BEST OF THE BROKERS March 21, 2010 LLOYDS Execution Noble says the government will sell down Lloyds shares ahead of the election due to strong results and a good level of income growth. Costs are well controlled and lower than the equivalent period in 2009. They continue to expect Lloyds to report net profit of at least £529m for 2010, against a [...]
The brewing boss who says pubs have to clean up their act to survive March 21, 2010 Thirty-nine pubs close a week in the UK and the economy may be only crawling towards recovery, but the chief executive of pub company Marston’s thinks this is just the right time to build bigger and better outlets. The FTSE 250 business – which runs 2,200 pubs and five breweries – raised £140m from investors [...]
The chicest way to buy and sell March 21, 2010 TARA Nash-King does something most women would find difficult at best, and impossible at worst. She lives in a showroom, and the cascades of bags, shoes and clothes that greet you on entering her mews house in Westbourne Park are not her own. They are the perfectly placed, impeccably hung and ubiquitously photographed desiger items she [...]
HOW TO LOOK HIP IN MATERNITY WEAR March 21, 2010 APREGNANT belly can be the sexiest thing on earth. But figuring out how to clothe yourself when your body is changing rapidly, expanding in unexpected places and presenting you with a big growing bump, can be a source of panic. But with great maternity wear across the high street and and at boutiques and top [...]
Foodie Puglia finding a place in adventurous tourists’ hearts March 21, 2010 FOR centuries, sophisticated Italians from the north have regarded their southern compatriots with a mix of disdain and snobbery, even going as far as to brand them “terrone” in an allusion to the region’s historical dependence on agriculture and the peasants that used to work the land. Although modern-day Puglia – which occupies the heel [...]
WHERE TO STAY: MASSERIE TORRE COCCARO AND TORRE MAIZZA March 21, 2010 ON arrival in Brindisi, we were greeted by a smiling Italian named Carmello, who took our bags and drove us the 40 minutes or so to the Masseria Torre Coccaro, where we were to spend the first two nights of our stay in Puglia. Coccaro is, like many other boutique hotels in the area, a [...]
TRAVEL NOTES March 21, 2010 Bikini Bootcamp Looking to improve your fitness and have a blast doing so? Bikini Bootcamp has returned to The Grove in Hertfordshire with its programme full of various exercises designed to test and improve strength, stamina and overall health. Training will include tennis, boxing, dancersize, power yoga and much more. The Right Body Image team [...]
Banking bulls ought to turn their gaze to Wall Street March 21, 2010 BANKER bashing remains a favourite political pastime – but investors have become a little more upbeat towards the sector, and for good reason. Indeed, a recent global fund mangers survey conducted by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch revealed that banking is no longer the least-liked sector, handing this rather dubious accolade over to utilities. Even the [...]
SPREAD BET GURU March 21, 2010 JOSHUA RAYMOND MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. Dear Josh, this week chancellor Alistair Darling gives his budget. Is there likely to be much market reaction? A. The market always has the ability to move both during and at the end of a budget speech, depending on what is said. The share prices of tobacco firms, for [...]
THE TIPSTER March 21, 2010 THIS week the focus will be on Wednesday’s Budget and its political ramifications for the upcoming general election. The Labour Party will have been given a boost by last week’s encouraging public finances and Lloyds Banking Group’s announcement on Friday that it expects to turn a profit this year. But is it too little, too [...]
