Tips to take away from the Ruspetro flotation January 23, 2012 THE successful flotation of Ruspetro, the Russian oil and gas explorer, is being looked on by many in the City as an opportunity to finally get a moribund IPO market off the ground. It’s the first main market listing of the year and it follows a period during which only the most courageous or crazy [...]
Asda plans £500m expansion January 23, 2012 ASDA has announced it will create 5,000 new jobs in 2012 by opening 25 new stores and three depots across the UK. Britain’s second largest supermarket chain has earmarked £500m for the investment that will also expand and refurbish 43 of its existing stores. The 25 new shops will add over 600,000 square feet of [...]
Uncertainty holds sway over the FTSE January 23, 2012 GFT DAVID MORRISON The FTSE 100 fell 6 per cent last year, which was bad news for buy and hold investors. Its performance compared poorly with the major US indices: the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a 5 per cent gain, while the broader-based S&P 500 index ended flat. Nevertheless, the UK index easily outperformed [...]
THE TIPSTER January 23, 2012 THERE is a lot of speculation surrounding oil explorer Rockhopper. With takeover talks lingering, it could only be a matter of time before an announcement is made. However, we have seen this stock rally from 30p to over 500p, and then drop like a stone to 150p, so the only thing we know for sure [...]
A lesson learned on Canada’s wine January 23, 2012 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT As is typical in the London restaurant scene, we have a very international team at Lutyens. My assistant Andres is from Canada and, as he went home for Christmas, he brought in some Canadian wine for us to try. There is comparatively little Canadian wine in the UK [...]
Michael Page poaches Ocado finance chief January 23, 2012 Recruiter Michael Page has poached online grocer Ocado’s Andrew Bracey to replace Stephen Puckett as finance director at the increasingly global staffing group. Puckett stepped down after 11 years because he no longer wanted to undertake the travel needed for the job, Michael Page said on Monday. Bracey, who previously worked in private equity and [...]
Asda to invest over £500m and create 5,000 jobs January 23, 2012 Asda, the British arm of US retailer Wal-Mart Stores has said it it will invest over £500m this year, opening 25 new stores and three depots and creating up to 5,000 jobs. Britain’s second-biggest supermarket group behind Tesco also said it would extend and refurbish 43 existing stores. The 25 new stores will add over [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 22, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EU PLANS RAISE HOME FORECLOSURE RISK UK homeowners could face higher mortgage costs and find themselves at greater risk of foreclosure as early as next year because of an obscure clause in the bank capital directive being worked on by the European parliament. US FUNDS RETURN TO EUROPEAN BANK PAPER US money market [...]
Retail sales up 0.6pc in December January 20, 2012 UK retail sales volumes rose by 0.6 per cent in December, official figures show, after heavy discounting by stores. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said that sales rose by 2.6 per cent over the year to December. The sales figure for November was revised down to show a fall of 0.5 per cent, [...]
Tesco wins Buffett seal of approval January 19, 2012 WARREN BUFFETT, the US investor known as the Sage of Omaha for his stock-picking prowess, has given Tesco his vote of confidence by raising his stake in the embattled supermarket, which shocked markets last week with its first profit warning in 20 years. Buffett’s investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway has snapped up about £350m worth of [...]