HomeServe adds more customers November 24, 2009 HOMESERVE yesterday posted a higher first-half profit from core operations, aided by growth in customer and policy numbers, and said it would not be affected by the recent floods in north west England. HomeServe, which provides cover for a range of emergencies such as broken boilers and overflowing washing machines, also said it was confident [...]
CBI boss Richard Lambert can see early signs of economic recovery November 19, 2009 THE worst is over for the British economy. At least, that was the message from Richard Lambert, the Confederation of Business Industry’s (CBI) thoughtful director-general, when we meet. “We have finally hit the deck,” he tells me, leaning forward. “Things are a lot better now than in the first quarter of this year. Where we [...]
Guy Hands: West faces zero growth unless bad debts are written off November 18, 2009 THE private equity industry is on a collision course with the banks amid calls for hundreds of billions in leveraged loans to be restructured to avoid Japanese-style economic stagnation. Outspoken private equity boss Guy Hands yesterday accused banks – particularly the bailed out institutions – of failing to act on bad debts to avoid admitting [...]
Crossrail’s chairman says the 16bn project is set to push ahead in 2010 November 17, 2009 The last time I saw Terry Morgan was a year ago at 2am, underneath Leicester Square. Then he was the Tube Lines chief executive and was standing on the underground tracks between Leicester Square and Covent Garden stations, telling a couple of engineers exactly what he thought of their work. This meeting could not be [...]
Another boss to step down from TNK-BP November 11, 2009 BILLIONAIRE Mikhail Fridman yesterday said that he is likely to step down as acting chief executive of BP’s Russian joint venture TNK-BP, which will appoint a new permanent chief. The void at the helm of TNK-BP is the result of a row over strategy and control that erupted last year between BP and the four [...]
SilverWind blows into West End as veteran brokers join forces November 11, 2009 New West End-based stockbroker SilverWind has opened for trading, with ex-Lite Financial trader Darren Sinden joining its ranks. SilverWind is being led by ex-ODL Securities head of capital markets Andrew Rowland, with the former vice chairman of ABN AMRO Menno de Jager leading the board. It will offer institutional and corporate clients a comprehensive range [...]
Great Portland sees its office valuations jump November 11, 2009 GREAT Portland Estates yesterday signalled a tentative return to health for the commercial real estate sector as it revealed a jump in valuations over the past quarter and announced a lucrative new West End property deal. Great Portland, which in May tapped investors for £560m in a rights issue, said its properties were valued at [...]
Tourists will fill West End November 8, 2009 CENTRAL London shops expect to receive a glut of foreign customers this winter, enticed to the capital by the current weakness of the pound. The New West End Company, which represents retailers in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, is expecting a 5-10 per cent year-on-year increase in foreign shoppers over the festive period. [...]
China announces it will put another $10bn into Africa November 8, 2009 CHINESE premier Wen Jiabao promised $10bn (£6bn) of low interest loans to African nations over three years, at the opening of the China-Africa summit yesterday. The two-day forum being held in Egypt is being attended by representatives from 50 nations, including Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Omar al Bashir from Sudan. Infrastructure, social programmes and [...]
US banking failures top 120 for the year November 8, 2009 United Commercial Bank, a big San Francisco bank with branches in China, was closed by state regulators this weekend and its operations were acquired by East West Bancorp, also active in both nations. East West said the transaction made it the second-largest independent bank in California. Based in Pasadena, East West has 137 US branches, [...]