A recovery built on bricks and mortar January 12, 2014 Bovis chief executive David Ritchie tells Elizabeth Fournier why he’s not concerned about a new UK housing bubble THE LAST 12 months have been good ones for Britain’s housebuilders. After a financial crisis that saw billions wiped off the sector as credit dried up and house prices crashed, 2013 saw a return to form as [...]
A two-speed high street January 9, 2014 A CLEAR split between Britain’s winners and losers in the battle for consumers’ cash this Christmas emerged yesterday, as three of the biggest retail chains revealed worse-than-expected trading. Poor results from Tesco, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer added to dreary updates from Sainsbury’s and Mothercare, with heavy discounting, weak consumer spending and the rising discount [...]
Growth creates drought of London job candidates January 8, 2014 A SKILLS squeeze is hitting London while companies across the UK are also finding it increasingly hard to find appropriate staff, a report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG reveals today. As the economy recovers, employers are reporting a shortage of skilled candidates for vacancies. According to the survey, the drop in availability [...]
City Moves for 9 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 8, 2014 YFM Equity Partners The private equity firm has announced the appointment of Paul Cook as chief operating officer. Cook was previously managing director of Access IS, and has also held roles at KPMG, PwC, Sonatest, American Standard and William Baird. BNP Paribas The bank has appointed Gildas Surry as senior credit analyst for European banks. Surry has [...]
New car sales hit post-crisis high January 7, 2014 BRITONS bought 2,264,737 new cars last year, the highest sales rate since 2007 and better than industry forecasts. Showrooms shifted 10.8 per cent more new vehicles than they did in 2012, with analysts pointing to windfalls from PPI compensation, attractive finance packages and a hunt for more fuel-efficient cars as the main drivers of growth. [...]
The year in preview: Our in-depth guide January 5, 2014 City A.M.’s journalists take a wide-ranging look at what 2014 has in store for the world of finance and business BANKINGRestoring faith means costly overhaulsA CAUTIOUS optimism pervades the British and European banking system at the start of 2014. The incoming economic recovery is at last improving customers’ creditworthiness, while the hard work running down [...]
A Merry Christmas and thanks for your support during 2013 December 19, 2013 AFTER months of speculation about how the markets would react to the gradual phasing out of monetary stimulus in the US, we got part of our answer over the last 36 hours. And, it has to be said, it’s so far so good. Some assumed that even a hint of a tightening of monetary policy [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 20 December 2013 December 19, 2013 FINANCIAL TIME Taper pressures emerging markets Markets soured on the day after the US Federal Reserve’s dramatic tapering of its asset purchases from $85bn to $75bn per month as the dollar climbed and vulnerable emerging markets came under pressure. The taper heralded a new era of dollar strength, with the US currency up by 0.6 [...]
Fact or Fiction 2013 December 19, 2013 Six of these stories happened in 2013, six didn’t – can you spot the real ones? 1 Ex-Goldman Sachs-er “Fabulous” Fabrice Tourre pulled out a love letter as part of his defence during his trial in New York. 2 The Lloyd’s of London building was sold to a Malaysian firm for £300m. 3 Tesco was [...]
City Moves for 20 December 2013 | Who’s switching jobs December 19, 2013 Herbert Smith Freehills The law firm has announced the appointments of Sonya Leydecker (right) and Mark Rigotti as joint chief executives. Leydecker joined the firm in 1984 and was promoted to partner in 1991. Rigotti joined in 1988, and has since held senior roles including head of banking and head of corporate. KPMG The professional [...]