CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 6, 2011 SWIP William Low has been appointed as head of global equities at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership’s (SWIP) International Equities team. Low, who joins from a 15-year tenure as director and portfolio manager at Blackrock, will be based in SWIP’s Edinburgh office and will be responsible for driving the firm’s global equity strategy across a range [...]
COMING SOON TO AN OLD PUB NEAR YOU… A BRAND NEW WAITROSE April 5, 2011 WAITROSE wants to grow – but Britain seems strangely bereft of suitable sites for the grocer, which is fighting a bitter convenience store war with its bigger rivals. So a desperate Waitrose has launched a highly unorthodox appeal to landlords to help it out. All sites and all properties will be considered, says the grocer [...]
Nomos leads the Russian IPO charge April 5, 2011 THE charge of Russian companies looking to London to go public picked up yesterday, as mid-size bank Nomos confirmed plans to float 20 per cent of its stock and several more issuers eyed talks with investors. The easing of market volatility, which spiked last month on fears of a nuclear crisis in Japan and unrest [...]
Wall St fuelling new dot.com bubble April 4, 2011 WITH the benefit of hindsight, bubbles are shockingly easy to spot. From Dutch merchants staking fortunes on the price of tulip bulbs to Chinese investors fighting for empty properties, the idiocy is always self-evident – eventually. At the time, however, it seems to make perfect sense to throw good money after bad. Somewhere deep in [...]
FTSE pushes up despite retail sector woes March 31, 2011 A raft of corporate results today has the potential to move the FTSE in either direction, but it is picking an upward path this morning. Mixed UK economic data has clouded the picture further. The GfK consumer confidence index has stalled at February’s low level on households’ concerns over their finances. Nationwide, however, said house [...]
FTSE rally continues despite earnings woes for retailers March 30, 2011 THE FTSE 100 closed higher for a sixth consecutive session yesterday, its best run since August 2010, as investors ditched retailers over earnings worries in favour of growth sectors such as industrials and mining. Dixons issued a profit warning and gloomy outlook as a survey from the CBI showed the underlying trend for retail sales [...]
FTSE rises after upbeat Wolseley results outweigh bank dips and debt worries March 29, 2011 THE FTSE 100 rose moderately in light trade yesterday with support from miners and upbeat results from Wolseley outpacing falls in banks on European debt worries. The FTSE 100 climbed 27.68 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,932.17. The index regained more than 3 per cent the previous week following losses sparked by the earthquake [...]
Porridge helps Pret a Manger stay hot March 29, 2011 Sandwich chain Pret a Manger has said sales of hot food such as porridge were helping it to thrive in tough consumer environment as it posted a 37 per cent rise in its 2010 core earnings. The chain, majority owned by private equity firm Bridgepoint , said it planned to open more than 30 shops [...]
Boris agrees to riot summit after protests March 28, 2011 THE MAYOR of London Boris Johnson (pictured) is to hold a summit for retailers and businesses affected by the violence at Saturday’s anti-cuts protests. Johnson said in a letter to the New West End Company yesterday that he and the Metropolitan Police “want to continue… dialogue and see what lessons can be learned”. Retailers including [...]
EasyJet in VisitBritain deal March 28, 2011 BUDGET airline easyJet has launched an £18m licensing deal with VisitBritain to promote tourism into the UK over the Royal Wedding, the 2012 London Olympics and beyond. The four-year deal will see the government pay the airline £9m to bring in foreign passengers to the UK. EasyJet will provide the rest of the funding in [...]