Taghrooda gets green light but Tarfasha’s appearance hinges on the ground May 29, 2014 SHEIKH Hamdan is in the privileged position of owning two of the top three in the market for the Investec Oaks on Friday 6 June but, while Taghrooda will almost certainly run, Tarfasha may not get the chance to give punters who have backed her off the boards in the last fortnight a run for [...]
Soft ground lover Cubanita has to be the call in Pinnacle Stakes May 29, 2014 WITH just a week to go until the Investec Derby Festival, this weekend’s action is understandably slightly more low-key. Although not for the winners of the eight tickets going for the £5,481,763 Scoop 6 bonus. There is still some competitive action for us to get stuck into and the first port of call is Haydock [...]
Francis Maude brings Investec boss and angel investor onto Big Lottery Fund board May 28, 2014 Cabinet Officer minister Francis Maude has appointed three new board members to the Big Lottery Fund, the body that distributes money raised by the National Lottery. Managing director of Investec Asset Management, Elizabeth Passey, Perdita Fraser, an angel investor and partner at consultancy firm SJ Fraser & Co, and David Isaac CBE, a partner at [...]
TSB promises rapid growth to new investors May 27, 2014 NEW HIGH street bank TSB yesterday set out plans to grow by 50 per cent over the coming years, hoping to attract investors with an ambitious expansion plan. Lloyds is selling the 631-branch bank and published its intention to float the lender on the stock market yesterday. The sale comes at a tricky moment as [...]
Best of the Brokers for 27 May 2014 May 27, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com TESCO Deutsche Bank has maintained its “buy” recommendation and target price of 342p for the supermarket chain, ahead of a first-quarter trading update on 4 June. The broker forecasts UK sales to deteriorate but expects Europe to continue the improved trend seen in [...]
US home sales beat expectations with 6.4pc rise May 23, 2014 The number of houses sold in the US grew 6.4 per cent, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000 in April. The surge in sales came primarily from the Midwest. The figures put an end to two straight months of declines, while the number of houses on the market climbed to a three-and-a-half year [...]
Investec profits as economy’s resurgence cuts bad loan levels May 22, 2014 BRITISH and South African bank Investec has posted surging profits for the last year, yesterday revealing bad loans had fallen sharply. The lender is recovering from the financial crisis, winding down its back book of loans and building up its wealth management business. Pre-tax operating profits came in at £452m in the year to March, [...]
Old boy Kingsgate to roll back the years at his beloved Haydock May 22, 2014 IF THE weather forecasters are to be believed, the north west of England is going to have some pretty heavy showers over the next couple of days which could leave conditions at Haydock Park fairly testing. Tomorrow sees the Scoop 6 pool move onto around £15m and it’s the track near St Helens which is [...]
Shell shareholders set for cash bonzanza after oil major scraps scrips May 22, 2014 Royal Dutch Shell announced this morning that it is cancelling its scrip dividend programme, after tax issues in the Netherlands meant that costs started racking up for the Anglo-Dutch oil major. The FTSE 100-listed firm introduced the programme in late 2010, as a means of conserving cash, but analysts estimate it cost the company between [...]
Janet Yellen won’t be pleased with this month’s US home sales May 22, 2014 Data from the National Association of Realtors shows existing home sales up from 4.59m to 4.65m in April, with the change in existing home sales up by 1.3 per cent. Analysts at Investec said in a preview that these figures "are likely to take on additional significance this week following Janet Yellen’s comments regarding housing [...]