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 [...]
China is yet to dent US in busy mining M&A market March 2, 2011 THE DOMINANCE of the US and Canada in the mining M&A market is not yet being challenged by Chinese competitors, according to figures out yesterday. Just six per cent of buyers were based in China during 2010, PwC said in a report, though the number of acquirers from Asia has jumped from less than 10 [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 28, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES ITALIAN BANKS GO FOR GOLD IN MOVE TO TRANSFORM CORE CAPITAL RATIOS Italian banks think they may have struck gold as they seek to add lustre to balance sheets ahead of the summer stress tests. The lenders, which are shareholders in the central bank, are lobbying for their stakes to be marked to [...]
A twenty-first century wine firm, bringing Burgundy’s reds to China February 27, 2011 What is it like to work for a firm with two and a half centuries of tradition at your back? Hew Blair says it “drives you forward,” and his young broking manager Tom Jenkins agrees. The wine merchant Justerini and Brooks, the first wine firm to receive the royal warrant, has provided wines for every [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 24, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES AL-JAZEERA IN BATTLE FOR US COVERAGE Al Anstey, managing director of al-Jazeera English, entered Comcast’s Philadelphia headquarters on Wednesday with four cardboard boxes. Inside were printouts of 13,000 e-mails the Doha-based news channel had received, urging the US cable company to carry its signal. EAST EUROPEAN MIGRANT NUMBERS BACK ON THE RISE The number of [...]
AIA warns on Asia competition February 24, 2011 Asia’s third-largest insurer AIA beat forecasts with a 54 per cent jump in 2010 net profit yesterday, but warned that a slowdown in regional equity markets could cloud the outlook for future earnings growth. Competition from rivals such as Prudential and Chinese players such as Ping An looking to expand in Asia’s fast-growing insurance market [...]
China Everbright headed for $7bn HK share sale February 21, 2011 CHINA Everbright Bank may raise around $7bn (£4.3bn) through a share sale in Hong Kong just six months after its Shanghai initial public offering (IPO), leading the way for more fundraising by smaller banks. Chinese banks face a tough time as Beijing aggressively tightens liquidity, with a rise in the reserve requirement ratio announced last [...]