Ash cloud hits airport sales at WH Smith June 8, 2010 WH Smith yesterday blamed disruption caused by the the Icelandic volcanco ash cloud for denting sales during the 14 weeks to 5 June. The company’s 570 high street stores saw like-for-like sales fall four per cent in the period. The group said like-for-like sales in the third quarter had fallen by four per cent at [...]
Capital Drilling makes a triumphant start to trading on the LSE official list June 7, 2010 EMERGING markets-focused mining group Capital Drilling yesterday saw its market value jump by over £6m on its first day of trading on the main list of the London Stock Exchange, as investors snapped up the stock. The firm listed at 61.5p a share but rose over the course of the day to close at 66p, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 6, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CROP SQUEEZE TO LIFT ORANGE JUICE PRICE The price of orange juice will rise in coming months as Brazil’s citrus crop, the world’s largest, sees its worst harvest in seven years because of bad weather and diseases, according to Cutrale of Brazil, the leading orange juice producer. Orange juice is a $20bn industry [...]
Businesses tell government to avoid knee-jerk tax hikes June 6, 2010 BUSINESS organisations will today call on the government to avoid knee-jerk tax rises in the emergency Budget later this month. In a report published today, City lobby group London First warns the UK is losing its reputation as a business-friendly location thanks to a series of surprise tax rises. John Dickie, director or strategy and [...]
Applications to build sink in downturn June 6, 2010 APPLICATIONS for permission to build new commercial property developments plunged sharply over the past year, as a number of high-profile developers succumbed to the downturn and demand for office and retail space faltered. In the past year, 21,729 commercial property planning applications were lodged in England, down 15 per cent from 25,600 the previous year, [...]
Helical says profits will double in 2011 and 2012 June 3, 2010 COMMERCIAL property company Helical Bar expects to double its after-tax profit in both 2011 and 2012 and anticipates spending £150m on acquisitions next year. Chief executive Michael Slade said yesterday he expected Helical, which posted an after-tax profit of £9.6m for the year to the end of March, to earn £20m or more after tax [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 3, 2010 Deloitte The business advisory firm has appointed Vince Niblett as the new global leader of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s audit and enterprise risk services practice. Niblett originally joined Deloitte in 1980 and has since been seconded to a number of assignments across the globe, including posts in Australia, Luxembourg, the Middle East and South America. He [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 1, 2010 Hermes The asset manager has appointed Chris Goudie as an executive director for global business development and chief executive of Hermes Fund Managers in North America. Goudie joins from Pyramis Global Advisers, the fund management firm he helped to establish for Fidelity. Hermes has also hired Heiko Dahse, pictured, and Marcus Money-Chappelle from Fischer Francis [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 31, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINA TOLD PROPERTY RISK IS WORSE THAN IN US The problems in China’s housing market are more severe than those in the US before the financial crisis because they combine a potential bubble with the risk of social discontent, according to an adviser to the Chinese central bank. Li Daokui, a professor at [...]
The grocer who says this year will test retailers as well as shoppers May 31, 2010 Much like the rest of the country, the chief executive of the country’s third largest supermarket group is trying to make up his mind about the coalition government. At the start of the election campaign Sainsbury’s boss Justin King was one of many who backed Tory plans to scrap national insurance hikes for employers, a [...]