FTSE on back foot as bank stress tests loom July 15, 2011 The FTSE mirrored markets across Europe in early trading as investors awaited the results of bank strss tests with some lenders expected to fail to meet the criteria required. With persistent fears over the Eurozone debt crisis and the threat of a US rating downgrade casting a shadow market sentiment was tepid. European shares overall [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 14, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LAFARGE IN TALKS TO SELL PLASTERBOARD ARM Lafarge is closing in on the sale of its plasterboard business as the French cement maker pushes ahead with its debt reduction programme and attempts to recover its investment grade credit rating. The world’s second-largest cement company by revenue said on Thursday it had entered exclusive [...]
Commodity falls and fears for stress tests see FTSE decline July 14, 2011 FALLS among commodity issues sapped the strength of Britain’s top share index yesterday, as worries over global growth clouded the demand outlook for metals and oils. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 59.48 points, or one per cent at 5,846.95, reversing all and more of the previous session’s 0.6 per cent rally. [...]
SuperGroup eyes overseas expansion as profits impress July 13, 2011 SUPERGROUP boss Julian Dunkerton said yesterday the company would consider opening more flagship stores across the globe as it recorded a bumper annual profit. The retailer announced a pre-tax profit for the year to 1 May of £47.3m, up 110 per cent. A highlight of the year for the company was the purchase of a [...]
Commodities boost FTSE rise as China data elevates miners July 13, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 bounced yesterday, led by commodity stocks as economic data from China and soothing words from the US Federal Reserve raised hopes that stagnation in the global economic recovery might prove short-lived. Having fallen near five per cent over the previous three days, the mining sector rallied 1.8 per cent after China’s GDP [...]
Standard Chartered warns on bank ringfencing plans July 12, 2011 GOVERNMENT-COMMISSIONED plans to force banks to “ring-fence” their retail and investment arms have been blasted for putting the economy at risk. Standard Chartered, the emerging-markets focused bank, said the central plank of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) review “would not address the causes of the crisis or improve financial stability”. “These proposals, coupled with [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 10, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES VIRGIN SEEKS US ROLE Virgin Trains is vying to play a role in the privatisation of the US rail industry in a move that could see it become the operator of the lucrative 457-mile route from Washington to Boston. Virgin, which already runs the profitable West Coast railway line between London and Glasgow [...]
All the world buys into London July 10, 2011 Office Space CENTRAL London looks set to be the prime beneficiary of a renewed appetite for direct investment into UK commercial property. The capital already tops the league table of largest global property investment markets, netting close on £11bn in 2010, significantly more than closest rivals Tokyo, Paris and New York. And the prospects for [...]
Focus on Ealing: West is the best July 10, 2011 Office Space WITH the clamour and disruption of Crossrail making itself known across central London, investors can seek consolation in turning their thoughts to its profitable prospects in one of London’s most tranquil outposts. Ealing, dubbed “Queen of Suburbs” by no less an authority than Nikolaus Pevsner, will benefit from not one but two Crossrail [...]
The big picture: London property July 10, 2011 Office Space IT’S a game of two halves for central London’s commercial property market: an early trip to the showers for the office sector, while the retail sector is playing into extra time. Across London’s core office pitches, from the financial zones of Canary Wharf and the City, to the media and head office blocks [...]