Marubeni considers North Sea retreat June 19, 2011 A JAPANESE trading conglomerate is the latest firm to consider leaving its oilfield in the North Sea following George Osborne’s 12 per cent tax hike on the industry. Marubeni Corporation has put up for sale all but one of its North Sea oilfields, according to a weekend report. It is said to have hired Standard [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 15, 2011 3i GROUP Killik & Co notes that 3i issued a release this week announcing the sale of its stake in Ålö, a manufacturer of front-end loaders for tractors, for €240m. The sale sees 3i make approximately a four times money multiple on its original investment. The broker says 3i trades on a 22 per cent [...]
Retail figures drive US markets rally June 14, 2011 US stocks posted their biggest gains in nearly two months yesterday as retail sales figures allayed fears over the economy that had driven a six-week slump in the market. Many analysts said the rally was likely a one-day wonder. Though still weak, the retail sales data was not as bad as most had expected, which [...]
HOUSE OF THE RISING MEDIA BARON: DESMOND PLOTS THE ANIMALS GIG June 14, 2011 THE CAPITALIST had an entertaining conversation with Richard Desmond this week, in which the media baron revealed the next rock frontman he would like to enlist to perform with his charity band The Crusaders is… Eric Burdon of The Animals. Desmond was speaking at a preview of his CNBC interview with Channel Five presenter Tania [...]
Making hay the Andrew’s Pitchfork way June 13, 2011 SOMETIMES, trying to find swing points and the right opportunity to take a profit can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. But using an Andrew’s Pitchfork can give traders a helping hand to identify these points. Though it has fallen out of the mainstream in recent years, the Andrew’s Pitchfork can still [...]
Bellway upbeat as home sales and orders rise June 10, 2011 House developer Bellway has posted a better than expected view of its market, describing its spring selling as “healthy”. Its average home unit sales rate was 111 properties per week in the four months to the end of May, up nine per cent on the same period in 2010. Average selling prices were up four [...]
First time buyer mortgages rise June 9, 2011 The number of mortgages available to first time buyers has nearly trebled in the last two years, according to the website Moneyfacts. Today there are 183 deals for people looking to get on to the property ladder, compared to just 62 this time in 2009.
Shares of IPO firms fail to match FTSE June 8, 2011 SPECIAL INVESTIGATION | CITY AT WAR SHARES in newly-listed companies in London have failed to match the performance of the FTSE All-Share index since stocks began to recover from the financial crisis, rising an average of just 10 per cent compared to the 50 per cent increase seen on the rest of the index. According to the Bloomberg IPO [...]
Trichet’s words could lead to volatility June 7, 2011 FOREX.COM KATHLEEN BROOKS The markets have been embracing the euro with gusto this week. Partly this is a response to the weak US labour market data for May, but it is also due to expectations that the ECB will signal a rate rise in July when it meets on Thursday. The hawkish rhetoric from ECB [...]
Landlords bullish on the future of rental properties June 1, 2011 DESPITE the downbeat outlook on house prices from analysts at Morgan Stanley (see left), UK landlords are increasingly optimistic about their buy-to-let prospects. Forty-nine per cent of landlords think that now is a good time to invest in new properties, according to research by LSL Property Services. Just one per cent are looking at reducing [...]