Hedge funds suffer pain of wider market July 24, 2008 Hedge funds had their worst first half year performance since 1998, as managers struggled to deal with the triple-whammy of a slowing housing market, sky-high energy prices and a financial sector in turmoil, according to HedgeFund Intelligence. The HedgeFund Intelligence global composite index was flat in June and up just 0.55 per cent for the [...]
De Beers boosts sales but stays cautious July 24, 2008 The world’s top diamond producer De Beers posted a 10 per cent rise in gem sales to $3.3bn (£1.7bn) on strong demand and price rises – but warned a slowdown of sales in America may hit revenues in the second half of the year. De Beers boosted rough-diamond prices by about 8 per cent in [...]
Advertising revenues dip at Daily Mail July 24, 2008 Newspaper publisher Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) yesterday warned of a sharp fall in advertising revenues in the third quarter, with property and recruitment sectors performing particularly badly. But the Daily Mail and Evening Standard owner also said that overall performance had been good, with revenue growing by 5 per cent due to strong [...]
New name for merged InBev July 24, 2008 Anheuser-Busch InBev, the newly formed company from a deal struck between the two of the world’s largest brewers 10 days ago, could be renamed AB InBev. At the start of last week, American brewer Anheuser-Busch agreed to be taken over by Stella Artois maker InBev, a deal worth £26bn and one that will create the [...]
ABI: Darling must end ‘ill considered’ taxes July 24, 2008 Chancellor Alistair Darling must put an end to “ill-considered” tax measures and create greater tax certainty to enable British businesses to compete internationally and encourage investment from overseas, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). A report published today puts forward a series of proposals that it thinks will help see Britain through the [...]
Optimism remains possible amid the economic meltdown July 24, 2008 UK economic news over the last week has been bad. Consumer prices are now increasing at an annual rate of 3.8 per cent, almost double the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target. Inflation is now likely to reach almost 5 per cent by the autumn. At the same time, the labour market is being [...]
Toyota grabs lead from GM in car market July 24, 2008 Embattled American carmaker General Motors trailed Japanese rival Toyota in global car sales during the second quarter, hurt by a severe decline in the American market, figures out yesterday revealed. The Detroit-based automaker said its car sales fell 3 per cent to 4.54m vehicles in the first half as higher sales in Europe, Asia and [...]
Rock forced to pay £2m for new boss July 24, 2008 Northern Rock has announced the appointment of Barclays director Gary Hoffman as its new chief executive, in a deal worth more than £2m. Hoffman, who will pull in an annual salary of £700,000, has been at Barclays since 1982, where he has held several senior positions, including chief executive and chairman of Barclaycard. He stands [...]
Vodafone announces surprise £1bn buyback July 24, 2008 Mobile telecoms giant Vodafone moved to defend its share price yesterday and stunned the city by announcing a surprise £1bn share buyback programme, after its stock plummeted on the back of a weak trading update. Shares in the firm slumped by almost 14 per cent on Tuesday, wiping nearly £11bn off its market value, after [...]
Pips and pairs: forex trading comes to a screen near you July 23, 2008 Phil Thornton takes a look at some of the new retail forex platforms out there Just a decade ago, the closest that even the savviest investors came to foreign exchange trading was deciding when and where to buy foreign currency for their summer holiday. Thanks to financial liberalisation and massive advances in technology, private investors [...]
