Asda and J Sainsbury to battle it out in crunch time for grocers November 8, 2009 J Sainsbury and Asda will go head -to-head this week to show the City how they have been faring in the consumer downturn. Sainsbury’s, Britain’s third-biggest grocer, is expected to post a 16 per cent rise in first-half profits on Wednesday and warn of a tougher second half amid stiff competition. And Asda, owned by [...]
Share index up as Bank of England keeps rates at a low November 5, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index closed 0.4 per cent up yesterday, with energy stocks lifted by optimism on the economic outlook as central banks kept rates steady and US data surprised on the upside. The Bank of England kept rates steady at a record low of 0.5 per cent and said it would expand its quantitative [...]
Banking shake-up gives the markets a case of the jitters November 3, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index fell to its lowest closing level in a month yesterday, led down by banks after shake-ups at Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds and poor results from Swiss peer UBS The FTSE 100 closed 67.29 points or 1.3 per cent weaker at 5,037.21, having surrendered the 5,000 level for the first [...]
Bank changes affect millions November 3, 2009 MILLIONS of retail banking customers will be affected by the sale of Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland assets, but it could be four years before the process is complete. Spokespeople for both RBS and Lloyds both stressed yesterday that it was “business as usual” until further notice, and that any disruption will [...]
Myths and reality of the bank shake-up November 3, 2009 AS predictably as day follows night, the myth-making machine spiralled out of control again yesterday. Perhaps the biggest is that the UK banking system is uniquely concentrated. As Citigroup research reveals, this simply is not so: overall UK banking system concentration (using the World Bank’s measure of assets of the biggest three banks as a [...]
REVOLUTION ON THE BANKING HIGH STREET – KEY POINTS November 3, 2009 ASSET PROTECTION SCHEMERBS:• Will receive a £25.5bn capital injection from government: £13bn upfront; £6bn of discretionary capital; and £6.5bn in a fee taken as capital.• Toxic assets placed in the APS cut from £325bn to £282bn.• RBS must cover first £60bn – not the £42bn that was first envisaged?– of losses on toxic assets in [...]
Brokers at ING call on Tesco to snap up Ahold November 2, 2009 MARKET talk that Tesco should snap up Dutch rival Royal Ahold resurfaced yesterday, after analysts said that such a deal would boost the retail giant’s US presence. Broker ING yesterday issued a note entitled “Buying Ahold would actually make sense for Tesco”. ING said that a potential £13.5bn bid would be easily financed by Tesco’s [...]
Blair eyed 1m fee to help Tesco in the Middle East November 1, 2009 EX-PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair held talks with supermarket giant Tesco over helping it expand into the Middle East, with the hope of earning a £1m fee. But the talks fell apart when Blair, who is now a peace envoy to the region, and Tesco couldn’t agree to terms. Blair considered acting as a figurehead for [...]
We need to shake up consumer banking October 28, 2009 YESTERDAY was the 80th anniversary of the Great Crash of 1929. Like the present crisis, which has fortunately turned out to be much less severe, the bubble of the 1920s was caused primarily by errors in monetary policy and a misunderstanding of the way the economy works. There was too much cheap money sloshing around [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 28, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES LOVELLS IN MERGER TALKS TO CREATE LEGAL FIRMLovells, the City law firm, was in talks on last night over a merger with Washington-based Hogan & Hartson aimed at creating a rare successful big transatlantic legal tie-up, said people familiar with the matter. The proposed deal would create a law firm with a strong [...]