Pound buoyed by brighter tone of Bank minutes April 22, 2015 STERLING jumped yesterday as it was revealed that officials at the Bank of England were less concerned about deflation and external threats to the economy. Despite more bullishness in the minutes of the last monetary policy meeting released yesterday, rate-setters voted unanimously in favour of holding interest rates at 0.5 per cent. For two members [...]
New race started by Carney’s run April 22, 2015 THERE’S nothing like a race to get the City’s competitive juices flowing – as the London Marathon demonstrates. And this time it’s not just the running The Capitalist is talking about, it’s the sponsorship. With Bank of England governor Mark Carney set to don his trainers on Sunday in aid of Cancer Research UK, the [...]
City Moves for 23 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 22, 2015 N+1 Singer The corporate advisory and broking firm has appointed Nic Hellyer as director in its corporate finance team. He joins from HSBC, where he was managing director and head of its UK mid-market advisory team. Hellyer has also held roles at UBS and KPMG. Standard Chartered Sir Iain Lobban has been appointed senior adviser [...]
Miner Rio Tinto boosts shares with buy-back April 22, 2015 SHARES in miner Rio Tinto were up by 1.83 per cent yesterday after the group confirmed that it is aiming to complete a $2bn (£1.33bn) share buy-back by the end of December 2015. The company announced the buy-back in February, and in an update to the market said that any shares bought back between yesterday [...]
Tesco turmoil proves toxic for the FTSE 100 – London Report April 22, 2015 TESCO’S massive loss dragged the FTSE 100 down yesterday. It was also hampered by heavy declines in banking stocks. Shares in Tesco closed down 5.2 per cent, at the bottom of the FTSE 100, after the UK’s biggest retailer plunged to an annual loss of £6.4bn and failed to provide details about the planned disposal [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of Sky’s quaterly results? April 21, 2015 IAN WHITTAKER | LIBERUM The results read very well, especially on the subscriber metrics, although significant changes to KPI disclosure make reading of longer-term trends hard. However, there are some signs the quality of the subscriber base might be coming under pressure. JULIEN ROCH | BARCLAYS Churn is again low, confirming that the connected boxes [...]
Rich pensioners sitting on £16bn of untapped leisure spending April 21, 2015 Wealthy British pensioners added £37bn to the economy in leisure and hospitality spending last year, according to research from Barclays today. But they could spend an extra £16bn, if firms only realised the consumer group had such financial resources, the report into Britain’s aging population showed. The average Brit spends £2,486 on leisure and hospitality each [...]
City Moves for 22 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 21, 2015 HFG The specialist insurance recruiter has appointed Stewart Taylor as head of business and market development. He was founder of insurance search firm Hermes People, and also previously spent 10 years at McGregor Boyall as director of its banking and capital markets division. BDO Nicole Martin has been appointed audit partner in the accountancy and [...]
Nomad Foods tycoons swoop for Iglo-owned Birds Eye in €2.6bn deal April 20, 2015 Iglo Foods, the owner of Bird’s Eye fish fingers, was sold to a US consumer foods group chaired by former City minister Lord Myners in a €2.6bn (£1.9bn) deal yesterday. Nomad Foods, which was founded last April to launch consumer takeovers, has bought the group from London-based Permira. UK-headquartered Iglo is Europe’s biggest frozen food [...]
Strong dividend payouts bolster the first quarter April 19, 2015 SHAREHOLDER payouts had their strongest underlying growth for three years last quarter, aided by a stronger dollar and robust oil sector dividends. Stripping out special dividends and delayed dividends, payouts rose 10.4 per cent for the first quarter of this year, putting 2015 on course to be the best year for dividend growth since 2012, [...]