Best of the Brokers February 7, 2013 LANCASHIRE HOLDINGS Lloyd’s of London insurer Lancashire has been upgraded to “add” by Nick Johnson of Numis, with a target price of 915p. He points out the FTSE 250 company has a “trend to pay out 100 per cent of earnings”. He sees room for an improved return on net assets thanks to “a more [...]
Osborne does the wrong thing while Hourican takes the fall February 6, 2013 DEPUTY heads must roll. It’s impossible to decrypt yesterday’s Libor-rigging settlement between Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and regulators in the UK and US without being reminded of that immortal phrase. John Hourican, who will step down as the boss of RBS’s investment bank at the end of April, is entitled to feel hard done [...]
Value of housing expands to all-time record of £4.2 trillion February 4, 2013 THE TOTAL value of the UK’s housing stock rose to breach the pre-recession peak of £4.08 trillion in 2012, according to figures released yesterday. UK houses were together worth £4.17 trillion in 2012, Lloyds Bank said, up from £4.07 trillion in 2011, and up from £3.69 trillion during the depths of the credit crunch and [...]
City Moves for 5 February 2013 | Who’s switching jobs February 4, 2013 Linklaters Simon Pritchard has been appointed partner in the law firm’s competition team. He is a former senior director of mergers at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Pritchard is also editor of UK Merger Control, and an external adviser to the OFT on international competition network matters. Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance Donald Kerr has [...]
FTSE rally tops fresh peaks yet UK banks slip January 29, 2013 BRITAIN’S top share index hit new four and a half year peaks yesterday, with a strong rally in miners outweighing concerns about continuing problems in the banking sector. Data from the US offered fresh proof of improvement in the world’s biggest economy, with a strong pick-up in housing prices following above-forecast durable goods data the [...]
City’s brightest named in legal hot 100 line-up January 28, 2013 SOME of the City’s top lawyers have been named on the industry’s annual Hot 100 list, including the silk helping Guardian Care Homes pursue Barclays for Libor-related mis-selling and the partner leading Co-op through its bid for Lloyds bank branches. The Lawyer magazine’s 2013 list, released yesterday, singles out 100 legal names to watch this [...]
FTSE 100 flat after hitting multi-year highs January 25, 2013 The leading share index was flat in this morning’s trading, after the FTSE 100 hit its highest level in almost five years yesterday, giving London its best start to the trading year since 1989. The blue chip index surged past the 6,200 level, closing up just over one per cent at 6,264.91 last night. But [...]
Stocks roar back January 24, 2013 UK STOCK markets turned a corner yesterday after blue chip firms spurred the FTSE to its highest level in nearly five years, giving London its best start to the trading year since 1989. The FTSE 100 list of Britain’s biggest companies surged past the 6,200 mark to its highest level since May 2008, capping off [...]
After a three-year wait … the Walbrook secures its first tenants January 24, 2013 THE WALBROOK Building opposite Cannon Street station has finally clinched its first two tenants, nearly three years since it was first built. Property developer Minerva, said it has secured the first deal with insurance broker, Arthur J Gallagher, which has taken offices on the ground floor and the whole of the seventh floor amounting to [...]
Top schools fuel house price hike January 24, 2013 AGOOD education can cost parents more than just tuition fees. Trends show that top performing schools drive house prices in their local neighbourhoods by nearly a third more than the national average. Little wonder, then, that developers are constructing luxury schemes in these sought-after areas. Wimbledon Hill Park is going down well with parents keen [...]