ENTREPRENEURS NEWS | IN BRIEF February 13, 2011 BRANDS OF TOMORROW COMPETITION Walpole, the British trade body for the luxury industry, has launched a competition to find Britain’s brand of tomorrow. The prize is mentoring from the people behind Britain’s top luxury brands, including Liberty and Smythson. To be eligible, companies need an annual turnover between £100,000 and £2m per year. Visit www.thewalpole.co.uk [...]
Two years of record low rates February 10, 2011 INTEREST rates will stay at half a per cent for the 24th month in a row, the Bank of England announced yesterday. Analysts were unsurprised by the decision to keep rates at a record low, but expect the meeting’s minutes, published on 23 February, to reveal a fractious and increasingly hawkish feel to the committee. [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHY DID DIAGEO’S RESULTS LEAD TO A DROP IN SHARE PRICE? February 10, 2011 MARTIN DEBOO | INVESTEC Given the momentum around the stock in recent months, where we sense that enthusiasm for a gradual American recovery, buoyant M&A speculation and anticipation around a compelling first-half profit story have galvanised the share price. This is a a poor result with further hangovers to come. The market had assumed there [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 10, 2011 ARM HOLDINGS RBS rates the technology company “buy” with a target price of 625p. Hewlett Packard’s introduction of the Palm operating system on its PCs later this year could help ARM penetrate the notebook PC market, moving its market share from one per cent in 2011 to 20 per cent by 2015. RBS estimates that [...]
Interest rates unchanged for 23rd month February 10, 2011 UK interest rates have been left unchanged again this month at the record 0.5 per cent level. The meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee is likely to have been fraught and the vote close as the board’s opinion has been divided over how soon to raise rates. This is the 23rd consecutive [...]
FTSE held back by blue-chips and miners February 9, 2011 London trading was weighed down by falls in major stocks trading ex-dividend, outweighing strong performances by financial stocks. The FTSE 100 closed down 0.64 per cent or 30.04 points at 6,052.29, as BP, GlaxoSmithKline, International Power, Royal Dutch Shell, Sage Group and Unilever all lost their payout attractions. “After Tuesday’s leap to multi-year highs, a [...]
Getting a rise out of the Bank of England February 8, 2011 STERLING bulls are probably the only group of people who love inflation right now. Traders have been flocking into the pound in anticipation of a rate rise since May. Those eager rate-risers now pin their hopes on the two votes for a rise on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC): Andrew Sentance and Martin Weale. Since [...]
Market tense over rate rise February 6, 2011 MARKETS are nervously awaiting the results of the Bank of England’s latest meeting on interest rates. “We expect a considerable degree of market tension ahead of Thursday’s monetary policy committee (MPC) announcement,” said Investec’s Philip Shaw. Sterling rose last week after MPC members Andrew Sentance and Charles Bean gave interviews which suggested a leaning towards [...]
ECONOMISTS’ VIEWS: WILL THE BANK RAISE INTEREST RATES THIS WEEK? February 6, 2011 PHILIP SHAW | INVESTEC “A rate rise is possible, but unlikely. For rates to rise, the two existing ‘hawks’ would need to be joined by Tucker, Dale and Miles. This is possible, but it seems more likely that the Bank rate will remain at 0.5 per cent this time.” GEOFFREY WOOD | CASS BUSINESS SCHOOL [...]
Investec sees good fund inflows offset slump in demand for loans February 3, 2011 SOUTH African investment bank and asset manger Investec said profit rose slightly in the first nine months of the year, as a strong fund business helped offset weak demand for loans. Investec, which operates in South Africa, Britain and Australia and is also listed in London, said demand for credit and deal activity remained subdued. [...]