BEST OF THE BROKERS October 2, 2011 HENNES & MAURITZ JP Morgan Cazenove rates the Swedish clothing retailer as “underweight” with a target price of Skr195.80 (£18.29), issuing an alert as it sees gross margin risks accelerate. The broker says H&M has entered the fourth quarter with very high inventories, with like-for-like sales deteriorating in the first month. With the implication that [...]
Fourth quarter set for an inauspicious beginning October 2, 2011 EUROPEAN stocks have just suffered their worst quarter in nine years, but anyone thinking that this might present us with an opportunity of restored calm to repair portfolios, or that some bargain-hunters would be tempted in to the market will be disappointed; the fourth quarter is expected to open with another day of dramatic falls. [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD October 2, 2011 INVESTORS are worried US earnings growth may finally fall back to earth as turmoil in Europe and signs of a less robust Chinese economy hurt foreign support. The Eurozone’s debt crisis and weakness in China have fuelled investor concern that the global economy could tip back into recession, possibly dampening US earnings growth at a [...]
Why it is now the time to set out strict fiscal rules to stop over-spending for ever October 2, 2011 IN HIS speech at the Labour party conference last week shadow chancellor Ed Balls made an interesting suggestion. He argued that Britain should introduce a new set of fiscal rules to be independently monitored by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR). We should not reject the idea just because of the messenger. FISCAL RULES The [...]
Tories bereft of ideas when they need them most October 2, 2011 WHAT a difference a year makes. At the 2010 Tory conference, the party faithful were walking around in a blissful daze, barely able to contain their glee at being back in power after 13 years in the wilderness. The Office for Budget Responsibility, recently created by chancellor George Osborne, was forecasting economic growth of 2.6 [...]
Regulation threatens the City’s dominance October 2, 2011 CELEBRATIONS were understandably muted across the Square Mile last week when London once again topped the latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). Muted, because the seriousness of the global economic situation means that all other issues are overshadowed. And muted, because clearly London’s competitiveness and primacy are under increasing threat. According to the GFCI, London [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 2, 2011 Great expectation While I appreciate the argument – in Mark Speeks’s article on Friday – that the poor don’t fuel the economy, I think the piece underestimates the benefits of reducing their tax burden. It is short-sighted to think any additional income for the poor will be spent on groceries. Like all of us, the [...]
Fronting a brand new family business October 2, 2011 THE Asprey name is undoubtedly familiar to you. The British luxury brand has been around since the time of Queen Victoria. For 200 years the family sold luxury goods to the world’s well-heeled before being bought out by a devoted customer. Sadly, when William Asprey, the seventh line of the family, came to start up [...]
Think about how you hand over the keys October 2, 2011 THE CORPORATE FINANCE NETWORK Management buyouts (MBO) seem to have fallen out of favour. You just need to look at the recent Experian Corpin figures to see that there have been huge reductions in recent years. From 2005 to 2011 the number of businesses involved in MBOs has halved from 403 to 217. The figure [...]
Plotting the growth of the market October 2, 2011 WHEN spread betting started in 1974, it was set up to get around the strict price controls that were in place in the UK – at the time it was illegal for retail investors to speculate on gold. Unemployed stockbroker Stuart Wheeler hit upon the idea of creating an index giving investors a way of [...]
