Westfield co-chief plans £3bn future investment into Britain July 30, 2012 AUSTRALIAN shopping mall developer Westfield plans to invest some £3bn expanding its presence in Britain, its co-chief executive said yesterday, providing a vote of confidence in the country’s struggling retail sector. The figure include the expansion of £2bn Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush, proposals to redevelop Croydon’s Whitgift Centre and the development of the Broadway [...]
Sentiment dips in the Eurozone as talks roll on July 30, 2012 ECONOMIC sentiment in the beleaguered euro area has continued to sink in July, it emerged yesterday, as US Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner flew in for a crisis meeting with a senior German official. Business morale in the single currency area hit a 34-month low this month, according to official European Commission data, the pace of [...]
Italian yields stay high despite ECB leader’s words of comfort July 30, 2012 A RALLY in Italian government bonds showed signs of flagging yesterday as investors waited for European policymakers to back up pledges to safeguard the euro with new anti-crisis measures, while data showed Spain falling deeper into recession. Italy’s borrowing costs fell at a debt sale but remained elevated in a sign that nervousness was setting [...]
Troika stays to ensure Greece’s coalition agrees on €11.5bn cuts July 30, 2012 AUDITORS from the troika, made up of IMF, EU and European Central Bank officials, will remain in Greece to make sure politicians in the embattled Eurozone country agree on the cuts necessary for its aid package. Greece needs to find €11.5bn (£9bn) worth of cuts to get a €130bn bailout, but the governing coalition is [...]
Brewin Dolphin trade volumes fall on fee shift July 30, 2012 WEALTH manager Brewin Dolphin posted its third consecutive double-digit drop in trading volumes yesterday as it continues to switch to a transparent fee-based model. The firm saw overall income increase 4.4 per cent over the year from £63.9m to £66.8m but non-recurring income fell 17.9 per cent – in keeping with an 11 per cent [...]
Lloyds looks at liquidity swap with its Scottish Widows arm July 30, 2012 LLOYDS Banking Group is contemplating an asset swap with its Scottish Widows life insurance division to shift illiquid assets off the bank’s balance sheet, sources said yesterday. The bank, which is 40 per cent owned by the taxpayer, held talks with the Financial Services Authority this month to discuss a £1bn liquidity swap with its [...]
Informants on tax earn £1m July 30, 2012 MORE than £1m has been paid out in rewards for informing on tax evasion in the UK since the financial crisis began in 2008. Payments from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to informants rose by more than a fifth to £374,000 in 2011-12, compared with the previous financial year, figures released to the investigative website [...]
F&C trust raises dividend 33pc July 30, 2012 FOREIGN & Colonial Investment Trust yesterday announced plans to increase its September dividend payment by a third after selling a stake in Facebook. The £2.5bn trust said it will increase its dividend 33 per cent to 4p after a £9m cashflow increase from its private equity portfolio. This was led by the trust’s “partial” disposal [...]
Cantor Fitz in Europe push July 30, 2012 INVESTMENT bank Cantor Fitzgerld announced yesterday that it is launching a European corporate advisory business and expanding its brokerage. As part of the push into Europe, Cantor Fitzgerald has hired 17 new staff, all from Canaccord Genuity – the broker that took over Collins Stewart Hawkpoint earlier this year. The London team will be led [...]
MOODY’S PUTS CO-OP ON NEGATIVE WATCH July 30, 2012 Moody’s became the latest ratings agency to put the Co-operative Bank on a negative outlook yesterday, on worries about the risk of its vastly expanded balance sheet, after the mutualist group acquired Lloyds’ “Project Verde” bank branches.
