UK financing market buoyant amid private equity recap trend October 20, 2013 UK LOAN market volumes have almost doubled since last year, figures out today reveal, driven by a Europe-wide trend for private equity firms refinancing their investments. The €4.5bn (£3.8bn) of loans made in the three months ending September helped take the total volume of loans made this year to €11.9bn, up from the €5.5bn in [...]
Grafton keen on further growth after switching Irish roots for UK listing October 20, 2013 Gavin Slark, boss of the builders’ merchant, tells Kasmira Jefford what’s next for his company WHEN Gavin Slark was handed the toolbox and made chief executive of the Irish-based builders merchant two years ago, Grafton was in dire need of repairs. The global financial crisis had all but flattened the UK and Ireland’s construction market [...]
City Moves for 21 October 2013 | Who’s switching jobs October 20, 2013 Cushman & Wakefield The commercial property firm has announced the appointment of James Crawford as a partner and head of City capital markets. He joins following 16 years at Savills, where he was a senior director in its City investment division. AECOM The technical services company has recruited Giles Scott as director of development management. [...]
Saluting all those who served the country October 20, 2013 ALMOST 400 guests flocked to the Guildhall on Friday for the third Square Mile Salute banquet, hosted by Michelin-starred chefs Albert and Michel Roux Jr. With support from leading players in business and politics, including Lord Ashcroft and the spread-betting group CMC Markets, the event has grown into a hotly anticipated culinary masterpiece and a [...]
Best of the Brokers for 21 October 2013 October 20, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ASOS HSBC has kept its “overweight” rating on the online fashion store and hiked its target from 4,380p to 7,160p ahead of full-year results on Wednesday. The broker moved its target after changing its value measure to enterprise value and sales growth. DEBENHAMS [...]
London Report: GDP figures and housing prices reveal recovery October 20, 2013 GROSS domestic product (GDP) figures due on Friday are expected to reveal the UK’s solid recovery prospects, coupled with further good news from Nationwide and Rightmove housing figures earlier in the week. Analysts predict further improvement in the economy, with third quarter GDP expected to rise. “We expect GDP to rise 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter. [...]
New York Report: US data clog to clear as report season begins October 20, 2013 A BACKLOG of US data will begin to clear this week with payrolls figures landing just as more than one-quarter of S&P 500 companies report earnings. But equities, at record highs, have already surpassed expectations for the year and could begin to drift sideways. The S&P 500 closed Friday at 1,744.50, an all-time high, making [...]
Defective EU carbon trading scheme is adding billions to UK energy costs October 20, 2013 YOU MAY never have heard of it, but a European scheme, designed to achieve carbon emissions targets that have already been met, is adding billions to consumer energy bills. This year and every year until 2020, the UK government will auction hundreds of millions of carbon credits – called European Union Allowances (EUAs) – into [...]
City Matters: Tangible steps forward in the UK-China relationship will deliver real benefits October 20, 2013 WITH both George Osborne and Boris Johnson flying the flag for British business in China last week, it is worth taking stock of this increasingly important UK-Sino relationship. As the government rightly recognises, the UK and London need to be plugged into fast-growing global markets like China in order to succeed in the global race. [...]
UK efforts to nurture a tech startup revolution are worryingly trivial October 20, 2013 IF THE government thinks investing in Silicon Roundabout is the best way for the UK to produce the next Facebook or Twitter, it’ll be waiting a long time. As a Brit at the helm of a software company co-headquartered in California and Sheffield, I’m often asked my thoughts on what the UK should do to [...]
