When black bowler hats gave way to red braces October 26, 2011 THE BIG Bang set the City on a course of profound expansion, not just of wealth, but of people and culture and even location. Twenty-five years after deregulation, London’s financial and legal districts are full of the sort of people that would have made the bowler-hatted old boys of the post-war period shudder. Women, foreigners, [...]
Recalling how machines took over the old City October 26, 2011 IN 1986, we saw our way of life on the floor of the stock exchange coming to an end. How would we respond, off the floor, sitting behind screens? We’d had a while to realise how things would change as we already had SEAQ in play on screens so we were experiencing a mixture. We [...]
STOCKBROKERS RELIVE LIFE BEFORE THE BANG October 26, 2011 LONG FORGOTTEN stockbroking firms were revived at Drapers’ Hall last night at the reunion for all those who worked on the London Stock Exchange floor before the Big Bang. Seligman Harris, Phillips & Drew, Capel Cure Myers and Quilter & Co – all consigned to City history, but former staff such as Phil Cole still [...]
BAA earnings rise as traffic edges higher October 26, 2011 BAA posted a 17 per cent rise in underlying earnings in the first nine months of the year, lifted by traffic growth, especially at London’s Heathrow airport. BAA, owned by a consortium led by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose to £842.2m, on revenues 10.2 per cent [...]
Stobart growth hit as demand falters October 26, 2011 STOBART Group’s profit growth was held back after the British freight company was hit by fluctuating demand in a tough economy, particularly at its biggest division, sending shares down more than seven per cent. The company’s road transport operations suffered as panicky retailers launched early promotions amid the UK high street gloom. However, the company [...]
BOEING’S DREAMLINER MAKES MAIDEN VOYAGE October 26, 2011 BOEING’S Dreamliner has finally taken its maiden commercial voyage, after three years of delays. All Nippon Airlines (ANA) flight carried its first passengers on the carbon-composite aeroplane from Tokyo to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Boeing said third quarter net profit rose 31 per cent to $1.1bn (£689m), from the same July-September period last year and raised [...]
Nokia: Lumia will dispel our stuffy image October 26, 2011 NOKIA yesterday unveiled the “hero” handset it hopes will allow it to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung. The Lumia 800 is the first device from the Finnish company to use Microsoft’s Window Phone 7 software, following the sweetheart deal penned by the two struggling telecoms players earlier this year. Chief executive Stephen [...]
Nokia Lumia 800 FIRST LOOK October 26, 2011 THE LUMIA 800 was a launch Nokia couldn’t afford to get wrong: described by boss Stephen Elop as its new “hero” device, it is also the first running Windows Phone 7, the software upon which it has staked its future. The event certainly had a sense of theatre: a giant shutter slowly opened to reveal [...]
Future lies far from Finland October 26, 2011 Nokia’s turnaround, says its chief executive Stephen Elop, is already underway: a sentiment given credence by its better than expected results last month, in which it avoided making an expected loss. Elop has admitted the firm has an image problem and its new handsets go some way to addressing that. But short of a miracle [...]
Orange JV sees improvement October 26, 2011 EVERYTHING Everywhere yesterday announced its first results under new chief executive Olaf Swantee, with the firm appearing to stabilise after a string of underwhelming quarterly figures. The company, formed by the merger of France Telecom’s Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile, said it gained 185,000 contract customers, while it shed 227,000 pre-paid users. Swantee told City [...]
