What the other papers say this morning January 30, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BANKS WATCH BARCLAYS’ COCO PLANS Big banks on both sides of the Atlantic are weighing whether to follow Barclays as it pushes ahead with a plan to pay bonuses with innovative bonds, dubbed cocos. According to several banks present at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, the idea of using contingent convertible [...]
Less than half of City jobs are in finance January 30, 2011 FINANCIAL companies in the City and Canary Wharf stimulate a vast and varied range of jobs outside the sector, according to official figures seen by City A.M. Less than half (44 per cent) the jobs in London’s main financial districts were in finance and insurance in 2009, with 232,682 other jobs existing in support services [...]
Work restarts on British Land’s Cheesegrater January 27, 2011 CONSTRUCTION work has restarted on the Cheesegrater tower on Leadenhall Street after developers British Land and Oxford Properties agreed to fund the £340m project as a joint venture. The 47-storey tower, officially named the Leadenhall Building, was shelved in 2008 amid uncertainty in the London property market. Builders returned to the site yesterday to restart [...]
Great Portland Estates portfolio lifted by strong London demand January 27, 2011 GREAT Portland Estates (GPE) said yesterday that rising property values helped push its net asset value up 3.8 per cent in the last three months of 2010. The FTSE 250-listed landlord now owns properties worth £1.55bn, which the firm said has been boosted by strong demand for leasing and investments in central London. Office rental [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 24, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES FSA CHIEF SEEKS NEW SAFEGUARDS The head of the Financial Services Authority has called for a “radical rethink” of consumer protection in the UK, including the possible imposition of fee caps and bans on some retail financial products. The regulator has historically adopted a “light touch” approach for the regulation of financial products, [...]
Vickers rules out break-up January 23, 2011 SIR John Vickers, chair of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), ruled out breaking up the financial industry into “narrow banks” on Saturday in his first official speech since the commission was convened. But Vickers’ speech, which gave a glimpse of the ICB’s thinking three months before its preliminary report is due out, did discuss [...]
Strong Christmas drives second profit upgrade in two months at Laura Ashley January 20, 2011 FASHION and homewares retailer Laura Ashley issued its second profit upgrade in two months yesterday. The company said it was confident that full-year profits would be better than City forecasts. It said a strong performance over Christmas and early January means that the results will be “significantly higher than earlier expectations”. Analysts on average were [...]
PROPERTY NEWS January 20, 2011 HYDE PARK PROPERTY FLOURISHING Over 55 per cent of the mega-luxe, much-hyped Hyde Park development the Lancasters (competing with the even-more hyped One Hyde Park), has been sold in advance of its opening in June, making developers Northacre the second best performing retail stock in Europe. Klas Nilsson, Northacre’s chairman, puts this down to “a [...]
Primark fuels AB Foods sales rise January 20, 2011 Primark-owner Associated British Foods reported a ten per cent rise in first-quarter sales led by its discount fashion retailer and saw further growth ahead despite the effect of higher commodity costs. The London-based group, which markets Silver Spoon sugar, Twining tea and Ovaltine drinks, said on Thursday its 214 Primark store chain had traded well [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 19, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES MOD FACES FRESH CRISIS OVER ITS FUNDING Senior figures in the Ministry of Defence are warning of a possible reopening of last October’s Strategic Defence and Security Review because the MoD lacks the funds needed to provide the military capability demanded by the government for 2020. The department has discovered that it needs [...]