Ad recovery is boost for Aegis March 17, 2011 Marketing group Aegis beat forecasts yesterday despite suffering a £25m exceptional charge on the threat of bad debts from a Spanish former client. The debt provision pushed its pre-tax profits down 25 per cent from £91.2m to £68m but chief executive Jerry Buhlmann told City A.M. his firm had taken a “very prudent” view on [...]
Changing times: moving on from Mayfair March 17, 2011 PRICES of the Monopoly board favourite Mayfair, as well as other prime favourites, have rocketed to near 2007 levels (see graph below), leading to the emergence of alternative investment hotspots. Marylebone is being hailed as the new Mayfair, with residential favourites Pimlico, Hampstead and Fulham hot on its heels. Mayfair prices have been drastically pushed [...]
How business education is adapting to globalisation March 16, 2011 SINCE their very beginnings, business schools have focused on international trade. When the Aula do Comercio was set up in Lisbon in 1759, one of the four subjects taught was the “study of weights and measures from different countries [and] methods for the exchange of currencies.” The Imperial Export Academy in Vienna was created in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 14, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES UK ART MARKET LOSES OUT TO CHINESE Britain has lost its position as the world’s second largest art market to China, in a sign of intensifying competition and a shift in the geographical distribution of wealth towards Asia, according to a new study. The UK’s share of the global art market fell by [...]
Asian share offerings hit pre-recession highs March 14, 2011 THE TOTAL level of cash raised through initial public offerings (IPOs) in Asia so far this year has hit its highest level since before the recession. Companies from the region have generated a total of $20.8bn (£12.9bn) from stock market offerings since January, according to data provider Dealogic. The figure comes after a boom year [...]
Markets tank on Libya and sovereign worries March 10, 2011 INVESTORS deserted stock markets yesterday as a triple whammy of sovereign debt fears, poor US and Chinese economic data and fears over escalating levels of violence in the Middle East and Libya hit confidence. Traders described the day as “a catalyst of negative sentiment” that caused a market rout and left the FTSE at a [...]
China trade deficit hits 7-year high March 10, 2011 China swung to a surprise trade deficit in February of $7.3bn (£4.5bn), its largest in seven years, as the Lunar New Year holiday dealt an unexpectedly sharp blow to exports. It was China’s first trade deficit since March last year and its biggest since February 2004. Economists, who had forecast a small surplus of $4.95bn, [...]
Pouring into the red liquid market offers tasty returns March 9, 2011 A COMPOUND annual growth rate of 15 per cent since 1999: sounds good, doesn’t it? It sounds even better when you find out that’s higher than US and UK equity markets and comparable only to property without, er, being property and suffering its recent fate. Surely it can’t get better than that? Well, actually, it [...]
Mattel shuts Barbie store in Shanghai March 7, 2011 RETAILER Mattel yesterday shut its flagship Barbie concept store in Shanghai after just two years of trying to crack the Chinese toy market. Mattel said in a statement it remained committed to expanding the brand in China, and that the six-storey outlet had raised Barbie’s profile in the country. The shop opened in March 2009 [...]
Kalahari reveals £756m takeover talks with Chinese-owned uranium business March 7, 2011 KALAHARI Minerals yesterday revealed that it was in discussions with Chinese state-owned CGNPC Uranium Resources about a possible takeover, sending its shares to an all-time high. Namibia-focused Kalahari released a statement yesterday morning saying it was in early-stage talks, but brought out another statement after the markets closed with details of the suitor and the [...]