Sales of super-high heels lift sales at Kurt Geiger stores November 23, 2010 LUXURY shoe brand Kurt Geiger has reported a 25 per cent rise in turnover in the nine months to November this year, as ladies have flocked to buy its coveted 120mm-high heels. Sales of its highest heels quadrupled compared with a year earlier, it said in its third quarter trading update. Sales of red and [...]
French business growth slows November 23, 2010 There was mixed news for France yesterday as business leaders signalled a slight decline in the economic outlook, in spite of positive growth figures released by Markit (see left). While the French Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose above the Eurozone average in November, the INSEE business climate index fell to 100 points, down from 104 [...]
CONTAGION IS STILL A RISK FOR THE EURO November 23, 2010 BORIS SCHLOSSBERG DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT AFter several weeks of tense negotiations and turbulence in the credit markets, Ireland accepted a financial aid package from EU and the IMF. Although the size of the deal will not be known for days, analysts put the total at about €100bn – 40 per cent of the [...]
Low correlations and high liquidity ensure currency’s continued appeal November 23, 2010 FOR about a decade before the crisis, institutional investors were happy to accept that the currency markets were an area where active fund managers could add value. But they lost their faith in the asset class during 2008 when many currency managers lost money. Some of those managers who were running quantitative strategies and who [...]
Banking stocks fall on fears of Irish exposure November 22, 2010 BRITISH banking stocks fell yesterday on the back of uncertainty about their exposure to the Irish crisis. Barclays fell 2.7 per cent to 270.1p, while Lloyds dropped 5.8 per cent to 64p and RBS saw a 6.1 per cent fall to 40p. The falls in Lloyds and RBS stock were also exacerbated by the declaration [...]
Taylor Wimpey begins £250m bond offering November 22, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey rounded off its refinancing plan yesterday by announcing a new £100m debt facility and plans to sell £250m of five-year bonds. The news follows on from the firm’s £950m credit facility, which was announced last week as the last act by outgoing chief financial officer Chris Rickard. Prudential’s M&G UK Companies Financing [...]
BLAIR WOOS LAWYERS WITH FOND MEMORIES November 22, 2010 CITY law firm Clifford Chance last night played host to a gathering of 250 of the City’s most prominent names in a one-off chance to hear from former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair blitzed into the event and had to run off to another engagement immediately afterwards, but in between he found time to cover [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 22, 2010 Matrix Group Matrix, the financial services firm, has announced the appointment of a new chief operating officer for asset management: Paul Bramley. Bramley has worked in financial services for more than 20 years, including occupying previous COO and chief financial officer roles. He is also a qualified chartered accountant and has worked at NatWest Markets, [...]
Revealed: The UK’s Irish risk November 22, 2010 THREE major UK banks – RBS, Barclays and Lloyds – together havemore than €100bn (£860m) of exposure in Ireland, according to data seen by City A.M. Morgan Stanley conducted research on the levels of exposure in the three “peripheral” Eurozone countries, Ireland, Portugal and Greece. Unsurprisingly “the largest exposures are clustered in UK banks”, the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 22, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES ROK WAS WARNED ON OUTLOOK Senior executives at Rok, the failed building group, were warned the company’s public statements risked misleading investors by failing to identify the extent or source of its problems. The board of directors was contacted by Ashley Martin, at the time the suspended finance director, after Rok released a [...]