Cosmen clan snubs cash call at National Express November 11, 2009 NATIONAL EXPRESS, the struggling transport company, announced plans to raise £360m via a rights issue yesterday – but its main shareholder objected to the plans. The cash fetched from the fundraising will be used to shore up the group’s balance sheet and pay off its debt pile, after the rail and bus company snubbed takeover [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU GOING TO BE A BIG SPENDER THIS CHRISTMAS November 11, 2009 ANDREW DICKSON BARCLAYS GLOBAL INVESTORS“I tend not to spend much at Christmas anyway, so I’ll spend about the same amount as usual on presents. But I think retail sales could fare well this year, particularly because cheap prices will open up more opportunities for shoppers.” MATT GROVER TINDALL RILEY“I’m going to spend about the same [...]
ON THE MEND (OR SO KING HOPES) November 11, 2009 THE BANK of England hiked its growth forecasts for the next three years yesterday in its clearest signal yet that it believes the UKeconomy is finally on the mend. The Bank’s new central projections are for output to grow by 2.1 per cent next year and by four per cent in 2011, based on market [...]
Investors ignore bubble concerns and flock to high-yielding bonds November 11, 2009 INVESTORS’ memories are notoriously short, so when Standard & Poor’s (S&P) recently warned that they were getting even shorter, it was something of a wake-up call. Despite one of the biggest financial meltdowns and dislocations of credit in history, European investors are once again being seduced by the high yields on offer with junk bonds. [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 11, 2009 ALLIANZNomura upgraded Allianz to “neutral” for two reasons: first, the end of the deterioration in property and casualty underwriting as shown in the firm’s third-quarter results and, second, the broker’s reduced concern over Allianz’s exposure to litigation in its US life business. But the stock is still not one of Nomura’s top picks as it [...]
SilverWind blows into West End as veteran brokers join forces November 11, 2009 New West End-based stockbroker SilverWind has opened for trading, with ex-Lite Financial trader Darren Sinden joining its ranks. SilverWind is being led by ex-ODL Securities head of capital markets Andrew Rowland, with the former vice chairman of ABN AMRO Menno de Jager leading the board. It will offer institutional and corporate clients a comprehensive range [...]
Miners and Vodafone drag but banks offer some cheer November 10, 2009 BRITAIN’S leading share index ticked down 0.1 per cent yesterday, ending a four-day winning run, as weakness in miners and Vodafone offset strength in banks, underpinned by a strong update from HSBC. The FTSE 100 closed 4.63 points lower at 5,230.55, after hitting a two-week high earlier in the session. “After last week’s slew of [...]
Schroders slows profits slide as client cash inflows recover November 10, 2009 RISING inflows of cash, particularly from institutional investors, allowed fund manager Schroders to slow its profit slide in the third quarter. Schroders yesterday reported surprisingly strong interest from investors in the second half of the year, with net inflows of £7bn in the three months to 30 September. While £3.7bn was raised from retail investors, [...]
Good banks leave their weak rivals behind November 10, 2009 THERE are three main messages from Barclays’ and HSBC’s results yesterday. British banks are divided into two groups: strong, private firms that have continued to generate profits during the crisis; and weak players that had to be bailed out. It is simply wrong to claim that all banks are the same. It is also clear [...]
Barclays gets a boost from star BarCap November 10, 2009 BARCLAYS, the UK’s second-largest bank, yesterday revealed a robust third-quarter profit haul and signalled light at the end of the bad debt tunnel, in a sign that the nascent economic recovery is feeding through into the banking sector. Barclays said pre-tax profit for the third quarter came in at £1.56bn, down from £2.8bn a year [...]