Burberry to hit the large caps as Reuters de-lists September 8, 2009 LUXURY goods group Burberry will replace Thomson Reuters on the FTSE 100 index tomorrow, after the news and financial data group de-lists from the London Stock Exchange. Thomson Reuters is delisting from the FTSE 100 as it wants to simplify its capital structure and eliminate the persistent discount at which the London shares have traded [...]
Greene King sales rise but outlook mixed September 8, 2009 GREENE King, Britain’s fourth-biggest pubs company, yesterday said strong appetite for pub food had pushed sales up sharply in the first four months of its financial year, lifting its shares. The company, which has about 2,400 pubs in England and Scotland, said like-for-like sales at managed pubs in England grew by 4.6 per cent in [...]
Whitbread to move up to the FTSE 100 index September 8, 2009 PROPERTY firm Segro, pest-controller Rentokil and leisure group Whitbread are all set to move up to the FTSE 100 following the index’s quarterly reshuffle. Based on last night’s closing prices the mid-cap players will be promoted to replace F&C Investment Trust, water and sewerage group Pennon and engineer Balfour Beatty, which will all be demoted [...]
CITY MOVES Who’s switching jobs September 8, 2009 LazardThe financial advisory and asset management group has appointed Charles Foreman as a managing director in the UK capital markets advisory and M&A team. Foreman, 47, joins from Deutsche Bank, where he was a managing director in the UK coverage team. His recent assignments include advising the government on stabilising the UK banking system in [...]
TOP THINK-TANK: RECESSION OVER September 8, 2009 BRITAIN’S economy has finally started to grow again, according to data published yesterday by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), one of the UK’s most respected forecasters. The NIESR figures showed that GDP rose by an estimated 0.2 per cent in the three months to August, the first time it has risen [...]
Dresdner staff launch bonus fight September 8, 2009 FORMER employees of Dresdner Bank have launched a sensational legal bid for €33m (£29m) in bonuses they claim were guaranteed by the bank but never paid. The group of 72 staff say they were entitled to a share of a €400m “retention pool” created in response to the Financial Services Authority’s concern that hiving off [...]
Housing market no longer over-valued September 8, 2009 AT this rate, City A.M. will soon be able to ditch the “Beating the Blues” puff we run every day on our front page. We introduced it during the depth of the recession to emphasise that even though the economy was going to hell in a hand-basket, and life had become truly grim for our [...]
RBS plots sale of aviation unit September 8, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) has hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer for RBS Aviation Capital, the aircraft-leasing unit that the bank hopes to dispose of as part of chief executive Stephen Hester’s efforts to streamline the firm. The unit has assets worth $8bn (£4.8bn), but would fetch far less due to falling demand [...]
UKrating cut is unlikely September 8, 2009 MOODY’S is today expected to say that it is unlikely to cut the UK’s all-important triple-A credit rating due to the growing agreement among politicians on the need to cut the budget deficit. Alistair Darling yesterday said he “wouldn’t flinch from difficult decisions” to tackle government debt, after shadow chancellor George Osborne warned Britain risked [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 8, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES SCRUTINY THREATENS SUCCESS OF BAIKAL, SAYS LSERegulatory scrutiny over “dark pools” and the failure of most such platforms in Europe to make money mean that Baikal, the London Stock Exchange’s planned platform, “might not work”, says Xavier Rolet, LSE chief executive. “It’s not impossible that it might not work,” Rolet said. He said [...]
