Sberbank lifts outlook on margins and loan growth November 30, 2011 SBERBANK, Russia’s largest bank, hiked its full year profit forecast yesterday following a 76 per cent rise in third-quarter net income to $2.55bn (£1.6bn), driven by loan growth and higher margins. The state lender now expects 2011 net profit to come in at 300-310bn roubles (£6.2bn – £6.4bn), up from an earlier forecast of 250-270bn [...]
Top London property set for Chinese takeaway in new Cordea Savills fund November 28, 2011 IN RECENT years it has been seen as the preserve of affluent Britons, Arab sheiks and Russian oligarchs. Now, however, more top London property could be snapped up by Far Eastern investors, including perhaps the Chinese Communist Party. Cordea Savills, the fund management arm of consultancy Savills, has launched a £150m fund that will buy [...]
If only the neoliberals were really in charge November 28, 2011 IT IS common to hear about the ascendancy of “neoliberal” economics. Many on the left use it as an explanation for the deregulation that they blame for causing the financial crisis. And some argue that it is the dominant school of thought within the economics profession. These are myths, and I want to challenge some [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK November 27, 2011 TWO things are in plentiful supply at the 1980s-themed club Maggies in West London: bad taste and Russian Standard vodka. Combine the two, as one City boy did when he turned up to “start Christmas early” with seven friends, and you find yourself wearing the Miner’s Cap – a hat adorned with the Iron Lady’s [...]
TRAVEL NOTES November 27, 2011 Australia to set up marine park bigger than Germany Australia has agreed to set up the world’s biggest marine park to protect vast areas of the Coral Sea off the country’s northeast coast and the site of fierce naval battles during World War Two. The park will cover almost 1m square km – an area [...]
Why it’s time to ditch the term Cyber Monday November 27, 2011 Today is Cyber Monday, which means at some point this evening we will all finally be subsumed into the greater consciousness of the net. Don’t panic, life will be better there. There won’t be any nasty “personalities” or “individuals” or “things,” just an infinite loop of the John Lewis advert playing over the surface of [...]
LORD MAYOR STEPS UP SECURITY FOR AMBASSADORS’ RECEPTIONS November 24, 2011 IT HAD to be the Queen. “No-one else has that level of police presence,” said one City observer when he noted a convoy of four police motorbikes and two impressive cars making its way towards the Walbrook Building in stately fashion. But no – it was Lord Mayor David Wootton, who had stepped up his [...]
Polymetal sets buyback price November 23, 2011 RUSSIAN precious metals miner Polymetal International, which recently secured a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange, yesterday offered to buy back the minority investors in its Russian group for 531.15 roubles (£10.90) per share. Polymetal raised £491m when it floated in London last month and it is hoping to join the FTSE 100 index [...]
Watered-down soup sales hurting Campbell as competition mounts November 22, 2011 CAMPBELL Soup, the world’s largest soup maker, reported weak quarterly sales yesterday as higher prices at its US soup and international businesses put off price-conscious shoppers, sending its shares down five per cent. The company, whose US soup business has struggled with more competition, said quarterly sales in that business fell four per cent, hurt [...]
Capital Shopping Centres secures new debt facility November 21, 2011 CAPITAL Shopping Centres (CSC), the UK’s biggest mall owner, has secured a £375m credit facility from a consortium of five banks to help provide “general liquidity” to the company. The owner of Manchester’s Trafford Centre and the MetroCentre in Gateshead said yesterday that the revolving facility would replace a previous, undrawn £248m facility that was [...]