EMERGING MARKETS BOOST BURBERRY January 16, 2011 BRITISH luxury fashion house Burberry is likely to show a benefit from strong emerging markets, particularly in Asia, when it publishes figures for its fiscal third-quarter tomorrow. Analysts forecast revenue of about £436m, with like-for-like retail sales up four to eight per cent. The company’s share price has seen steady growth under the guidance of chief [...]
BP deal with Russia sparks controversy January 16, 2011 CONCERNS grew yesterday about the political implications of BP’s $16bn (£10bn) share swap with Russia’s state-owned oil firm Rosneft. Shadow justice minister Chris Bryant said in an interview that BP needs “a strong anti-corruption” strategy to work with the company. Labour leader Ed Miliband said he was “pretty worried” about the environmental aspect of the [...]
Financial education for all ages January 16, 2011 MOMENTUM in City A.M.’s financial literacy campaign is forging ahead, with more and more organisations keen to highlight the work that is already being done to promote financial education for the UK public. Credit group MBNA, for example, has developed an initiative called Tackling Numbers in partnership with Premier Rugby. The programme is aimed at [...]
One Hyde Park opens its doors January 16, 2011 A LUXURY development backed by Chris Candy will open this week, with flats at the exclusive address One Hyde Park starting at around £6.5m. Three retail units at the site, located between Hyde Park and Knightsbridge, have already been snapped up by luxury car maker McLaren, watch designer Rolex and the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. [...]
Afme swoops on banking expert Lever January 16, 2011 CITY veteran Michael Lever is taking his formidable expertise in Europe’s biggest banks to capital markets lobby group the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (Afme). Lever, one of the City’s foremost blue-chip analysts before becoming a partner at communications group Brunswick in 2008, has a 20-year stockbroking career that spans leading roles at Credit [...]
Developed markets should expect inflation January 16, 2011 INTEREST rates may still be at all time lows in the developed world but inflation is the only story in town for much of the emerging world. It will soon be the same story in the West. In 2008, spiralling food prices brought people in Asia, Africa and Latin America onto the streets. Many fear [...]
Sir Tom Hunter is back in black January 16, 2011 Scottish retail tycoon Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital Trading completed a remarkable turnaround when it reported profits of £7.6m for the year ending 31 January 2010 – up from a loss of £40m the year before. Revenue at the conglomerate rose four per cent to 216m. The firm, which owns fashion retailer USC and [...]
Eurozone rescue fund debated January 16, 2011 Eurozone finance ministers will today discuss an increase in the effective lending capacity of the Eurozone rescue fund, to draw a line under the sovereign debt crisis before more countries need help. The rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), can borrow money on the market with Eurozone government guarantees of up to €440bn [...]
Non-execs working harder January 16, 2011 Non-executive directors spent an average of 20 per cent more time fulfilling their boardroom duties, acording to a report from accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC). Figures showed FTSE 100 non-executives spent 24 days doing their job last year, compared to 20 the year before.
Tunisia violence flares January 16, 2011 Tunisian forces were locked in gunfire with members of the deposed President’s guard last night as violence in the country showed no sign of abating. Prison riots left 50 Tunisians dead on Saturday. President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was forced to resign after violent protests over his leadership.