Stress tests: one step forward, two steps back July 10, 2011 BANKS are back in focus again – and they are not very happy about it. Just after rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said it may downgrade a number of Italian banks, Moody’s cut Portuguese sovereign debt to junk status. Contagion is once again a real worry. Jean Claude Trichet, the president of the European [...]
Samsonite increases Hong Kong IPO by $46m to meet demand for stock July 10, 2011 SAMSONITE International, the world’s largest luggage maker, increased its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) by $46m (£28.6m) to nearly $1.3bn, after underwriters exercised an option to sell additional shares to meet demand for the stock. The company said late yesterday 24.66m shares were sold by its two largest shareholders at the IPO price of [...]
Water cooler firm lists on London’s AIM July 10, 2011 Shares in water cooler firm Waterlogic will begin trading for the first time today, as it completes a listing on London’s alternative investment market (AIM). The company, which supplies purifying water dispensers to offices, hotels and gyms, raised £41m to fund acquisitions in an initial public offering. The book for shares in the firm was [...]
Sports Direct staff set for bumper bonus July 10, 2011 Sports Direct staff look set for a bumper bonus when the 400-store chain announces its results on Thursday. Around 2,000 full-time staff would collect the second windfall from the bonus scheme if the firm reaches it £205m profit target. Based on an average salary of £20,000, the total bonus for two years would be worth [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 10, 2011 BNP Paribas Martin Egan has been appointed to the newly created role of UK head of fixed income at BNP Paribas Corporate & Investment Banking, based in London. Egan will continue his current responsibilities as global head of primary markets and origination, reporting to Ludovic de Montille, chairman of BNP Paribas Group in the UK [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 10, 2011 Bovis Simon Brown, analyst at Northland Capital, says shares in home builder Bovis are a “buy” due to higher margin land. The broker rates shares in the company at 449p per share. Since the downturn, Bovis has acquired more land and has succeeded in bringing land through planning, which has boosted the margin potential at [...]
Stocks to bounce back despite US jobs fright July 10, 2011 THE FTSE is expected to climb back up above the 6,000 level this morning, after US stocks staged a rebound from the lows on Friday when stock markets globally were hit by the dismal jobs data. Just 18,000 new jobs were created in June, compared to analyst expectations of anything up to 175,000. The FTSE [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD July 10, 2011 WALL Street heads into earnings season this week playing a typical game: worrying about results a lot, and then rallying on pleasant surprises. Analysts have been lowering earnings estimates of late and nervousness about the US economic picture abounds, especially after Friday’s poor June jobs report. However, profit growth could still be strong in the [...]
Taking a position on US jobs, rate hikes and Euro-geddon July 10, 2011 SPREAD betting has changed the way that retail clients can get exposure to financial markets, and spread bet providers are constantly coming up with new ways to allow easy access to an ever increasing range of markets. Though forex, commodity and equity markets can give you access to most market movements, here are three offerings [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD in association with GFT July 10, 2011 COMPANIES ● Today, Michael Page International delivers its second quarter trading update. The company was formed in 1976 by Michael Page and Bill McGregor. ● On Wednesday, Sainsbury holds its AGM. On the same day Marks & Spencer will report. It will be hoping for not just ordinary results, but… ● Also on Wednesday, J [...]
