Commerzbank exits shipping finance and property lending June 27, 2012 COMMERZBANK, Germany’s second largest lender, is to pull out of shipping finance and commercial property lending as stricter liquidity requirements force it to cut back on capital intensive activities, it has revealed. The bank, which has twice been bailed out by German taxpayers, said the decision marks the first step in a “rigorous” review of [...]
Virgin Money profits rose ahead of its Northern Rock acquisition June 27, 2012 VIRGIN Money made a £44.16m underlying pre-tax profit in the year leading up to its purchase of Northern Rock – while the bailed-out building society lost £110.9m. Virgin, which spent £747m buying Northern Rock from the government in November, said profits rose 41 per cent in 2011, with its credit card venture with Bank of [...]
FinnCap ups market share June 27, 2012 FINANCIAL adviser and broker FinnCap said yesterday it had increased market share in the past 12 months, but saw profits before tax (PBT) fall from last year. The firm’s PBT, excluding a share-based payment charge, fell to £0.2m from £1.7m in 2011, on revenues of £9.1m. FinnCap also said it is now the fifth largest [...]
Niall Ferguson warns on London’s possible fall June 27, 2012 The historian who wrote a book entitled The Ascent of Money yesterday warned that London faces a fairly rapid descent from its platform as the world’s leading financial centre unless it quickly improves its infrastructure. Niall Ferguson, the well-known history professor at Harvard University, said that infrastructure improvements, such as public transport, and in particular [...]
CITY HITS THE RIGHT NOTE WITH 50 GOLD PIANOS June 27, 2012 YOU work in the City but secretly you wish you had become a concert pianist. Well here’s your chance to have an audience that would fill a music hall. As part of the City of London’s annual festival of music and arts, 50 Golden Street Pianos have been placed around the Square Mile.
DMGT sells its print works site to British Land June 27, 2012 THE DAILY MAIL & General Trust (DMGT) said yesterday it has sold its printing works site at London’s Canada Water to British Land for an undisclosed sum. Analysts estimate the Daily Mail owner to have pocketed around £12m to £14m for the site. The deal will see British Land acquire the newspaper group’s freehold and [...]
Balfour Beatty wins £175m deal for science park in Hong Kong June 27, 2012 CONSTRUCTION giant Balfour Beatty yesterday said that its Hong Kong-based business, Gammon Construction, has been awarded a contract to build a major science park. The HK$2.18bn (£175m) contract, will see the development of an area of 105,000 square metres in which the latest green construction technologies and sustainable building design will be on show. Work [...]
C&C UPBEAT DESPITE WEAK CIDER SALES June 27, 2012 IRISH cider-maker C&C said yesterday it expects operating profit to increase by between one and six per cent this year after a strong first quarter across its other portfolios helped offset weak cider sales. C&C, which sells cider under the Magners, Bulmers and Gaymers brands, said volumes rose 5.4 per cent in Ireland and 21.6 [...]
Crest Nicholson home sales up June 27, 2012 CREST NICHOLSON, the housebuilder, said it saw the number of sale completions surge by 33 per cent in the first half of the year as the housing market showed signs of recovery. The company, which operates in the south east, south west and the midlands, returned to a profit of £16m in the six months [...]
Ronson wins plan approval June 27, 2012 PROPERTY TYCOON Gerald Ronson’s investment club has been given the go-ahead to redevelop a 12-storey Marylebone office building into a residential scheme. Ronson Capital Partners (RCP), an invitation-only fund for wealthy investors set up by Ronson in 2009, intends to redevelop International House on Chiltern Street, which currently offers 80,000 square feet of office space, [...]
