FSA to ramp fines for City rulebreakers July 6, 2009 CITY watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has unveiled plans to treble penalties for serious breaches of its rules, and called for individuals caught insider dealing to face a £100,000 minimum fine. A consultation paper from the regulator proposes a beefed-up regime in which the most serious abuses could land companies with fines of up [...]
Glass heads race to be the new finance director at RBS July 5, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) is considering the appointment of Simon Glass to replace Guy Whittaker as finance director. Glass, who joined RBS as deputy finance director three months ago from Standard Chartered, is believed to be heading the race to succeed Whittaker, who will part company with the 70 per cent state-owned bank before [...]
Rural homes near London see price rise July 5, 2009 PRIME country properties around London saw prices rising by 0.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2009 after five consecutive quarters of falls, according to the Knight Frank/ City A.M. prime commuter property price index. For the UK as a whole, the average value of prime country property fell by 0.9 per cent over [...]
MARTIN ON THE MARKETS July 5, 2009 AFTER Friday’s non-session, as the US Independence Day holiday suppressed volumes, get ready for a pivotal week set to be dominated by one thing: US earnings. Stock markets have rallied of late on the back of hopes that we’ll see a bounce in profits, and this week investors will start to see those hopes look [...]
THE LONDON REPORT July 5, 2009 OUSEBUILDERS will come under scrutiny this week, with giants Persimmon and Barratt Developments set to update markets. Traders will be hoping for further signs that there is an an uptick in mortgage availability, as banks repair their balance sheets and are able to resume lending to homebuyers, feeding through to the battered sector. Barratt, set [...]
The property boss who can see the light at the end of the tunnel July 5, 2009 The airy offices of Knight Frank chairman Nick Thomlinson are as good a place as any to survey the wreckage of the property market over the last two years. So it can only be good news that the head of the UK’s largest privately-owned property business shows no sign of panic as he holds court [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 5, 2009 HEINEKENBroker JP Morgan yesterday raised its price target for beer brewer Heineken from €23.00 (£19.70) to €26.00, forecasting an improvement in beer volumes during this year and next. JP Morgan added it did not believe that Heineken is again the “cheap value, recovery player” in the sector, but said that the worst is over in [...]
Luxury retailers set to face six per cent sales drop worldwide July 5, 2009 SALES of luxury items are set to fall by six per cent across the globe, according to an exclusive report by Verdict Research. Global luxury expenditure is expected to fall to €211bn (£180bn) in 2009. In particular Japan is expected to suffer a 14.6 per cent drop and the US a 12.1 per cent drop. [...]
Bridgepoint plays down IPO rumours at Pets at Home July 5, 2009 BRIDGEPOINT, the private equity owner of the UK’s biggest retailer of pet products, Pets At Home, yesterday played down reports it is planning a £700m stock market flotation for the business. Bridgepoint was said to have held talks with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Cazenove, NM Rothschild and BOA Merrill Lynch about timing, valuation and investor [...]
Rivals home in on Opel bid July 5, 2009 MAGNA INTERNATIONAL, the Canadian car parts supplier in the top running to buy General Motors’ (GM) Opel brand, looked to be losing its grip on the deal this weekend, as Beijing Automotive Industry Holding also submitted a bid, and Belgian holding company RHJ International waited in the wings. The administration in Germany, where Opel is [...]
