Olympic builder triples profit July 30, 2012 Ground engineering company Keller Group’s first-half profit more than tripled on strong revenue growth at its American business, it said yesterday, as it enjoyed an even stronger second half. Keller, which built the foundations for London’s Olympic Stadium, said pre-tax profit rose to £11m for January to June from £3.4m a year earlier. Revenue rose [...]
Seals boost Diploma revenues July 30, 2012 Technical products supplier Diploma said yesterday revenue rose five per cent for the third quarter helped by its seal business in North America, but the rate of underlying growth in that business slowed compared to the first half. Year-to-date revenue from its seals business increased 28 per cent, helped by the acquisition of J Royal [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 30, 2012 Canary Wharf Group Eric Van Der Kleij has been appointed as a specialist adviser to the property group. As current chief executive of the Tech City Investment Organisation, he will advise on linking Canary Wharf with opportunities in digital technology. Janus Capital Matthew Nagele has been appointed as head of UK for the investment firm’s [...]
BEST of the BROKERS July 30, 2012 TAYLOR WIMPEY Peel Hunt has a “sell” rating on the property firm and has put its 27p target price under review ahead of the firm’s interim results tomorrow. The broker believes the results will show a two-and-a-half times surge in pre-tax profits, but it remains cautious about the longer term. SPECTRIS UBS rates the precision [...]
FTSE underpinned by hope for ECB stimulus July 30, 2012 STRENGTH in risk-sensitive energy, miners and banking stocks propelled Britain’s top share index back up to touch the 5,700 level yesterday, fuelled by hopes central banks could launch fresh measures this week to stem the global economic slowdown. Recent comments from European policymakers vowing to take all steps to tackle the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, [...]
US stocks finish flat as investors await data July 30, 2012 US stocks finished mostly flat yesterday as investors paused following the best two-day run this year, with central bank meetings and a full load of US economic data looming. Traders have bet that the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will suggest further action to stimulate their economies is on the way when each [...]
FUND MANAGER OF THE YEAR July 30, 2012 Our fund manager of the year award, sponsored by S&P Capital IQ, will go to a company or individual who has demonstrated strong performance or has taken a headline-grabbing stance during a high-profile corporate issue. Well-judged deals against a complex economic backdrop, a commitment to shareholder activism or a canny ability to weather the near-constant [...]
RISING STAR OF THE YEAR July 30, 2012 TODAY’S shorlists for City A.M.’s third annual awards present our pick of the best rising stars and fund managers in the Square Mile. Even in economically straitened times, there are plenty of young men and women in the City on the rise, as shown in the Rising Star category. From entrepreneurs and private equity experts [...]
Our decisive central bank has been neutered by regulatory confusion July 30, 2012 THE TREASURY Select Committee has rightly questioned the arbitrary powers of regulators, particularly the Bank of England, over the boards and senior executives of private firms in the financial sector. Despite the mistakes of our cartelised banks, it’s unwise to assume that regulators can run businesses better than boards. Moreover, trends over the last 12 [...]
Enjoying the Olympics and criticising their cost are two separate debates July 30, 2012 WHEN I was at school, I never really liked sports day. I found the attempts to invent rivalries based on random teams silly, and never found an event at which I excelled. I’d have preferred to be at home. The consolation was that we weren’t in lessons, so I did my best to enjoy the [...]
