Landlords reap rewards as rents hit a record high May 19, 2011 LONDON rental prices have shot up by almost eight per cent over the last year, hitting their second-highest level on record and boosting landlords’ total annual returns above five per cent. The average monthly rent in London is now £988 – just £4 below its all-time high of £992 in November last year. Prices have [...]
BofA sells stake in BlackRock back for $2.5bn May 19, 2011 BANK of America (BofA) is selling its remaining BlackRock stake back to BlackRock for $2.5bn (£1.54bn), its latest step to prepare for new industry capital requirements. The sale further chips away at the relationship between the world’s largest asset manager and the biggest US bank by assets, but a senior Bank of America official will [...]
Vodafone sees profits surge May 17, 2011 VODAFONE saw its full-year profits surge despite taking a £6bn impairment charge on its businesses in Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy and Ireland. It was buoyed by fast-growing markets in India, South Africa and Turkey, and the rapid uptake of higher-margin smartphones. Pre-tax profits grew 9.5 per cent to £9.5bn, on revenues up 3.2 per cent [...]
Osborne caught in a tangle over tax May 17, 2011 HEAD OF TAX, ACCA A YEAR on and coalition relations are distinctly less rosy than they were in the rose garden last May. But despite recent tensions the coalition has already made plenty of progress in reshaping Britain: radical reforms to welfare, education, and healthcare have all been initiated. From an accountant’s perspective though, one [...]
Taxpayers could get bank shares May 15, 2011 THE Treasury is considering plans to privatise its holdings in RBS and Lloyds by distributing their shares among all of the UK’s 45m taxpayers, City A.M. has learned. Under the scheme, put together by Portman Capital for the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and led by CPS chair Lord Saatchi, the government’s 41 per cent [...]
HSBC too risky for Hong Kong May 10, 2011 HONG Kong gave a stern warning that it might not welcome HSBC if it tries to move its headquarters from the UK after one of its leading regulators told City A.M. that the city state would be worried about the bank’s size. Speaking in one of his first UK interviews since being appointed to lead [...]
Micro Focus gains on update May 9, 2011 Micro Focus International gained 3.7 per cent to head Britain’s FTSE 250 risers yesterday after the IT firm issued a reassuring trading update. Micro Focus said its revenues and adjusted pre-tax profits for the 12 months ended 30 April were in line with market consensus. Micro Focus said on 26 April that it had received [...]
Oz entrepreneur sells start-up to WorldPay May 3, 2011 LONDON-based entrepreneur Phil McGriskin (pictured) is set to sell his internet payment business Envoy Services to WorldPay, the global payments provider, in a deal believed to be worth £70m, just five years after launching it. Australian Phil McGriskin, 37, a surfing fanatic who moved to London in 1996, set up Envoy Services in 2006 with [...]
A Conservative win is good for Canada’s dollar May 3, 2011 THE Canadian dollar climbed yesterday as Canada’s Conservative party won an outright majority in the general election. Since 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has led two minority Conservative governments, but yesterday’s victory brings him a majority mandate. Michael Gregory, senior economist for the Bank of Montreal, is buoyant about the result: “This is certainly a [...]
Heritage Oil in buyback worth $100m April 26, 2011 UK OIL explorer Heritage Oil is planning a share buyback worth $100m (£60m), following a difficult few months for the company, which has seen its share price plummet and rival Tullow Oil launch a £313m lawsuit. Explorers rarely engage in buybacks because their business model usually involves spending their cash on finding new fields. “The [...]