Barclay brothers’ Shop Direct taps into smartphone shoppers October 28, 2014 Littlewoods owner Shop Direct yesterday said booming online sales on mobile phones helped to double profits at the business last year. The online retailer, owned by billionaire brothers Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, said nearly half of all online sales were made via mobiles last year. The boom helped pre-tax profits at the group [...]
Best of the Brokers for 29 October 2014 October 28, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com PETRA DIAMONDS Barclays Equity Research reiterated its “overweight” rating despite seasonally weak demand in the diamond industry. The broker maintained its 12-month price target of 290p for Petra and stated that it expected demand to firm up and management to maintain its price [...]
Lloyds branch closures are just the start: The UK is dramatically over-banked October 28, 2014 IT MIGHT be an uncomfortable truth for many to hear, but the UK is dramatically over-banked for the digital age. There are a little less than 10,000 bank branches across the UK, far fewer than the approximately 38,000 in France, for example. But for the UK, this is still too many. Lloyds Bank seems to [...]
UK bank shares fall despite pass in EU stress tests October 27, 2014 SHARES fell in all the big four British banks yesterday, despite the group passing the European Central Bank’s stress tests. The UK’s tests, out in December, will be tougher, subjecting lenders to a simulated 35 per cent fall in house prices – likely to be especially hard on Lloyds and RBS. Lloyds came closest to [...]
City Moves for 28 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 27, 2014 Piper The private equity firm has announced the appointment of Richard Moore as investment manager. He joins from Magenta Partners. Moore is a chartered accountant, and spent four years working in financial due diligence, M&A, valuations, business modelling and distressed situations at EY. RBS Martin Knott has been appointed head of trade, global transaction services [...]
Lloyds share price falls after stress test results revealed October 27, 2014 Lloyds Banking Group's share price fell two per cent on Monday trading, with analysts warning it could yet fail the Bank of England's more stringent stress test. The European Banking Authority had tested 123 banks’ capital buffers against a fictional crash, with a jump in unemployment, a renewed recession and falling house prices. Banks [...]
EBA stress test results: UK banks respond October 27, 2014 It was a good day for UK banks yesterday as all of them passed the European Banking Authority (EBA) stress tests. The banks under scrutiny were Barclays, Lloyds, RBS and HSBC. The threshold for passing the test was a common equity tier one ratio of 5.5 per cent, a measure of the strength of their [...]
Which banks failed the European stress tests? Italy came out worst, followed by Greece and Cyprus October 27, 2014 25 banks failed the EU-wide stress tests carried out by the European Central Bank (ECB), according to results released this morning. The aim of the tests was to assess the resilience of EU banks to adverse economic developments and determine whether they could withstand another financial crisis. Based on banks' financial health at [...]
Banks warned: UK stress tests will be tougher October 27, 2014 British banks received the thumbs up from European authorities yesterday as the big four all passed continent-wide stress tests – but the Bank of England warned UK institutions they are not yet in the clear. The European Banking Authority (EBA) tested 123 banks’ capital buffers against a fictional crash, with a jump in unemployment, a [...]
Three big banks speak up to aid troubled SMEs October 27, 2014 TROUBLED small businesses will be treated transparently and openly when banks look at restructuring their operations, the big banks pledged this weekend, a year after a damaging row about failing firms. Last year, RBS was accused of taking assets off firms to turn a profit, rather than honestly trying to help them in its Global [...]