HSBC Shanghai plan to boost expansion December 20, 2009 HSBC is poised to become one of the first foreign companies to list on the Shanghai stock exchange, returning to its Asian roots. The bank wants to raise its profile in China as it opens more branches and considers taking stakes in Chinese lenders. It first announced in May last year that it wanted to [...]
Recession over but tough 2010 for UK December 16, 2009 THERE will be so many challenges confronting the British economy next year that it is hard to know where to start. The last remaining hard-core bulls, who still believe in a v-shaped recovery, will be bitterly disappointed; to a lesser degree, so will the perma-bears, who are still convinced that the UK banking system is [...]
Laura Ashley price cutting boosts sales December 16, 2009 LAURA ASHLEY, the womenswear and home furnishings retailer famous for its floral prints, continues to defy the hardship on the high street, with sales rising nearly five per cent since August. With the latest UK sales data showing improved retail sales in London in November but sluggishness across the rest of the country, Laura Ashley [...]
Moulton raises £143m for investment vehicle to target distressed companies December 15, 2009 PRIVATE equity industry veteran Jon Moulton has raised £142.4m to invest in struggling businesses through his new investment vehicle. Moulton, perhaps best known for his involvement in an unsuccessful bid to buy collapsed Midlands car maker MG Rover, will advise Better Capital, which will list on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on tomorrow. The group’s [...]
THE TIPSTER December 14, 2009 NEWS that British Airways’ cabin crew has voted in favour of strike action, combined with the state of the airline’s pension scheme has put further downward pressure on the airline’s share price. On a technical level, shares are currently blocked from any further progress by a resistance line in place on the daily chart since [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 14, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES COUNCILS THREATEN ICELAND BANK ACTION Council leaders have threatened to launch legal proceedings against a failed Icelandic bank which they fear will not repay £150m in deposits made by local authorities before the credit crunch. British councils had £900m of deposits in Iceland when a trio of its banks collapsed. So far barely [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 13, 2009 RBC Wealth Management RBC Wealth Management has hired Shervin Mellegard, Samuel Palmer and Neil Jeffries as a managing director, director and wealth manager respectively in the UK domestic team. Mellegard, pictured, has over 20 years of experience in financial services, with his career having spanned commodities futures and securities trading at Merrill Lynch to private [...]
London’s best sales growth for 3 years December 13, 2009 LONDON enjoyed its best sales growth since October 2006, with central London retail sales for November 13.3 per cent higher on a like-for-like basis than a year ago, according to the latest survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) out today. “These are great figures,” said Stephen Robertson, BRC’s director general. “These figures show that [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 13, 2009 THE SUNDAYS The Sundays Telegraph DEBENHAMS DIRECTORS GET BUMPER PAYOUTS Directors of Debenhams have received bumper payouts, despite the retailer cutting its dividend payment to shareholders last year. Rob Templeman, chief executive, saw his package increase by a third to £1.24m after he was granted a bonus of £428,073. Michael Sharp, deputy chief executive, saw [...]
Battle for the festive pound is under way December 6, 2009 THE high street price war has heated up as shops focus both on luring shoppers away from the internet and beating competition from neighbouring shops. London’s West End shopping district enjoyed its best trade for two years over the weekend as 2m shoppers flocked to a traffic-free Oxford Street, spending over £200m in one day [...]