NO SIGN OF A TRUCE IN BATTLE OF BROKERS July 21, 2009 THE long-standing tustle between inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon and BGC Partners looks set to rumble on well into the autumn. Tullett is currently leading a High Court battle to stop its rival pinching any more of its staff. The pair have been at loggerheads since last year, when former Tullett chief operating officer Tony Verrier [...]
PWC BOYS SWAP THEIR DESKS FOR A DASHBOARD AND HIT THE STANS July 19, 2009 AS YOU reluctantly get your engine running on this Monday morning, spare a though for Tom Henry and Simon Todd of Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ London Assurance team who are in the early stages of a long and gruelling 10,000km drive from London to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Because yesterday the PwC team swapped their desks for the dashboard [...]
Japan offers the contrarian trader a wealth of opportunity July 13, 2009 GIVEN how badly export-oriented Japan has suffered from the financial crisis and the subsequent drop off in global demand, you might think that investing in Japanese equities would be one of the least successful trading strategies around right now. But in fact, a number of analysts have started turning bullish on the Japanese stock index [...]
It’s time to start re-thinking your attitude to trading the oil market July 12, 2009 WHAT a difference a year makes. With crude oil sinking below $60 a barrel on Friday for the first time since mid-May, it seems incredible that it was only 12 months ago that oil hit a record high of $147 a barrel, fuelling speculation among industry players that it could reach $250. Oil prices had [...]
Hot weather to prove thirsty work and give pubs a boost July 12, 2009 The City has good reason to focus on the pub this week, with numbers from JD Wetherspoon, Enterprise Inns and Mitchells & Butlers all likely to be high on the agenda. The recent hot weather should have provided some welcome business for the hard-hit pubcos. But investors will also look for firms to further defend [...]
GLAMOROUS DRAGON HAS SIGHTS ON TV DEN June 24, 2009 ENTREPRENEURIAL types and their brave backers packed the Institute of Directors yesterday for the fifth bi-annual Entrepreneur Country conference, hosted by BBC Dragon, Ariadne Capital chief executive and City A.M. columnist Julie Meyer. Meyer was proud to introduce her new protégé, Warren Cole, to the investors in the room, after he became her third investment [...]
SALTY OLD SEADOG OF PROPERTY TAKES TO HIGH SEAS ONCE AGAIN June 21, 2009 PROPERTY guru Mike Slade’s firm Helical Bar might have crashed further into the red over the past year as its annual losses tripled, but it hasn’t stopped the salty old seadog getting up to his usual tricks. Outside of the property world, the 61-year-old is best known for his passion for sailing, having racked up [...]
Ghanaati to be crowned Queen of the fillies in the Coronation Stakes June 18, 2009 Barry Hills hasn’t been in the best of health recently, but his 1000 Guineas winner GHANAATI can put a smile back on the legendary trainer’s face by landing the Coronation Stakes at Ascot this afternoon. The daughter of Giant’s Causeway caused a 20/1 upset at Newmarket on her first ever run on turf having previously [...]
THE TIPSTER June 14, 2009 AGGRESSIVE DISCOUNTING TO LIFT TESCOTHERE were rumours flying around the markets last week of a profit warning by Carrefour – the world’s second largest supermarket – but this side of the Channel, things in the grocery market are looking a lot rosier. Morrisons has been doing well, as has Sainsbury’s. But size does seem to [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK June 14, 2009 AHH, it’s the little luxuries in life that count, isn’t it? These six weary ladies popped into the Palm Court restaurant at The Langham hotel on Friday, to treat themselves after a hard day’s retail therapy in the boutiques of Bond Street. All six opted for the luxurious Bijoux afternoon tea – Cornish crab and [...]