LONDON WEEK AHEAD May 20, 2012 GIVEN property developer British Land’s significant presence in the City, its full-year results will be closely watched this morning for signs of how the Eurozone crisis is hitting the company’s retail lettings. Budget airline Ryanair will also release its full-year results, as will outsourcing group Mitie. The spotlight will turn to the UK high street [...]
BAA offloads Edinburgh for shock £800m April 23, 2012 THE dismantling of BAA’s British interests moved forward yesterday when it agreed to sell Edinburgh airport to City airport owner Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for a surprise £807m. GIP, an investment fund founded by Credit Suisse and General Electric, beat a consortium led by JP Morgan Asset Management’s infrastructure fund. The price dwarfs the £500m [...]
Ryanair blames airport fees for Edinburgh cuts April 12, 2012 RYANAIR yesterday cut 60 weekly flights from Edinburgh Airport in a bid to force operator BAA to lower its fees. The low-cost carrier warned that its move to axe eight routes from its winter schedule could cost up to 500 jobs at the airport. Ryanair blamed BAA’s “uncompetitive” fees, and said its annual passenger traffic [...]
Oscar Whisky primed to land another Aintree Hurdle April 12, 2012 IT isn’t easy to pinpoint value on this afternoon’s Aintree card, but I don’t think the bookmakers have got it right in the John Smith’s Melling Chase (3.05pm). I’m a big fan of Finian’s Rainbow, but he has always struck me as a genuine two-miler and he has been beaten both times he has been [...]
Grumeti can bounce back from Cheltenham defeat April 11, 2012 AINTREE’S prestigious three-day Grand National meeting gets underway this afternoon and it may be worth finding a TV just after 2pm to watch the remarkable Big Buck’s beat Sir Ken’s (one of the great Champion Hurdlers from the 1950s) unbeaten sequence of 16. Now, Paul Nicholls’ four-time World Hurdle winner is a best-priced 1/4 with [...]
The economics of the airline industry are sheer hell April 10, 2012 AVIATION has changed massively since the era of Pan Am, a byword for style and sophistication in its 1960s heyday. The once besuited passengers have been replaced by an understandably angry mob, fighting to fit their suitcases into fluorescent-coloured over-head cabins. It is out with the caviar and freshly cooked roast beef and in with [...]
Willie Walsh’s bonus cut after Iberia troubles April 4, 2012 WILLIE Walsh picked up a £1.155m pay package for last year but missed out on £1.35m of bonus payments after International Airlines Group (IAG) failed to hit some performance targets. The group chief executive received a base salary of £825,000 and a £302,000 bonus, according to the annual report of the owner of British Airways [...]
UK’s over-taxed public is running out of patience April 1, 2012 EXORBITANT: that is the only way to describe the cripplingly high levels of Air Passenger Duty (APD) now facing everybody flying from the UK. The era of cheap flights which had done so much to make international travel accessible to the vast majority of the public is coming to a sorry end: the tax on [...]
Just two left in bidding war for BAA’s Edinburgh Airport April 1, 2012 THE field of bidders for Edinburgh Airport has narrowed to a straight fight between a group of investors led by JP Morgan and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). Their private equity rivals for the asset, 3i and Carlyle, are said to have pulled out of what is expected to be a £500m race for the Scottish [...]
BEST of the BROKERS April 1, 2012 GDF SUEZ UBS rates the energy group “buy” and has a 12-month price target of €23. The broker thinks GDF’s bid for the remainder of London-listed peer International Power has come earlier than expected, although the offer itself is hardly surprising. UBS reckons the offer price of 390p per share is likely to rise, and [...]