Ronson’s new home for Guildhall School of Music reaches milestone May 19, 2011 THE CITY’S Lord Mayor and property tycoon Gerald Ronson yesterday celebrated the completion of the frame of the new Guildhall School of Music & Drama on Silk Street. The school’s new home will make up the bottom two floors of The Heron residential tower, which is due to complete in 2013. Almost two-thirds of the [...]
BofA sells stake in BlackRock back for $2.5bn May 19, 2011 BANK of America (BofA) is selling its remaining BlackRock stake back to BlackRock for $2.5bn (£1.54bn), its latest step to prepare for new industry capital requirements. The sale further chips away at the relationship between the world’s largest asset manager and the biggest US bank by assets, but a senior Bank of America official will [...]
TalkTalk sees shares surge as profits rise May 19, 2011 TALKTALK continued a downward trend in terms of lost broadband customers, shedding 25,000 in the fourth-quarter. The company has struggled to integrate an unwieldy customer base after buying Tiscali and AOL UK, generating high levels of complaints amid breakdowns in its billing system. However, its shares surged 6.5 per cent as synergies from the acquisitions [...]
Euromoney beats forecasts May 19, 2011 Euromoney, the financial information unit of Daily Mail & General Trust, said yesterday that it is trading in line with expectations after first-half operating profit rose 10 per cent on sales up 13 per cent. Sales for the last six months were £168m, while adjusted operating profit was £49.8m. Analysts had expected sales of £164m [...]
IEA wants oil supply increased May 19, 2011 THE International Energy Agency (IEA) yesterday urged oil producing countries to increase supply to avoid “derailing the economic recovery”. The organisation says high oil prices are threatening the global recovery by reducing spending power and driving up inflation, placing upward pressure on interest rates. The IEA statement suggests it could release emergency stockpiles if action [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF TALKTALK’S FIGURES? May 19, 2011 MORTEN SINGLETON | INVESTEC Full-year results were a bit of a mixed bag, but on balance perhaps slightly more positive than negative. Revenue and subscriber numbers continue to disappoint but cost and profit progression and dividend upgrades provide the counter balance. ‘Hold’ retained. MIKE JEREMY | DANIEL STEWART These figures are very close to outlook [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 19, 2011 Babson Capital Europe The credit fund manager has appointed Kam Tugnait as a managing director, ahead of its plans to launch a further UCITS fund focusing on European high yield, to be co-managed by Tugnait. Most recently, Tugnait was head of high yield at Gartmore, where he ran the firm’s high yield corporate bond fund. [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 19, 2011 ICAP Goldman Sachs rates the inter-dealer broker “buy” with a 12-month target price of 640p. Goldman thinks ICAP is well-placed to benefit from the structural flux of the over-the-counter markets and was reassured by results on Wednesday. KINGFISHER UBS rates the retail group “buy” and has raised its target price from 285p to 310p ahead [...]
Small gains on Wall Street May 19, 2011 THE DOUBLING of social network LinkedIn’s shares in its market debut yesterday dominated the stock market in an otherwise lacklustre session, in which equities rebounded from recent losses. Many investors have resigned themselves to a patch of economic weakness over the summer. Stocks have been resilient, only falling 1.5 per cent, but the S&P is [...]
Energy shares drive FTSE May 19, 2011 ENERGY and banking stocks propelled Britain’s FTSE 100 higher yesterday as commodities trading giant Glencore made its London Stock Exchange debut. As the London market closed, Glencore’s shares on the grey market were trading around the widely expected launch price of 530p. Glencore will be added to the FTSE 100 index as from the start [...]
