Black swans get into the Christmas spirit December 9, 2012 THE official 12 days of Christmas may not start until 25 December itself, but hundreds of Canary Wharf workers will be getting in the spirit a little early by taking part in a festive run around the Docklands this Wednesday. To liven up proceedings, children’s charity Starlight – which organises the run to raise money to [...]
Boris joins Olympic volunteers for carols December 9, 2012 MORE than 3,500 Olympic volunteers donned familiar pink uniforms for a Christmas concert in Trafalgar Square this weekend, organised by Mayor of London Boris Johnson. The games makers enjoyed carols led by Britain’s Got Talent’s Jonathan & Charlotte, as the Mayor revealed his team of ambassadors would be making a comeback over the festive period, [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs December 9, 2012 Old Burlington Investments Noreen Kelly has been appointed business development manager at the investment business. She was previously a relationship manager at Octopus Investment Management. In her new role, Kelly will market Old Burlington’s funds to financial advisers. Sainsbury’s Angie Risley has been appointed group human resources director at the supermarket. She was most recently [...]
Best of the Brokers December 9, 2012 ASOS Panmure Gordon has reiterated its “buy” rating on the fashion retailer and upped its target price from 2800p to 2875p after an analyst site visit, saying it had “enormous potential”. BERKELEY GROUP Northland UK has a “buy” rating with a target price of 1750p, adding cash generation at the firm’s sites left it well [...]
UK employment figures likely to show a rise in claimants last month December 9, 2012 UK employment figures are this week predicted to remain steady, in line with the weak economic background. “We forecast the October unemployment rate unchanged at 7.8 per cent and the November claimant count to increase by 6,400,” said Blerina Uruci from Barclays. Investors will this week be looking to America, where the Federal Reserve is [...]
Fear of higher tax sparks end of year sell-off December 9, 2012 INVESTORS typically sell stocks to cut their losses at year end. But worries about the fiscal cliff – and the possibility of higher taxes in 2013 – may act as the greatest incentive to sell both winners and losers by 31 December. The $600bn (£374bn) of automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the [...]
Why you shouldn’t put off saving for your retirement December 9, 2012 AT A time when people are failing to save enough for their retirement, George Osborne’s move – announced in last week’s Autumn Statement – to reduce the tax relief on pensions is unwelcome. The chancellor cut the annual tax relief for wealthy earners from £50,000 to £40,000, and reduced the lifetime allowance from £1.5m to [...]
Isa changes may not affect your investment decisions December 9, 2012 IN LAST week’s Autumn Statement, George Osborne announced that the total amount an individual can invest in a tax-free Individual Savings Account (Isa) will increase to £11,520 per year from April 2013. This change won’t have much of an impact on the public’s interest in Isas, however. The small rise (£240) is in line with [...]
Twosome transforming how we transfer money December 9, 2012 KRISTO Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus are the two Estonian founders of TransferWise, the peer-to-peer platform for transferring money. Parallels between TransferWise and Skype abound, not least because Hinrikus was Skype’s first employee. But the likenesses don’t stop there: they want to “make the world smaller, just as Skype has done”; they want to make transfers [...]
My recent attempt to pass on some rock solid business advice December 9, 2012 I DON’T want to study rocks!” My teenage son Tom looked at me like I was an ugly alien. We were discussing what he should read at university, and he was keen on economics and maths to pursue a career in finance or business.“But I think the big finance boom is over, Tom. And mining [...]