CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 19, 2010 Matrix Group The financial services group has promoted Malcolm Le May, the chief executive of its investment banking business, to the group board. Le May took up his current role in December last year, steering the investment bank through a rapid period of expansion working with small and mid cap companies. He previously worked at [...]
Donations drop by nearly 10 pc July 18, 2010 The austerity mindset has dented charitable donations this year, says research by Investec. Hard-up workers are giving 9.6 per cent less than a year ago, with almost a quarter admitting to reducing their donations. Londoners have dropped their donations by 9.2 per cent. People aged 34 to 44 are most reluctant to part with their [...]
AANALYST VIEWS: IS BURBERRY ON A WINNING PATH? July 13, 2010 KATHARINE WYNNE | INVESTEC “The luxury sector has not done universally well, but Burberry has a lot of sales to tourists from countries like the Japan and the US (boosted by favourable exchange rates which brought more shoppers in). They also do very well with gifting. “ SAM HART | CHARLES STANLEY “Longer term prospects [...]
Lies, damn lies and the UK’s statistics July 12, 2010 BRITAIN’S economy shrank even more than previously thought during the recession – that, at least, is what the Office for National Statistics informed us yesterday and what we are therefore expected to believe. The economy is thought to have collapsed 6.4 per cent from peak to trough, a figure that will probably go on being [...]
UK recession was deeper than thought July 12, 2010 BRITAIN suffered a far deeper contraction than had previously been thought and the health of the economy was far more reliant on public spending in the first three months of 2010, official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed yesterday. The data, which had been delayed by nearly two weeks, due to “potential [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: WHAT WILL DRIVE THE UK’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY? July 12, 2010 SIMON WARD | HENDERSON “The UK GDP revision confirms a domestic demand-led recovery. Domestic demand was stronger than previously thought in the latest quarter and over the last year, with net exports correspondingly weaker. The demand upgrade was focused on fixed investment.” MICHAEL SAUNDERS | CITIGROUP “We expect that this ongoing monetary stimulus [weak pound [...]
Further falls predicted for jobless count July 11, 2010 OFFICIAL data out on Wednesday is expected to show that fewer Britons claimed jobless benefits in June, the fifth successive monthly drop in the claimant count measure. Economists, on average, expect the number of Britons claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) will have fallen by 24,5000 last month. For the wider International Labor Organisation (ILO) measure, [...]
Investec may sell Rensburg fund division July 7, 2010 SOUTH African bank Investec yesterday said it had brought in advisers to explore the possibility of hiving off the fund management division of Rensburg Sheppards, which it bought out fully at the end of March. Investec said it had received “a number of expressions of interest” from potential buyers for Rensburg Fund Management (RFM), which [...]
THE TIPSTER July 7, 2010 GOLD has sold off sharply although rather than the usual risk appetite explanation, fingers are pointing towards central banks offloading the asset to the Bank of International Settlements. However, with the risk a double-dip still looming, there’s no shortage of reasons why the foray below $1,200/ per oz will be short lived. The current IG [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 5, 2010 TUI TRAVEL UBS upgrades TUI Travel from “neutral” to “buy” with a lower price target of 250p. UBS said that market risk aversion and concerns that a late collapse in summer 2010 sales will cause a significant earnings downgrade seem to have caused the shares to sharply underperform. UBS believes the stock now offers good [...]