JD Sports on the up while JJB struggles September 20, 2009 RIVAL sportswear retailers JD Sports and JJB Sports are due to report half-year figures this week amid mounting controversy in the sportswear sector.JD Sports has been relatively resilient throughout the downturn, reporting sales lifts and profiting from the ailing fortunes of its rivals. Selling mainly sportswear fashion, rather than sports equipment, it has been cushioned [...]
Investors grab Arcandor stake in Thomas Cook September 10, 2009 CREDITOR banks of insolvent German retailer Arcandor yesterday completed the placing of a 43.9 per cent stake in travel firm Thomas Cook in one of the biggest share placings in Britain in recent years. The placing removes uncertainty about future ownership of the stake and lifted the company’s share price. It was a further sign [...]
Energy and bank stocks push FTSE 100 back below 5,000 September 10, 2009 THE FTSE 100 drifted lower yesterday, unable to stay above the 5,000 level as energy and bank stocks weighed heavily. It closed down by 16.62 points, or 0.3 per cent to 4,987.68, having closed above 5,000 for the first time since late September 2008 on Wednesday. “We’re taking a bit of a pause from what [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 9, 2009 Piper JaffrayJens Rosebrock, pictured, joins the bank from Dresdner Kleinwort as head of clean technology investment banking. Peter Schuemers also joins as an analyst from Dresdner. Paul Lewington and Adrien Bommelaer join the technology team from Close Brothers and Credit Suisse. And in the European equity sales team, Bede Bruce-Lockhart joins as a managing director [...]
Large caps break 5,000 as travel gets its day in the sun September 9, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended a week of waiting yesterday to pull itself above the 5,000 level by the close. The benchmark index rose by 1.2 per cent on the back of strong oil and bank stocks, as well as early gains on Wall Street. By the close the index was 56.96 points higher at 5,004.30, [...]
Thomas Cook agency set to dump stake on market September 6, 2009 A STAKE of almost 50 per cent in Thomas Cook, Europe’s second largest travel agent, is expected to be dumped on the market this week. The 43.9 per cent stake belonging to insolvent German department store owner Arcandor had been used as collateral against €1.5bn (£1.3bn) in credit from German banks Bayern and Commerzbank and [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 6, 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopersThe accountancy firm has appointed Marco Amitrano to lead its UK risk assurance business.Amitrano, 39, joined the firm in 1992, and worked first in Newcastle and then for three years in the Chicago office. Most recently, he has had responsibility for all of the firm’s audit and related services to the UK subsidiaries of global [...]
Jet Republic is grounded August 20, 2009 JET REPUBLIC, the private-jet charter company, has ceased trading and become technically insolvent, it said yesterday. “It is with great regret that I announce that Jet Republic appears to be technically insolvent,” chief executive Jonathan Breeze said to staff in an email. “The business expected to receive funds today that have not arrived, nor do [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 18, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES THOMAS COOK SALE PLANA large part of Arcandor’s 53 per cent stake in Thomas Cook could be sold to institutional investors as early as next month as creditor banks of the insolvent German retailer try to claw back their loans. Two people close to the banking consortium said a share placing “theoretically still [...]
Swine flu hits Thomas Cook August 13, 2009 TOUR operator Thomas Cook yesterday admitted it would miss its operating profit target, compounding the gloom in the leisure sector. The group, in which insolvent German retailer Arcandor still holds a 53 percent stake, said it would fall short of its hopes of achieving operating profit of £480m in 2010. Chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa said [...]