CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 15, 2010 DFS The sofa retailer, which was recently sold by founder Lord Kirkham to private equity group Advent International for £500m, has ended its search for a new chief executive. Ian Filby has thirty years of retail experience, including a recent stint working as interim chief executive at Nectar. He was also previously retail brand development [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 15, 2010 NOVARTIS Standard & Poor’s Equity Research (S&P) rates Novartis as “buy” due to its strong second quarter results. Sales are up 12 per cent thanks to volume growth, especially in vaccines, according to S&P, which said in its view, the well-managed volume-driven diversification of Novartis will offset foreseeable negatives. WETHERSPOON Seymour Pierce upgrades Wetherspoon to [...]
London shares decline due to weak US data with banks and miners hit worst July 15, 2010 WEAK US data intensified anxiety about economic recovery and dragged Britain’s top share index to a lower close yesterday, with risk-sensitive banks and commodity stocks hit hardest. The FTSE 100 ended 42.23 points or 0.8 per cent lower at 5,211.29. It closed down 0.3 per cent on Wednesday, snapping a six-day winning streak. Producer prices [...]
Wall Street flat despite Goldman and SEC deal July 15, 2010 US stocks ended little changed yesterday, recouping losses late in the day, led by a sudden turnaround in Goldman Sachs and BP. A jump in BP’s US-listed shares after the company said no oil is leaking from its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico boosted the market shortly ahead of the close. BP gained [...]
Keep your pension in funds July 15, 2010 THE government this week announced that it will abolish compulsory annuitisation, giving millions of pensioners more flexibility in how they generate their income. Annuitisation by age 75 has technically not been compulsory since 2006, but the only other permissable option, an Alternatively Secured Pension, was so highly taxed upon death as to mean only 4,000 [...]
2009: A GOOD VINTAGE FOR BORDEAUX July 15, 2010 MD & FOUNDER OF FINE WINE MERCHANT BORDEAUX INDEX MORE column inches have already been devoted to 2009 Bordeaux than to all the campaigns over the past decade, it would seem. This en primeur has been the biggest, craziest and most highly talked-up in memory. So as the dust settles and we can finally begin [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS July 15, 2010 BP: ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY At last, some good news for BP. Its stock has sunk so low – closing yesterday at 401.75p – that investors are jumping at the chance to snap up cheap stakes in the oil giant. Clients of Barclays Stockbrokers have been piling into the stock – a third of [...]
FOCUS ON: BASILDON, ESSEX July 15, 2010 COBURG LANE, Price: £152,500 This smart two-bedroom maisonette would be ideal for first-time buyers. It comes with off-street parking and access to communal gardens. There’s no onward chain. Contact: Balgores on 01268 271110, www.balgoresproperty.co.uk SAMUEL ROAD Price: £280,000 A spacious four-bedroom house with plenty of storage and a well-sized back garden. It is within walking [...]
PROPERTY NEWS July 15, 2010 BISHOPS AVE SITE SOLD FOR £30M One of London’s best development opportunities in Hampstead’s Bishops Avenue has sold for more than £30m. The 2.47 acre site has two planning consents in place – either for a house of 33,000 sq ft or for a block of 16 luxury apartments. This indicates the competition and rising [...]
LETTING July 15, 2010 CEO OF ONLINE LETTINGS AGENT UPAD.CO.UK Q.I have three properties which I let to tenants on Local Housing Allowance. How do I find out if the new rates of housing benefit will cover their rent? If they don’t, what do I do? A.The new rates announced by the chancellor in the Budget won’t come into [...]
