Persimmon in house sales boost January 7, 2010 Housebuilder Persimmon remained cautious over the health of the housing market despite a stronger performance in the second half of 2009. The FTSE 250 group said it completed the sale of 8,796 new homes during 2009, which generated a turnover of around £1.4bn. Almost 5000 of these properties were sold in the second half – [...]
JD Sports “back on track” after seasonal lift January 7, 2010 JD Sports Fashion said it was on track beat the City’s profit expectations for the year after enjoying a festive boost. Like-for-like sales rose 6.6 per per cent in the five weeks to January 6, driven by the performance of its fashion-focused chains Bank and Scotts, where trading rose 9.7 per cent. The group said [...]
Miners push FTSE higher but M&S weighs on retail shares January 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares added 0.1 percent yesterday as a rally by heavyweight miners, in tandem with stronger metal prices, offset weakness in energy issues, with retailers upset by a disappointing update from M&S. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 7.54 points higher at 5,530.04, another 16-month closing high. “It looks like the big [...]
Stocks edge up but Fed urges caution January 7, 2010 THE DOW and S&P 500 inched higher, while the Nasdaq dipped yesterday after Federal Reserve officials said they were still worried about labour market weakness and a report on the services sector showed only slight improvement in the economy. Cautious minutes from the Fed’s last meeting, as well as the ISM services report, which showed [...]
Trades to suit all views and risk levels for the year ahead January 7, 2010 THE LAST couple of years have been a rollercoaster for investors, and while 2010 is not shaping up to be quite so unpredictable, there are certainly some bumps in the road ahead. It’s just the sort of environment where covered warrants come into their own. For one thing the most you can lose is your [...]
NO NEED TO MISTRUST PROVIDERS January 7, 2010 BEING a covered warrants issuer is a big undertaking. The calculation of the price and the dispatch of quotes is carried out by a complex, automated process, but there is also significant human intervention. Every day on the trading floor, our team of 30 market-makers works with a wide range of covered warrants, giving the [...]
New Year resolutions to aid your career January 7, 2010 GET TO KNOW YOURSELF BETTER Whether you’re looking to move to a role at another company or progress upwards in your current organisation, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your strengths. Do some self-assessment of your performance in 2009, identifying what went well in your job and in what areas you were less [...]
CAREERS CLINIC January 7, 2010 I’m a finance director of a large company, and I’m thinking of moving into interim management for a more flexible lifestyle. What advice can you give me? AS an interim manager, you’ll be parachuted into organisations to sort out particular difficulties. But you can’t just be a good problem solver – you need to be [...]
John Irving’s complicated, hostile America hits the mark once again January 7, 2010 LAST NIGHT IN TWISTED RIVER BY JOHN IRVING Bloomsbury, £12.99 **** ANOTHER epic north American novel set amid the woods and snow from the author of The Cider House Rules, this book begins in a sawmill settlement in New Hampshire in 1954 but roves throughout Boston, Vermont, Maine and Toronto. The story – in typical [...]
OUT OF OFFICE January 7, 2010 JUST OPENED: THE CARETAKER Jonathan Pryce stars in this hotly anticipated rendering of Harold Pinter’s sixth play.?It’s the late Pinter at his best, in a spare, super-tense story revolving around a mentally-challenged man called Aston; a tramp called Davies, whom Aston brings home to his attic room and Aston’s responsible younger brother Mick. Not to [...]
