Barclays in line for strong profit haul April 25, 2010 BARCLAYS will this week continue the bumper first quarter earnings trend set by the major US banks, with profits set to be buoyed by declining impairment charges and a strong start to the year in investment banking. Barclays is expected to post first-quarter pre-tax profits of between £1.8bn and £2bn when it unveils numbers on [...]
Barclays April 25, 2010 AS oxymorons go, “good credit crisis” is right up there with “classy strip club” and “luxury studio flat”. But compared to rivals, Barclays has emerged from the near meltdown of the financial sector in fine fettle. Over the last seven years, top line income has grown by a compound annual growth rate of 18 per [...]
LIB DEMS SET TO RIDE CREST OF BEER WAVE April 15, 2010 A WELCOME pre-election boost for Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, from the most unusual of quarters – the traditionally right-leaning environs of the City. It’s just 20 days before polling day and Clegg’s policies haven’t exactly met with rapt enthusiasm from the Square Mile, what with proposals to slap a “mansion tax” on homes worth [...]
Weighing up that big move overseas April 15, 2010 IN THE past two weeks BlueCrest, one of the largest hedge funds in the City, and chemicals group Ineos have both announced they are leaving the UK for tax reasons, relocating to Guernsey and Switzerland. But will the UK’s tax and regulation laws force entrepreneurs to do the same? Yes, says David Kilshaw, partner at [...]
Clegg: we’ll hike capital gains tax April 14, 2010 NICK Clegg yesterday said a Liberal Democrat government would introduce a new 50p top rate of capital gains tax, as he unveiled a manifesto that promised to clobber the City. The Lib Dem leader said capital gains tax would be brought in line with income tax, with two rates: 20 per cent and 50 per [...]
Labour and Liberals move to the left April 14, 2010 NEW Labour isn’t dead: about that Alistair Darling could not have been any more emphatic in his interview with City A.M. today. We asked him whether Labour’s manifesto – with its 50p tax, restrictions on hostile takeover bids, increases in regulation and no clear plan to reduce the size of the state – should be [...]
Lib Dem plans fail to impress businesses April 14, 2010 BUSINESS rounded on the Liberal Democrat manifesto yesterday, although economists praised the party for providing more detail on tax and spending than either of the two main parties. John Cridland, the deputy director-general of the CBI, said it was vital that all parties “established a clear and robust plan to rebuild the public finances” and [...]
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MANIFESTO | AT A GLANCE April 14, 2010 Economy • Save up to £15bn in government spending per year. A third will be set aside for additional spending commitments, but £10bn each year, after 2011/12, will go towards paying off the deficit, set to be £163bn this financial year. • A cap on public sector pay rises, restricting tax credits, ending government payments [...]
SPREAD BET GURU April 11, 2010 JOSHUA RAYMOND MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. Dear Josh, with the general election announced, what will the market focus on? A. British investors will keep an eye on the progress of both Labour and the Conservatives as we head closer to election day. The issue of a hung parliament is long-standing and we have already seen [...]
BlueCrest to move its HQ to Guernsey April 8, 2010 BLUECREST Capital Management, which recently said it would open an office in Geneva, is continuing to move out of the UK by re-locating its headquarters to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Michael Platt, the founder of the blue chip hedge fund, told investors in a letter that regulation was a factor in his decision to [...]