Jaguar Land Rover roars to record profits May 29, 2012 THE RECOVERY in Britain’s car industry accelerated yesterday when Jaguar Land Rover posted record annual profits of £1.51bn. The group sold 314,433 vehicles in the 12 months to 31 March, its highest ever figure and up by 29.1 per cent. Indian parent company Tata Motors also said it would increase investment in the firm to £2bn [...]
Spirits rise as Diageo makes £300m deal May 28, 2012 DRINKS group Diageo is toasting the £300m acquisition of one of the producers of Brazil’s most popular spirit, cachaça. The maker of Guinness and Smirnoff has agreed to buy Ypióca from its family owners as it continues to grow its emerging markets businesses to offset weak demand in Europe. The celebrations for another, larger deal, [...]
Your trading and politics should be mixed carefully May 28, 2012 The editor of the popular Guido Fawkes’ blog gives his tips IWAS a futures broker in my twenties, mostly interest rate futures – I did a bit of bond dealing, mainly in sovereigns rather than corporates. I got fired from the Japanese investment bank I was working at in the late 1990s and a friend [...]
THE EUROZONE WOES HAVE BEEN STERLING’S GAINS May 28, 2012 CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST AVOLATILE week for markets nevertheless saw stock indices edge up slightly last week, as fears of an immediate Greek exit receded. We now move into a waiting period ahead of the 17 June elections, but a new poll out from Athens over the weekend puts the pro-bailout forces in the ascendancy, although [...]
Graff gets lots of interest in its $1bn float May 27, 2012 THE Mayfair-based luxury jeweller Graff Diamonds has seen tremendous interest for its Hong Kong IPO of up to $1bn (£640m), sources close to the company said this weekend. Graff’s flotation is entering its final stretch in the shadow of a global stock market rout. Famous for its giant and rare gems, Graff will today test [...]
Forget the Brics: Breakout nations will be the next countries to watch May 27, 2012 NO IDEA has done more to dull thinking about the world economy than the acronym Bric. It lumps together Brazil, Russia, India and China, all with little in common other than that they are the largest economies in their regions. The Bric idea has spawned endless copycats in the last decade, because it was an [...]
Google finally takes Motorola Mobility after China says yes May 22, 2012 GOOGLE yesterday completed its $12.5bn (£7.9bn) acquisition of Motorola Mobility after receiving the green light from the Chinese authorities. “Long-time Googler” Dennis Woodside was ushered into the top spot, taking over from Sanjay Jha as Motorola Mobility’s chief executive. In a blog post, Google boss Larry Page said: “Many users coming online today may never [...]
Miners push up FTSE 100 May 22, 2012 Britain’s leading share index jumped yesterday, driven by gains in mining stocks as the demand picture for metals was brightened by hopes of fresh moves by China to boost its economy. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 98.80 points – or 1.9 per cent – at 5,403.28 points, adding strongly to Monday’s 0.7 per cent [...]
Calling all traders: One day to go May 22, 2012 David Jones is the chief market strategist of IG Index and he will be delivering a masterclass at Active Trader on financial spread betting and contracts for difference. TRADING COMMENT DAVID JONES FOR many years, trading financial markets in general, and spread betting in particular, was felt to be the reserve of City professionals. But [...]
FTSE rises fuelled by miners May 22, 2012 The FTSE 100 picked up again this morning as some of last week’s losses were recouped. Hopes that Eurozone leaders were making progress as they tackled the debt mountain engulfing the bloc helped sentiment. One of the ideas to save struggling economies is to issue eurobonds. But an OECD report warned that the fragile global [...]