Recovery in commodities boosts profits at Ambrian September 16, 2009 NATURAL resources investment bank Ambrian Capital moved back into profit over the first half of the year after total income almost tripled, boosted by a strong performance in the commodities division. Ambrian’s income rose to £10.13m in the six months to June, compared to £3.74m in the first half of 2008. Pre-tax profit came in [...]
Losses grow wider at Regal September 16, 2009 REGAL PETROLEUM, the oil and gas group, reported a widening first-half net loss yesterday, but said it was expecting improved earnings for the next year as funding problems at the group have been resolved. The firm reported a net loss for the six months to the end of June of $7.57m (£4.59m) compared with $5.26m [...]
GOLD GREAT FOR BULLS AND BEARS September 16, 2009 ALEXANDRE HOUPERTHEAD OF LISTED PRODUCTS UK, SG CORPORATE & INVESTMENT BANKING SINCE the start of September, gold has risen in price from $935 per ounce to around $1,020 yesterday, an increase of 9 per cent. Gold’s popularity has seen a resurgence during the crisis thanks to it being seen as a safe haven. This could [...]
Markets in Emerging Asia showing Eastern promise for UK investors September 16, 2009 EMERGING markets will, so the optimistic growth story goes, lead the rest of the world out of recession. They sprang back from the Asian crisis of 2007-8, the dot com crash of 2001 and are now, if quarterly GDP data and stock market indices are anything to go by, doing the same again. Asian tigers [...]
A QUEST FOR FINE WINES September 16, 2009 JEFF GALVINWe follow the Galvin brothers as they count down to the opening of their new City restaurant SOME parts of opening a restaurant are arduous, but others are pure fun. One of the most important things about our new restaurant La Chapelle will be the wine. Our quest for the best wine we can [...]
Enjoy the beautiful game this autumn September 16, 2009 NOW that we’re a month into the season, things really start to get exciting for those who love their meat to be hearty, hunted wild and peppered with the odd shotgun pellet. For the first month it’s all about grouse, hunted from 12 August onwards, but as the weeks go by, other animals creep onto [...]
OUT OF OFFICE September 16, 2009 BOOK NOW: AN INSPECTOR CALLSStephen Daldry’s award-winning production of JB Priestly’s The Inspector Calls is back in the West End of a limited eight-week run. The parable, which takes the form of a police investigation into the death of a young girl, explores the conflict between selfish individualism and social responsibility, is riveting and a [...]
Brown is back, with silly plots, codes and terrible prose back September 16, 2009 THE LOST SYMBOLBY DAN BROWNBantam Press, £18.99 WITH AN initial print run of a million copies in the UK alone, and 6.5m worldwide, there is no doubt that Dan Brown’s latest – the follow-up, as you will know, to the Da Vinci Code – will be a publishing phenomenon. Robert Langdon, professor of symbology at [...]
A true chalet paradise in the Alps September 16, 2009 ACTIVE Ski Retreats is not your average ski holiday resort. It’s not just that Sting has stayed in the chalet– it provides exceptional all-inclusive service, from the provision of the perfect ski boot, to delicious aperitifs to four course dinners, with an efficiency and enthusiasm that you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere. All wood [...]
Rewriting the recruitment rule book September 16, 2009 IF recessions tend to spur innovation and clear the way for the groundbreakers, Paul Marsden is hoping he can be this recession’s innovator in the recruitment sector, an industry that made him a multi-millionaire on the eve of the downturn. In 2007, at the height of the market, Marsden sold the boutique financial services recruiter [...]
