Gains in black gold will be capped July 25, 2010 SPREAD BETTERS love the volatility created by stormy markets and a veritable storm is brewing in crude oil at the moment – tropical storm Bonnie to be more precise. Fears that Bonnie would disrupt oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, combined with strong economic data, pushed crude oil more than 3 [...]
Ocado forced to slash float price July 20, 2010 OCADO caved in to investor pressure yesterday by slashing its IPO valuation by 20 per cent, in a desperate eleventh hour bid to keep the float alive. Ocado’s management were accused of arrogance for failing to listen to analysts and investors who baulked at the initial £1.1bn price-tag attached to the business. The online grocer [...]
Don’t bet on strong bank earnings July 18, 2010 REACTIONS were mixed as the first of the season’s US bank earnings rolled in last week. Some analysts – like GFT’s David Morrison – were blaming poor revenue growth reported by Citigroup and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BoA-ML) on Friday for the subsequent dip in the S&P 500 as it plunged 2.09 per cent in [...]
Rockhopper eyes second Falklands site July 11, 2010 ROCKHOPPER, the oil explorer which became an investors’ darling after striking black gold off the coast of the Falkland Islands, is eyeing a second big discovery in the region. Analysts believe the Aim-listed company will find up to 240m barrels of oil at its Ernest prospect to the north of the Falklands when it begins [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 8, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES MOD UNDER FIRE ON £20BN PROPERTY ESTATE The Ministry of Defence has failed to make the most efficient use of its £20bn property estate and should consider selling more land to help reduce costs in the current economic climate, a report by the National Audit Office will say on Friday. The department raised [...]
Managers buy out Searcys June 21, 2010 SEARCYS, the operator of the restaurant at the top of the iconic Gherkin tower, has been bought out by its management team in a deal valuing the business at around £8m. The deal will see the upmarket restaurant group return to private ownership three years after it was bought by Alternative Hotel Group (AHG), the [...]
Europe stocks hold steady in spite of Spain May 31, 2010 EUROPEAN equities held their own yesterday despite fears that a key downgrade of Spain’s sovereign debt before the weekend would weigh heavily on the markets. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed up 0.3 per cent at 1,000.55 points, ending its worst-performing month since February last year, while the euro recouped losses [...]
Travis starts work on BSS May 31, 2010 BUILDERS’ merchant Travis Perkins yesterday began four weeks of due diligence on BSS, the plumbing and heating supplies firm, as prospects of a counter-bid began to fade. Travis Perkins made a £533m play for BSS on Friday in a move that would see it overtake Wolseley as Britain’s biggest building products distributor. Some of BSS’ [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 23, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES PRINCE ANDREW’S TRADE ROLE DEFENDED Buckingham Palace defended Prince Andrew’s globetrotting role promoting British business on Sunday after a newspaper sting appeared to show his former wife selling access to him for £500,000, offered by a reporter posing as a tycoon. Both the royal household and the government said the Duke of York’s [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 17, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES FERROUS STEELS ITSELF FOR LONDON FLOAT Ferrous Resources, the Brazilian iron ore miner, confirmed its intention to list in London next month, adding momentum to a new round of mining and energy flotations in the capital of resources finance. With an expected valuation of about $4bn (£2.8bn), Ferrous could be the biggest “pure-play” [...]