London Report: Vodafone helps FTSE eat further into 2014 losses February 6, 2014 BRITAIN’s top equity index rose for a second straight day yesterday, led by strong gains from heavyweight telecoms group which helped the market recover its poise after a recent five-day losing streak. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index, which had fallen for five straight days during the past two weeks, closed up 100.39 points, or 1.6 [...]
Glaxo insists its pipeline will be key to profit lift February 5, 2014 UK PHARMA giant GlaxoSmithKline brushed off worries over the Chinese bribery scandal yesterday, announcing sales growth for the end of last year and a bullish forecast for 2014. Revenues should climb by two per cent this year, Glaxo expects, driving earnings per share growth of between four and eight per cent. The company, Britain’s largest [...]
Bottom Line: Upbeat Witty sets his company a high bar February 5, 2014 FORGET the Chinese whispers surrounding GlaxoSmithKline’s problems in the Far East – chief executive Sir Andrew Witty is shouting from the rooftops. His bullish message yesterday could not have been clearer – Glaxo’s pipeline is thick and healthy; threats from generic competition are overstated anyway; the firm is in pole position to benefit from emerging [...]
Chinese investors set to grab a bigger slice of UK hotel market February 5, 2014 CHINESE investors are set to more than double their share of global hotel acquisitions over the next four years, new research out yesterday shows, with the UK to benefit the most. According to research conducted by Real Capital Analytics (RCA) for Savills, Chinese investors have spent £1.6bn outside of their home market over the last [...]
Chinese monetary superpower rivals the Fed in the emerging market storm February 5, 2014 ONE OF the joys of my job is watching fashionable but off-base theories crumple in the face of real world events. The current emerging market storm has seen the obvious destruction of not one, but two cocktail party staples: the rise of the Brics/Mints and the idea of the G-Zero world. The first thought to [...]
The City’s got a brand new leather bag February 5, 2014 Satchels are back in business, showing off great British craftsmanship at its finest ORIGINALLY made in the 17th century to help Oxbridge students lug their books around, the humble satchel has nevertheless made an unexpected comeback in 21st century London. The buckled bags hav always been a distinctly British success story, made with hardy leather [...]
Reports of an emerging market death have been greatly exaggerated February 5, 2014 Emerging markets have been unloved recently. Not only have they under performed their developed market peers over the past year, but last week saw the biggest withdrawal of money from the asset class since August 2011, with investors pulling $6.3bn (£3.9bn) of cash from EM equities in just seven days – roughly the [...]
GlaxoSmithKline profits miss as China challenges weigh February 5, 2014 Britain's biggest drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has reported growth in profit before tax of four per cent, reaching £6.6bn for the year ended 31 December 2013. GSK saw earnings per share reach 31.1p; above analyst estimates of 30.8p. The company's full year revenue rose one per cent to £26.5bn. GSK announced that it expected around 30 [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 05 February 2014 February 4, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Deutsche aims to regain lost ground Deutsche Bank has appointed a new New York-based co-head of fixed income trading as the lender adds senior staff and billions in capital to its US business to regain lost ground in the largest investment banking market in the world. Rich Herman has been elevated to the [...]
PwC to help Chinese firms move to Albert Docks business district February 4, 2014 CHINESE property developer ABP, which is set to overhaul London’s Royal Albert Docks into an Asian business district, yesterday struck a deal with PwC to help more Chinese firms settle there. PwC will offer tax, legal and accountancy support to companies coming to the UK as part of a so-called corporate “landing service” called First [...]