Knight Frank sees upturn in property August 18, 2009 THE property downturn has now reached the bottom, according to Knight Frank derivatives head Richard White. Property derivatives are investments that allow investors to speculate on rising or falling values without having to purchase the asset. The UK commercial property market has fallen by 44 per cent since its peak in Summer 2007 to July [...]
LCG’s profits fall but client numbers rise August 18, 2009 SPREAD betting firm London Capital Group (LCG) yesterday reported its first drop in profits since it listed in 2005, as lower interest income, higher costs and tough trading conditions took their toll. For the six months to the end of June its pre-tax profit fell 37 per cent to £3.8m from a year ago on [...]
CITY EYE August 18, 2009 THE imposing ceiling of the Grand Hall at the Old Bailey, featuring murals by Victorian painter Gerald Moira. Run by the City of London Corporation, the court opened in 1907 on the site of the notorious Newgate Jail and has witnessed the trials of Dr Crippen, the Krays, Ruth Ellis and the Yorkshire Ripper.
HEATHROW TOP DOGS READY FOR A GRILLING August 18, 2009 YESTERDAY marked the first working day at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 for philosopher Alain de Botton, who’s spending a week as “writer-in-residence” at the airport while scouting for fuel for a new book. The tome, “A Week At The Airport: A Heathrow Diary”, is due to be published in September and will feature conversations with passengers, [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS IT RIGHT FOR THE FSA TO INTERVENE ON THE SUBJECT OF BANKERS’ COMPENSATION? August 17, 2009 SIMON DUCKLIN TMF GROUP“With the tripartite regulatory structure there will always be a lot of finger-pointing over whose responsibility it is to regulate bankers’ pay. If you get different parties involved, things will fall between the cracks, though this issue should be on somebody’s desk.” ALEXANDRA EKPIKEN WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES“On the one hand the [...]
LEGO BUILDS SALES August 17, 2009 LEGO, Europe’s biggest toymaker, yesterday said its pre-tax profits for the first half had jumped 60 per cent to 684m Danish knoner (£79.3m), thanks to sales of its Star Wars and Lego City range. Lego said its UK sales rose by 20 per cent during the period, despite a softer toy market, as parents turned [...]
Technical issues hit Dragon Oil August 17, 2009 LONDON-listed Dragon Oil said yesterday it was likely to undershoot its production growth target in 2009 because of technical problems, adding its talks with majority shareholder Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) about a possible takeover bid were ongoing. The Dubai-based company said gross output growth for the full year will likely be below the annual [...]
UBS tax evasion probe shifts focus to Hong Kong August 17, 2009 THE US government’s probe into tax-evasion by clients of UBS moved to Asia yesterday, after court documents revealed how the Swiss bank helped US nationals avoid taxes using a Hong Kong-based company. Documents filed by Californian UBS client John McCarthy – who last week pleaded guilty to failing to submit an annual report to the [...]
RBS to sell asset manager arm August 17, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland is preparing to put its asset management business up for sale, including assets that are accessible to clients of Coutts, the private bank that is best known as an advisor to the Queen. A sale of RBS asset management, which creates hedge funds and private equity funds-of-funds using third-party managers, could [...]
Japan exits its recession August 17, 2009 JAPAN became the latest major economy to emerge from recession yesterday, as its GDP for the April-June quarter grew 0.9 per cent, after four consecutive quarters of contraction. The news comes after data earlier this month showed that the economies in France, Germany and Hong Kong were growing, indicating that the global slowdown is easing. [...]
