ROSE MULLS EARLY EXIT March 3, 2010 MARKS & Spencer executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose yesterday said he was likely to leave the company before his expected departure date of July 2011 – although he has no plans for an exit this year. Rose, who will be succeeded as chief executive on 1 May by Marc Bolland, the former chief executive of [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CARILLION’S RESULTS? March 3, 2010 CHRIS MILLINGTON | NUMIS “Good full-year figures and a confident statement [backed by a meaningful dividend increase] provide further confirmation of the group’s strong positioning and strategy in its markets. The shares have recently been weak in line with UK construction stocks.” ANDY BROWN | PANMURE “We believe that Carillion will be a beneficiary of [...]
Target reached as fans flock to join campaign March 3, 2010 MANCHESTER United supporters have flung the ball firmly back into the Red Knights’ court by responding in their thousands to the financiers’ call to arms. The Red Knights urged fans to prove their support for the campaign to oust United’s current owners, the Glazer family, by pledging their allegiance online. A target of 100,000 names [...]
CITY BROKER ISN’T JUST HORSING AROUND WITH NEW POLO VENTURE March 3, 2010 IT’S SET to be a good year for Daniel Fox-Davies, the jovial boss of City stockbroker Fox-Davies Capital. Foxy, you see, is a bit of a dark horse when it comes to his extra-curricular hobbies – along with running his oil and gas-focused brokerage, he spends much of his free time flying jets and helicopters, [...]
Taylor Wimpey upbeat despite large 2009 loss March 3, 2010 TAYLOR Wimpey posted full-year losses of £640.6m yesterday but said there were signs that the house-building market is on the up. The results were an improvement on last year when it recorded a deficit of £1.97bn. However, its revenue for 2009 slipped to £2.5bn from £3.4bn in 2008. The company said “improving conditions” had led [...]
Bonds get takeover boost March 3, 2010 THE price of Manchester United bonds, which have performed poorly since they were issued earlier this year, has risen in the past couple of days on the hope that the club might be taken over. If this still unlikely event occurs, there is a change of control clause stipulating that the bonds must be redeemed [...]
DSG feels VAT effect on sales March 3, 2010 DSG International, Europe’s No.2 electricals retailer, has seen a slight slowing in its UK market following an increase in VAT sales tax, but is enjoying stronger trading elsewhere, its chief executive said. John Browett also said the group was making good progress with its turnaround plan and eight new megastores in particular exceeding its expectations [...]
Advisers steering cash into stocks March 3, 2010 A year-and-a-half after the depths of the financial crisis, independent financial advisers are slowly shifting client assets out of cash and back into the market, brokerage giant Charles Schwab said yesterday. Advisers are pulling money from cash and mutual funds to boost allocations to exchange-traded funds. They are also funneling more dollars into large-cap international [...]
M&A activity in state of flux March 3, 2010 THE days of highly leveraged private equity deals are over, financial research group Mergermarket declared as it published its 2009 round-up yesterday. Reporting a plunge in the value of transactions carried out in Europe last year, the firm predicted “sensible” mid-market deals would replace headline-grabbing mergers as the norm in the post-crisis landscape. Just under [...]
Macclesfield boss Alexander, 53, dies March 3, 2010 EQUALITY campaigners last night led tributes to Keith Alexander, one of Britain’s first black managers, after the Macclesfield Town boss died suddenly, aged 53. Alexander passed away shortly after returning home from his team’s League Two defeat to Notts County on Tuesday evening. The cause of death is not known, but Alexander needed four months [...]
