Morale among marketers at two-year low July 13, 2011 Marketing executives trimmed their budgets in the last quarter, with confidence dropping to the lowest level in more than two years, according to a bleak IPA/BDO Bellwether survey published today. Spending has now fallen for three consecutive quarters, as firms try to slash costs to protect profits. However, with 22 per cent of firms reporting [...]
Hotel group MWB increases Business Exchange bid following investor unrest July 13, 2011 HOTEL operator MWB Group raised its potential offer for the shares of MWB Business Exchange that it does not already own, after the office space supplier’s second-biggest shareholder said it would reject the initial bid. MWB sweetened its offer to 1.75 new MWB units and 12.7p in cash per Business Exchange share – which is [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 13, 2011 Capital & Regional The property investment firm has appointed Tony Hales as a non-executive director, with effect from 1 August. Hale has been chairman of Workspace Group since 2002 and will step down from the board following the AGM in July. Hales is currently chairman of British Waterways, senior independent director of International Personal Finance, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 13, 2011 ESSAR ENERGY Goldman Sachs rates Essar a buy with a £5.75 target price after disappointing second-quarter results. Its earnings were hit by underperforming units – but Goldman thinks these will recover after an overhaul in September, and is focusing on its refinery upgrades, due for completion at the end of the year, which it believes [...]
Commodities boost FTSE rise as China data elevates miners July 13, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 bounced yesterday, led by commodity stocks as economic data from China and soothing words from the US Federal Reserve raised hopes that stagnation in the global economic recovery might prove short-lived. Having fallen near five per cent over the previous three days, the mining sector rallied 1.8 per cent after China’s GDP [...]
Hints at QE3 cause mixed reactions July 13, 2011 US stocks stopped a three-day slide, but ended well off the highs yesterday as investors took the suggestion of further Federal Reserve stimulus as a mixed blessing. The three major US stock indexes rose more than one percent at their peaks after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested the Fed would consider additional measures to support [...]
Unleashing a new breed of value funds July 13, 2011 THE Retail Distribution Review (RDR) will help transform the financial services industry. This transformation will give investors the choice, advice and service they deserve at much better value. The overall cost of investing is likely to fall as a result of RDR. Indeed, we have already started to see significant changes in how much it [...]
Six things we will get more of when RDR is introduced July 13, 2011 WHETHER investors are aware of it or not, the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) will shake up investing. Expect more regulation, professionalism, transparency, low-cost investments and investment trusts – but you should also assume we will get some unforeseen outcomes. 1. REGULATION Even though it is soon to be abolished, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is [...]
RDR must face up to the law of unintended consequences July 13, 2011 THE process of implementing the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) is gathering momentum. Over the next few months, expect it to leap into public consciousness. The impact for investors will be significant – but does RDR have staying power beyond the 31 December 2012 implementation deadline? Front and centre of RDR are three core aims: improving [...]
Hedge forex within your pension pot July 13, 2011 THE reasons for currency hedging with a portfolio are fairly straightforward. Any purchase of an international asset requires the equivalent investment in the foreign currency in which that asset is denominated. According to Mark Hogg, director of forex product development at RBC Dexia: “FX risk is an investment risk like any other and needs to [...]
