Look beyond bricks and mortar and invest in the new generation of property funds December 3, 2009 IF YOU don’t want to blow your whole bonus in one go, or you don’t have the appetite for owning a buy-to-let, then there is an alternative: investing in a property fund. A number of new funds have recently launched, designed to capitalise on the steep losses seen across the board in residential and commercial [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 1, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES HIT HAMSTER RANGE LIFTS CHARACTER GROUPToymaker and distributor The Character Group has predicted Christmas shortages of its most popular lines of children’s gifts, including Go Go Pets, based on a range of battery-powered interactive hamsters. John Lewis, the department store chain, has already imposed a limit of one order per customer for the [...]
THE LONDON REPORT November 30, 2009 BRITAIN’S leading share index shed 1.1 per cent yesterday, ending at session lows, dragged back by weakness in oil majors and banks on lingering anxiety over the impact of Dubai’s debt problems. By the close, the FTSE 100 was down 55.05 points at 5,190.68, its lowest closing level for three weeks. The blue chip index [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 30, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES CARLYLE SUED OVER COLLAPSED FUNDA prominent Kuwaiti conglomerate is suing the Carlyle Group in a local court, alleging that the US private equity firm misrepresented the safety of its affiliate, Carlyle Capital Corp (CCC), a public debt fund that collapsed in 2008. The firm, National?Industries Group, invested $50m in CCC, which was marketed [...]
Ross returns to the City as Cosalt chair November 30, 2009 DAVID Ross, the co-founder of British mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, has returned to the City as chairman of marine safety group Cosalt, months after he stepped down from this post in the wake of a share disclosure row. In December last year Ross quit a series of high-profile roles when it emerged he had [...]
Borders administrators wield the axe on 36 staff November 30, 2009 BORDERS, the bookshop that has fallen into administration, yesterday made its first round of redundancies. Joint administrators Phil Duffy, Geoff Bouchier and David Whitehouse of MCR announced that a total of 36 employees based at the London head office of Borders have been made redundant. Duffy said that the redundancies did not impact the business [...]
Selfridges to make 100m November 29, 2009 Selfridges, the London luxury department store group, is today expected to unveil profits of £100m in its 100th year as the store is buoyed by a surge of wealthy overseas shoppers taking advantage of the weak pound. The retailer, which also has stores in Manchester and Birmingham’s Bullring centre and plans to open another in [...]
Number of shops lying empty drops as City take-up improves November 26, 2009 The number of shops lying empty in the UK’s prime retail areas has fallen for the first time this year according to property adviser Cushman & Wakefield. Central London has one of the lowest levels of availability as the capital retains its reputation as a shopping destination. But shops in the City have not fared [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHEN DO YOU THINK THE ECONOMY WILL COME OUT OF RECESSION? November 25, 2009 SIMON DUKE LLOYD’S OF LONDON“I expect that by the end of next year we will see signs that the recession has ended, particularly because we’ve already hit bottom. It will take time for new jobs to surface and previous jobs to return, but I think the recovery process is underway.” MARK STOOP BEAZLEY“I think the [...]
THE TIPSTER CHRISTMAS WILL BE KEY FOR TED BAKER November 22, 2009 DESIGNER retail brand Ted Baker indicated that business has been good in recent interims as consumers reacted positively to its current collections. It has seen an 18 per cent drop in profits this year, but sales were up 19.8 per cent from this time last year. Ray Kelvin, its CEO, expects it to weather the [...]