English Heritage to judge on UBS office May 24, 2011 A PANEL of planning and architecture experts will today meet to decide whether to push for listed status of the Broadgate estate near Liverpool Street. English Heritage is due to announce shortly afterwards whether plans to knock down two buildings on the estate should be put on ice, pending government approval. British Land, which owns [...]
Paragon leads the way with rise in lending and 35pc profit jump May 24, 2011 STRONG demand for rented accommodation helped push profits up at buy-to-let specialist Paragon, with the company yesterday predicting further growth in lending for the rest of the year. Pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of March rose 34.8 per cent to £39.5m and the company also raised its interim dividend by 12.5 [...]
BROADGATE LISTING SPAT May 24, 2011 Q. WHO DECIDES WHETHER TO LIST BROADGATE? A. The final decision will rest with the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt. He is obliged to consider what English Heritage wants, as it is a statutory adviser on conservation matters. It is unusual for a listing to defy English Heritage’s wishes, but not unheard of – for example, [...]
C&WW sees its cashflow go into black May 24, 2011 CABLE & Wireless Worldwide (C&WW) yesterday released a workmanlike set of results that reassured investors who had been spooked by a torrid few months. The firm slashed costs to push pre-tax profit up 23 per cent to £143m on slightly lower revenues of £2.3bn. Shares in the firm, which concentrates on the global corporate market [...]
Endemol star to take over Mecom May 24, 2011 RISING Endemol star Tom Toumazis will become the new chief executive of European publisher Mecom when Stephen Davidson, currently executive chairman, steps aside in August. Toumazis (pictured) has worked in the media industry since 1983 and has held senior international and UK positions in print, online, TV and radio. He served as chief commercial officer [...]
Sarko urges web cooperation May 24, 2011 NICOLAS Sarkozy urged internet leaders gathered in Paris for the e-G8 talks to work with governments and share fairly the benefits of a revolution he compared to the discoveries of Columbus, Galileo and Newton. Opening a forum at which Google’s Eric Schmidt and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg will be among the speakers, Sarkozy heaped praise on [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO THE RESULTS MEAN FOR INVESTORS? May 24, 2011 MORTEN SINGLETON | INVESTEC Results headlines look absolutely fine. The headlines all came in at or above consensus expectations. The full-year dividend has been held at 4.5p despite some anticipation in the market of a possible cut. There are no major catalysts here, but no disasters either. KEITH BOWMAN | HARGREAVES LANSDOWN Overall there wasn’t [...]
Germany still on track with high morale May 24, 2011 GERMAN business confidence has defied expectations by holding strong this month, despite drops in French and Belgian morale and tumbling industrial orders across the Eurozone. Sentiment in the business climate stuck at 114.2 in May, according to the highly regarded survey from Munich-based think tank Ifo. And the index measuring the current business situation climbed [...]
UK’s retail sales hold steady May 24, 2011 ACTIVITY on the UK high street is “subdued, but steady,” according to the latest research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Retail sales are “holding up about as well as can be expected,” the CBI said yesterday, after announcing that sales have remained surprisingly resilient this month. A positive balance of 18 per cent [...]
Dagong slashes UK credit rating over new debt fear May 24, 2011 THE UK’s credit rating was downgraded yesterday, by Chinese rating agency Dagong. China’s first domestic credit rating group cut the UK’s rating by one level to A+, from AA-, and placed it on a negative outlook. The agency cited a reduction in the UK’s capability to repay debts coinciding with extremely disappointing deficit figures. The [...]
