Why equities have further to fall before they eventually recover September 5, 2008 Despite a strong August, investors must remain very cautious, warns Abigail Townsend For the City’s dwindling band of optimists, August was a surprisingly good month. After hefty falls for most of the summer, the FTSE 100 rallied from lows of below 5,100 in early July to close at 5,362 yesterday, a 5.14 per cent gain [...]
Southern Cross chief stands down after property sell off September 5, 2008 Beleaguered health group Southern Cross yesterday announced that its chief executive Bill Colvin is standing down after it revealed it would have to sell yet more properties to pay off debt. The UK’s largest care home operator said that Colvin – who will not receive a pay out – will leave the board by “mutual [...]
Signet fails to shine as sales slump bites September 4, 2008 The World’s biggest speciality jewellery retailer, Signet, has announced a 7.8 per cent fall in first half pre-tax profit, slightly better than analysts had feared. Signet warned that the consumer environment in both the US and the UK remained “very challenging”. Investec had forecast profits of $75.3m (£42.3m), five per cent lower than those reported. [...]
Brown’s £1bn home market rescue gets a cool response September 3, 2008 Critics have rounded on prime minister Gordon Brown’s housing market rescue package saying it will do little to reverse the worst housing slump in 18 years. From today the government has scrapped stamp duty for a year on homes worth less than £175,000 as part of a package of measures designed to revitalise the flagging [...]
Computacenter falls after tough conditions in UK August 29, 2008 IT services firm Computacenter yesterday cited poor performance in the UK as the reason for a 14.2 per cent dip in profits, hammering its shares which plunged by almost 13 per cent in early trading. A lacklustre set of numbers across the channel in France also hurt the firm, it said, reporting profit before tax [...]
Public spend boosts Logica August 15, 2008 IT group Logica yesterday upped its forecast for sales growth after an increase in IT spending in the public sector boosted first-half revenues by 6 per cent. Chief executive Andy Green admitted that the group was seeing a slowdown in financial services and consumer-driven sectors, but said other areas were holding up. Logica said that [...]
Volatile markets give London Capital Group a boost as interim profits soar August 8, 2008 Volatile market conditions helped profits more than double at spread betting firm London Capital Group over the past six months, its interim results revealed yesterday. Profits before tax rose 52 per cent to £5.43m in the six months to the end of June as sharp falls in share prices tempted more people to try spread [...]
Why running a spreadbetting giant is just the ticket for this maths buff August 7, 2008 The boss of IG tells Katie Hope how volatile financial markets are boosting his industry Question: what do mathematicians and spread-betters have in common? Answer: quite a lot, it turns out, as exemplified by the man at the very top of the UK’s largest spread betting and contracts for difference firm IG Index. Tim Howkins, [...]
MPC decision on knife edge August 4, 2008 The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision on interest rates on Thursday will be a close call according to leading analysts who believe a hike is possible. The nine-member committee, which has left rates on hold at 5 per cent for the past three months, was split three ways in July with the [...]
Recession is certain – City July 28, 2008 Analysts have declared a UK recession inevitable following official data showing that economic growth in the second quarter of this year slumped to its weakest rate in three years. The Office for National Statistics revealed last week that GDP rose by just 0.2 per cent in the three months to June, bringing the annual rate [...]