What the other papers say this morning August 30, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Downing Street could ease IPO rules Fast-growing technology companies would be allowed to float as little as 10 per cent of their business on the London Stock Exchange under proposals being weighed up by Downing Street. High quality global journalism requires investment. Senior figures in the government have given their backing to the [...]
JJB shares dive as it looks for a white knight August 30, 2012 SEVERAL bidders have expressed interest in taking control of crisis-hit retailer JJB Sports, which was forced to put itself up for sale yesterday after failing to secure fresh funding from investors. The company, which has 180 stores and employs 4,000 people, has been locked in discussions with suppliers and investors in recents months in a [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching Jobs August 29, 2012 SWIP The asset manager has added Alan Bridges to its global rates team as investment director of UK rates. Bridges has 27 years’ experience in global fixed income, most recently at UBS Global Asset Management where he was a senior portfolio manager. Prior to that he worked in a number of senior positions at ABN [...]
City Moves Who’s switching jobs August 27, 2012 British Retail Consortium The BRC has appointed Ian Cheshire as chairman, taking over the two-year post from Rob Templeman on 1 October. Cheshire has been chief executive of Kingfisher since January 2008 and an executive director since June 2000. He has also been a non-executive director of Whitbread since February 2011. He serves as a [...]
John Lewis sales up as shoppers catch sports fever August 24, 2012 John Lewis, Britain’s biggest department store group, posted strong sales growth last week, helped by increased demand for sports equipment following Britain’s gold medal haul at the London Olympics. The employee-owned firm said today department store sales jumped 14.5 per cent year on year to £61.1m in the week to 18 August, the third week [...]
Olympic feelgood factor fails to lift gloom on British high street August 23, 2012 GLOOM on the high street has continued in August, a leading survey revealed yesterday, with retailers becoming even more downbeat over business prospects for the next three months. Despite an uplift in morale from sunny weather and the London 2012 Olympic Games, retail sales were virtually flat compared to the same time last year. The [...]
CLS launches latest retail bond August 22, 2012 In the latest attempt to capitalise on consumer cash, CLS holdings, the London property investment firm, launched a retail bond yesterday. Investors will be able to put anything from £2,000 in the instrument, at a rate of 5.5 per cent. CLS has a portfolio of properties in London, France, Germany and Sweden.
Miners and Eurozone politicians take the shine off the FTSE 100 August 22, 2012 MINERS left Britain’s top share index nursing sharp losses yesterday after BHP Billiton’s results offered a bleak outlook for the sector, while other cyclical stocks were weaker as Greek and European officials met on the Eurozone debt crisis. London’s blue chip index was down 83.32 points, or 1.4 per cent, at 5,774.20. Cyclical stocks such [...]
Dev Secs makes £41m disposals August 21, 2012 Development Securities yesterday sold off a residential and two retail sites at Westminster Palace Gardens, Central London, the Wick Site in Littlehampton, and a retail park in Burnley for £40.9m. The Wick site was pre-sold to supermarket Morrisons for £12.5m, which plans to develop a 47,500 square feet store, a petrol station and a car [...]
Barratt signs £250m Croydon deal August 20, 2012 Housebuilder Barratt Developments announced yesterday it has exchanged contracts with Greater London Authority for a £250m redevelopment on Cane Hill in Croydon. Proposals for the 83 hectare former hospital site – the size of 100 football pitches – include 650 homes of which 163 will be affordable, as well as 70,000 square feet of office, [...]