Former City minister Mark Hoban moves to London Stock Exchange February 5, 2015 EX-TREASURY minister Mark Hoban MP was yesterday appointed as a non-executive director at the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The qualified accountant was responsible for liaising between the government and the regulators from 2010 to 2012 as financial secretary to the Treasury. From 2012 to October 2013 he was employment minister. As a result the LSE is keen to [...]
Tight mortgage rules squeeze the old and the self-employed February 5, 2015 MORTGAGE brokers are increasingly struggling to find loans for home buyers with unusual requirements, thanks to tougher rules on lending quality, the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) warned today. Three-quarters of brokers said lenders are “too conservative” on mortgage criteria. The survey found 84 per cent of brokers have been unable to help a customer in [...]
Europeans confident growth will return and deflation will end February 5, 2015 THE ECONOMIC climate in Europe is improving rapidly, according to the influential Ifo survey published yesterday. Despite the Greek negotiations and the war in Ukraine, the Ifo’s index monitoring the economic climate improved from 102.3 to 112.7 in the past quarter. The sharp rise takes the index firmly above its long run average of 106.1 points. The [...]
Aer Lingus loses passengers but wins EU lawsuit February 5, 2015 BOTH Aer Lingus and rival EasyJet have posted disappointing passenger numbers for the first month of 2015. The Irish flag carrier said mainline passenger numbers fell 4.5 per cent year-on-year in January to 546,000. Aer Lingus, which is subject to a potential takeover bid from British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG), said its long-haul [...]
Dairy Crest milk sales go sour but cheddar cheese churns up a profit February 5, 2015 DAIRY Crest said yesterday that it has sold enough milkshakes and blocks of cheddar cheese to offset losses across its dairies business as the company battles with falling milk prices. The FTSE 250 company said its cheddar brand Cathedral City and FRijj milkshakes both performed strongly in the nine months to 31 December, although sales [...]
Compass posts bullish start to year but warns on oil price fall February 5, 2015 COMPASS Group, the world’s biggest catering firm, yesterday hailed a strong start to the new year after seeing a return to growth in Europe and Japan, but warned of the impact of falling oil prices. The company, which serves around 3bn meals a year, said organic revenue increased by 5.7 per cent in the first [...]
City Moves for 06 February 2015 | Who’s switching jobs February 5, 2015 Warburg Pincus Rene Obermann is joining the global private equity firm as managing director and partner. Obermann was chief executive of Deutsche Telekom from 2006 to 2013, and was most recently chief executive of Ziggo NV. He will be based at the firm’s London office. Hay Group The management consultancy has appointed Jim Tapper as [...]
Best of the Brokers for 06 February 2015 February 5, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com AVANTI COMMUNICATIONS Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated its “buy” rating on the telecoms firm after it reported results for the second quarter of 2015 that were in line with market expectations. The broker stated that the outlook points to “significant revenue growth” in the third [...]
BT deal and oil resurgance lead to late FTSE rally – London Report February 5, 2015 THE FTSE 100 recovered from earlier losses, as a late rally yesterday in crude oil prices boosted energy stocks and telecom firm BT Group advanced after its strategic acquisition of mobile operator EE. The UK Oil and Gas index rose 1.2 per cent after crude jumped about 5 per cent on falling output and rising [...]
Pfizer drug mega-merger pushes up US – New York Report February 5, 2015 SHARES bounced with oil prices on Wall Street yesterday, sending the markets higher. Meanwhile news Pfizer would buy Hospira in a massive deal further boosted the market. The S&P energy index jumped 1.5 per cent as oil prices rebounded sharply from a rout in the previous session. US crude rose 4.2 per cent to settle [...]
