Collins Stewart profits rise August 2, 2011 Mid-sized investment bank Collins Stewart Hawkpoint posted higher first-half profits, as growth at its wealth management division and Hawkpoint corporate advisory unit offset a dip in earnings at its broking arm. Collins Stewart Hawkpoint said pre-tax profits for the six months ending 30 June rose 29 per cent from the previous year to £8.4m. The [...]
CKI to buy Northumbrian Water for £2.4bn August 2, 2011 A consortium led by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings has agreed to take over Northumbrian Water Group in an all-cash deal which values the British utility at about £2.41bn. In the biggest takeover this year of a British listed company, CKI said the consortium is offering to acquire Northumbrian at 465 [...]
Barclays to axe 3,000 jobs as profit falls August 2, 2011 Barclays will cut about 3,000 jobs this year as the industry grapples with tougher regulation and the impact of a spreading sovereign debt crisis on investment banking operations. First half profits at the bank fell by a third after a drop in bond trading activity at its investment bank and a charge to compensate customers [...]
FTSE buoyed by US debt deal August 1, 2011 The FTSE 100 tracked global markets upwards as investors were buoyed by the breaking of the deadlock over US debt. As President Obama announced that the Democrats and Republicans had finally reached an agreement over raising the country’s debt ceiling Asian markets responded positively. Investors piled back into riskier stocks and abandoned gold as the [...]
Cyprus issues bailout warning August 1, 2011 Cyprus may soon have to seek an international bailout, becoming the fourth state in the euro zone to request a rescue if it does not take urgent action to repair its finances, the island’s largest commercial bank said on Monday. “With our inaction we are risking the ability of refinancing the state and the consequences [...]
HSBC axes thousands of jobs as profit hits £6.9bn August 1, 2011 HSBC has confirmed that it plans to axe up to 30,000 staff worldwide while announcing that half year profits were up seven per cent to £6.9bn. It said that growth across the US and Europe is likely to remain ‘sluggish’ with concerns that UK regulatory moves may contribute to slow growth. The bank also said [...]
UK manufacturing activity slows August 1, 2011 British manufacturing activity contracted in July for the first time since the country was in recession two years ago, data showed on Monday, adding to signs that the recovery is faltering and piling more pressure on the government to boost the economy. The Markit/CIPS manufacturing PMI headline activity index fell to 49.1 in July from [...]
Hammerson brushes off retail woes August 1, 2011 Anglo-French shopping centre owner Hammerson reported a 5.1 per cent rise in net asset value and flat underlying profit for the first half, seeing little impact from the recent rise in the number of UK retailers going into administration. The UK’s third-largest real estate investment trust, which owns or co-owns some of Europe’s most popular [...]
Senior boosted by aerospace recovery August 1, 2011 Aero engineer Senior reported a 17 per cent rise in first-half profit, helped by a ramp up in production by its largest planemaking customers who are seeing continued growth in demand for commercial aircraft. Senior, which makes components and systems for the aerospace, defence, land vehicle and energy markets, posted an adjusted pre-tax profit of [...]
Aldermore reaches break even August 1, 2011 New bank Aldermore has broken even, two years after its launch, and has accumulated total assets of more than £1bn, the company said on Monday. Aldermore said it now had loans of more than £800m for 9,500 customers, and had 42,000 deposit accounts. Aldermore and other new entrants such as Metro Bank, Haymarket Financial are [...]
