Barclays and Macquarie to help fund London wind farm work September 18, 2012 THE WORLD’S biggest offshore wind farm came a step closer to completion yesterday as an array of engineers and financiers were picked to fund and run the power lines linking the site to land. Blue Transmission, a consortium made up of Macquarie, a Barclays infrastructure fund, Mitsubishi and Frontier Power, have preferred bidder status to [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs September 18, 2012 Barclays Tom Wood has been appointed head of professional services at the banking group. He joined Barclays in 2007 as a relationship director, and most recently spent three and half years as corporate director and deputy head of its professional services team. Wood has also held roles at RBS. Jupiter Asset Management Andrew Clark has [...]
Miners and financials fall on the FTSE 100 September 18, 2012 The blue chip index sank in early trading, as headline mining and financial shares pulled it down. Electrical connections provider Volex was down by more than 30 per cent in early trading as it announced it expects full-year profit and revenue to fall short of expectations. Miners Ferrexpo and Eurasian fell by 4.68 per cent [...]
Iconic Hamleys stores sold to French group September 18, 2012 BRITISH toy shop Hamleys was yesterday sold to French toymaker Groupe Ludendo for £60m. The family-owned French giant has taken the 252-year-old business out of the hands of failed Icelandic lender Landsbanki, which last year rejected a £60m offer from the Bahraini investment bank Global Banking Corporation. “We are delighted to be acquiring Hamleys today,” [...]
Learning how to live with open-ended QE September 17, 2012 FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke last week did what the markets had been waiting for. He announced that the US central bank would be rolling out another round of its controversial quantitative easing program (QE3). The Fed will commit to monthly asset purchases of $40bn (£ 24bn) until a substantial improvement is seen in the [...]
FTSE 100 slips after touching highs last week September 17, 2012 The main share index opened down this morning, as it retreated after touching six-month highs on Friday thanks to the US Federal Reserve’s annoucement of unlimited stimulus. Miners led the index down, as slowing growth in China forced base metal prices lower. Ophir Energy lost 4.06 per cent in early trading, despite it announcing better-than-expected [...]
Sweden fears bank union will hit its top institution September 17, 2012 SWEDEN became the latest country to oppose EU banking union plans over the weekend, joining Germany in rejecting parts of the latest plan to centralise power in the Eurozone. The move could scupper the European Commission’s plans – it had hoped the new setup would be in place by the end of this year, an [...]
Industry body joins bosses in fight to repair banks’ image September 16, 2012 THE BRITISH Bankers’ Association (BBA) will take the fight to the enemy, its new boss announced over the weekend, vowing to proactively promote the industry rather than just defend banks when they are under pressure. Anthony Browne is taking up the push spearheaded by Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta Osorio and RBS head Stephen Hester, [...]
FTSE 100 up sharply on US economic stimulus September 14, 2012 The blue chip index jumped sharply in early trading, as it consolidated gains in the US in the wake of QE3. Headline miners led the index up, with Ferrexpo jumping 15.15 per cent in early trade, as metal prices rose on hopes of increased demand. South Africa-focused Aquarius Platinum jumped 12.48 per cent, Evraz soared [...]
Boris Bikes for south London September 13, 2012 SOUTH and west London will benefit most from plans to add 2,400 extra bikes and 5,000 new docking stations to the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme by 2014. Transport for London yesterday said more than 200 locations in Wandsworth, Hammersmith & Fulham, Lambeth and Kensington & Chelsea have been picked for new stations. Residents will be [...]