this month are still up four per cent on November last year, despite a small seasonal dip from October. According to Rightmove’s latest house price index, London prices are up by 6.9 per cent in the same period. In the year to September, average weekly earnings only rose by 0.8 per cent. Between [...]
Insurer Hastings taps junk bonds to fund payout November 17, 2013 HASTINGS Insurance workers are on the verge of a bumper payout after management tapped booming junk bond markets and sold a stake to Goldman Sachs to fund a multi-million pound payday. Senior management at the company, led by insurance entrepreneur Neil Utley, and a large proportion of its 1,500 staff will share a payout of [...]
Peer to peer lending market gets new risk-capital entrant November 17, 2013 THE BURGEONING peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market will get a new entrant today with the launch of Wellesley & Co, a shareholder-backed lending platform risking its own cash. The firm, co-founded by Graham Wellesley, has been backed by £5m of its four shareholders’ cash. The structure makes it the only known P2P to put its own [...]
The law firm boss leaving the City for a homecoming November 17, 2013 After nine years at Freshfields, Ted Burke tells Elizabeth Fournier why he’s going in-house IF strong law firms are built on their client relationships, then Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer must have some very solid foundations. In one of the longest-standing and enduring client-law firm relationships on record, Freshfields can trace its origins all the way back [...]
Sony hits sales record for new games console November 17, 2013 SONY racked up more than 1m PlayStation 4 (PS4) sales in just 24 hours following its US and Canadian launch on Friday. The fast-selling console puts Sony on track to hit its target of 3m sales by the end of the financial year, and 5m PlayStation 4’s sold by March. “Sales remain very strong in [...]
First airport ecigarette zone set to open inside London Heathrow November 17, 2013 Electronic cigarette maker Gamucci is to open the world’s first so-called vaping zone at an airport, for ecigarette users at London’s Heathrow later this month, highlighting the rise of the smoke-free devices. The new indoor zone will open on 25 November in the international departure lounge at Terminal 4, with entry restricted to those aged [...]
Investis brings former Reuters chief on board November 17, 2013 FORMER Thomson Reuters finance chief David Grigson has been appointed chairman of digital communications firm Investis. Investis, which develops digital media, websites and mobile apps for over 1,700 listed businesses including 70 per cent of the FTSE 100, was bought last year by Gresham Private Equity for £25m. Grigson also currently serves as chairman of [...]
City Moves for 18 November 2013 | Who’s switching jobs November 17, 2013 Stirling Square Capital Partners The mid-market private equity firm has announced the appointments of Jonathan Heathcote (pictured) as a partner and Matteo Nichil as an executive. Heathcote was most recently at Palamon Capital Partners, where he was a partner. Prior to that, he was a partner at European Acquisition Capital. Nichil joins from Bank of [...]
Best of the Brokers for 18 November 2013 November 17, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BBA AVIATION UBS has a “neutral” rating on the plane services group but has hiked its target from 280p to 340p, arguing that stable traffic from business jets is underpinning the recent share price surge. UBS also believes the firm’s forecast for marginal [...]
London Report: New borrowing figures likely a boost for Britain November 17, 2013 CHANCELLOR George Osborne is likely to get a boost this week with October public borrowing figures predicted to show the economic recovery gaining strength. Corporation payments and profits from the Royal Mail share sale have helped boost the government coffers and the final set of figures before Osborne’s Autumn Statement are expected to be strong. [...]
