Manufacturing crunch in China starts to ease August 22, 2013 FACTORY output in China stabilised in August after a sharp fall in June and July, according to an influential industry study published yesterday. An improvement in sentiment will also raise hopes China could be in for a soft landing, easing worries that the its economy might have slowed down sharply and impacted on the global [...]
Bond buying programme drives $100bn out of Europe into the US August 22, 2013 EUROPE has lost $100bn (£64bn) of stock market fund flows since the end of the financial crisis due to the effects of quantitative easing, figures out yesterday reveal. The $100bn cumulative outflow, the same magnitude as the cash ploughed into the continent following the US Marshall Plan in 1945, is in contrast to the wall [...]
City Views | Are you pleased that GCSE exams appear to be getting harder? August 22, 2013 JOE BINNSBNP PARIBAS It seems that papers are getting harder and that certainly is a good thing. There was talk about a relaxation on the marking so it probably is time for them to be getting harder. This way they are more relevant for later life.” KINGSLEY KANOROSBORNE CLARKE It’s definitely a good thing that [...]
Naked Wines founder prefers a cheap rosé August 22, 2013 THE CAPITALIST is raising a glass to the news that online wine merchant Naked Wines has announced a third round investment of $10m, to help it start popping more corks in the US and Australia. The British crowdfunding site is backed by angel investor customers who pay £20 per month to invest in small winemakers, and [...]
Sarries take on Josh Lewsey’s Pirates in Square Mile match August 22, 2013 LONDON rugby team Saracens were in the City last night, playing against the Cornish Pirates at the Honourable Artillery Company grounds. The game was also somewhat of a homecoming for ex-Citi trader Josh Lewsey, who left the Square Mile in April to become boss of the Pirates. Let’s just hope there were no daggers at dusk.
No hole in one for City Blind Date golfers August 22, 2013 FORMER trader and boss of website yourgolftravel.com Ross Marshall has found himself back in the Square Mile world recently, after organising rounds of Blind Date golf for City putters. Marshall’s golfing jolly website normally sends golfers to play at over 300 courses around the world. However, The Capitalist hears that this summer Marshall invited 2,000 [...]
IMI chief looks to US shale for future growth August 22, 2013 FTSE 100-listed IMI soared to the top of the index yesterday morning after posting solid first-half results which its chief executive said were boosted by the US shale gas revolution. The engineering firm, which specialises in fluid control systems such as valves, reported a four per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £150.1m and increased [...]
Costain’s order book jumps by 20 per cent to a record £2.9bn August 22, 2013 ENGINEERING group Costain yesterday said it secured over £900m of new contracts in the first half of the year, while its forward order book grew by 20 per cent to a record £2.9bn. New contracts included a £450m programme for Thames Water, a £300m contract with Crossrail and a highways framework deal with Transport for [...]
Premier profits grow to £138m August 22, 2013 FTSE 250-listed energy explorer Premier Oil yesterday posted half-year profits of $214.6m (£137.8m), up from $194.6m the previous year. The firm said it had addressed initial production issues relating to a gas-venting failure at its North Sea Huntington oil field. It set a full-year output target of 63,000 barrels of oil per day, up from [...]
London Mining back in black August 22, 2013 SIERRA Leone-focused iron ore miner London Mining has moved into the black for the first time since starting production, posting half-year operating profits of $10.2m (£6.6m) compared to losses of $5.6m in 2012. “We plan to ramp up production to five million tonnes this year, building revenue and bringing costs down,” chief executive Graham Hossie [...]
