BEST OF THE BROKERS March 25, 2012 KINGFISHER Nomura has upped its target price on the B&Q owner from 315p to 350p and maintained its “buy” rating on the stock following full-year results from the company last week. The broker has also increased its 2013 earnings per share outlook by four per cent to incorporate lower tax rates and a stronger view [...]
Economic news drives quiet week for trading March 25, 2012 TODAY Investors in highly volatile oil and exploration stocks could face surprises this week, as some small-cap firms report, but the UK market should start off quietly. Volume may pick up in the afternoon with pending home sales from the US. Given mildly disappointing existing home sales figures last week, pending home sales could also [...]
Britain’s faulty extradition treaty has opened up a fast route from City desk to jail March 25, 2012 YOU don’t have to read too far into the City pages, these days, to come across a story about individuals or institutions under investigation by either regulatory or prosecutory authorities. Whether it’s to do with mortgage securities, Libor setting, insider dealing, or another ill, there’s little doubt that working in financial services has never been [...]
Nanny can’t cure the UK’s alcohol price headache March 25, 2012 THE era of big, bossy, state interference, top-down lever pulling is coming to an end.” So said David Cameron in 2008. Of all the hostages to fortune politicians take in their years in opposition, this has the makings of a classic. It’s hard to believe that less than two years have passed since the bright-eyed [...]
Future energy demand requires planning now March 25, 2012 AS THE financial year draws to a close, and with a degree of stability in financial markets, we can now think about the longer-term future of the City and London’s financial services. The findings of the City of London’s latest research report, published in partnership with London First and the City Property Association, highlight the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 25, 2012 Priority boarding [Re: A third runway at Heathrow is essential if London is to be a globally competitive city, Friday] Paul Willis is right that Boris Island is imaginative but twenty years away. The short-term answer is for government to dictate that only strategic business routes are served by Heathrow. New routes to China and [...]
How the Budget will affect your finances March 25, 2012 High and middle income earners can expect to gain and lose, but pensioners, smokers, drinkers and drivers will all be penalised by the chancellor’s announcements last week THE chancellor made an abundance of announcements in this week’s Budget, invoking a variety of strong responses, both in support and against. The Budget contained both positives and [...]
Ex-City professional one step ahead of the cloud March 25, 2012 FROM growing up in the Rossendale valley – the once beating heart of the industrial revolution – Piers Linney is now a man with many strings to his bow: law, accounting, banking, media, finance and entrepreneurship. Now he has his head in cloud computing – a technological revolution with the scalability to turn over billions. [...]
BUDGET OPENS UP INCREASED INVESTMENT March 25, 2012 LAST week’s Budget announcement contained few shocks and surprises, yet some of the changes are vital to aiding London’s thriving hub of entrepreneurs and startups. Significantly, the government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) looks set to benefit from a much needed boost, with the announcement of an extension to its parameters. EIS already allows tax relief [...]
George Osborne delivers a decent deal for aspirant and established businesses March 25, 2012 THE men and women busy building Britain’s future economic wealth broadly welcomed last week’s Budget. Although lacking a radical strategy for growth, the coalition has gone some way in oiling the wheels of entrepreneurship. Richard Marsh explains how reforms to the Enterprise Investment Scheme has allowed the creation of the first angel co-investment fund in [...]
