Best Buy’s low sales disappoint June 15, 2010 Top US electronics firm Best Buy reported lower-than-expected sales and profit yesterday, hurt by rising costs to expand its business and signs of weaker consumer demand. Net profit was $15m, or 36 cents a share, for the three months ended 29 May, compared with $153m, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on [...]
Eskom names new chief executive June 15, 2010 South Africa’s Eskom yesterday appointed Brian Dames as its new chief executive, the power utility said in a statement. The announcement comes as wage negotiations between Eskom and unions are deadlocked, with workers threatening to strike by the end of the week. Unions want an 18 per cent pay increase plus housing allowances while Eskom [...]
The accidental transport secretary turns his sights on planes and trains June 15, 2010 IT wasn’t meant to be like this. If the Tories had won an outright majority on 7 May, Philip Hammond would have gone to the Treasury as chief secretary and implemented the toughest spending cuts in a generation. As part of the coalition agreement, however, he had to step aside for a Liberal Democrat and [...]
BRIGHT STARS GATHER AT CITY’S ANNUAL OSCARS June 15, 2010 THOMSON Reuters rolled out the (imaginary) red carpet yesterday for the annual Extel awards, commonly known as the “Oscars” of the City. This year’s affair, hosted by perky Today presenter John Humphrys, was decidedly more upbeat than in 2009, when “credit crunch” presenter Axel Threlfall of Thomson Reuters’ multimedia platform Project Insider quipped that he [...]
Fading Eurozone fears push banks up while bid activity sends BSkyB higher June 15, 2010 A RALLY by banks, fuelled by demand in European bond auctions on easing debt concerns, helped Britain’s top share index higher yesterday, with BSkyB up after an approach by News Corp. The FTSE 100 closed up 15.69 points or 0.3 per cent at 5,217.82, the highest closing level since 15 May, and taking its winning [...]
Semiconductors lead the way for buoyant S&P 500 June 15, 2010 US stocks jumped yesterday as investors went on a buying binge. The S&P 500 turned positive for the year and rose above its 200-day moving average for the first time in a month, suggesting the recent downtrend may be ending. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 213.88 points, or 2.10 per cent, to 10,404.77. The [...]
Tap the source of profit June 15, 2010 AS austerity measures kick in, growth in the UK is expected to be fairly lacklustre for the next few years. An investment expected to outpace economic growth in the coming years is water. And the investment case is – excuse the pun – watertight. Demand for water is growing strongly, yet investment in infrastructure has [...]
HOPE AMIDST THE HORROR IN EUROPE June 15, 2010 MANAGING DIRECTOR, ARTEMIS IT COULD still all go horribly wrong, of course. With sovereign debt there are no lenders of last resort. Observes our ever-watchful CEO Mark Tyndall: “Several so-called ‘deficit reduction plans’ are about slowing the rate of growth in the deficit, rather than actually dealing with it.” European interbank rates are showing signs [...]
Fund managers pessimistic about growth June 15, 2010 FUND managers are highly pessimistic about the outlook for global economic growth and corporate profits. But sharp falls in world stock markets mean that global equities are now perceived to be at their most undervalued since March 2009, according to the June Bank of America-Merrill Lynch fund manager survey, published yesterday. Only a net 24 [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS June 15, 2010 PIMCO LAUNCHES NEW FUND Investment firm Pimco has launched its first active equity funds in the UK: the Pimco equities pathfinder fund and the Pimco equities pathfinder Europe fund, which are part of Pimco’s Ucits III Global Investor Series. The Funds will be managed by Anne Gudefin and Charles Lahr, and they will seek to [...]
