Carillion sells off consultancy arm October 12, 2009 Carillion, the construction and outsourcing group, is selling off its consultancy arm Enviros for around £27m as it seeks to pay off debt. Engineering company Sinclair Knight Merz is buying the unit from Carillion, which is valued at around £1.1bn. The sale will help Carillion beat its target of bringing net debt below the half-year [...]
BBA warns on capital rules October 12, 2009 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) must produce a cost estimate and a timetable for the tightening of capital requirements on banks or risk damaging the UK economy, British Bankers’ Association (BBA) chief executive Angela Knight will warn today. In a speech at the BBA’s conference on compliance and regulation, Knight will say that banks already [...]
Kraft to watch Cadbury results October 11, 2009 Chocolate maker Cadbury’s trading update next week will be vital to it fighting off a takeover approach from US giant Kraft. The week after Kraft will report its own results, allowing investors to number crunch the bid offer. Analysts have speculated that chocolate sales could fall below guidance at Cadbury. The Takeover Panel has given [...]
London rents still higher than Europe October 11, 2009 LONDON remains the most expensive European city in which to rent prime office, distribution and shopping centre space according to research out today by Knight Frank. Despite a steep fall in prime property values, London’s West End remains the most expensive location to rent space in Europe. Office space in London’s West End is now [...]
BRANSON’S BOASTING OF A NEW LOVELY LADY October 4, 2009 MY, oh my, how The Capitalist’s ears did prick up over the weekend on having a snatched peep at tycoon Richard Branson’s blog. “I have to announce that I have a new lady in my life,” Branson boasted, happily – before explaining that his lovely wife need not worry, because he’s talking about a yacht. [...]
Switzerland ticks the boxes for bankers with a taste for nature October 1, 2009 EARLIER this year, the local governments of Geneva and Zug hosted an event called Make the Move at a Mayfair club, where they explained to hedge fund managers why they should move to Switzerland. The main reason they were willing to listen, of course, is the looming 50 per cent top rate of tax. Compare [...]
TOP FIVE BANKS SIGN UP TO BONUS ACCORD September 30, 2009 THE UK’s “big five” banks have committed to rules on pay agreed at the recent G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the Treasury announced yesterday. State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, as well as HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered, issued a joint statement saying that they would “work with the FSA (Financial Services Authority) [...]
Bid battle set to hike rents September 29, 2009 A BIDDING war has broken out between Australian bank Macquarie and fund manager Blackrock for new City development Drapers Gardens in a move experts predict will hike prices across the City. Both firms are on the hunt for a 250,000 sq ft office to re-house staff. But following a number of stalled construction projects in the [...]
BROWN FIGHTS FOR HIS POLITICAL LIFE … September 27, 2009 GORDON Brown yesterday pledged to impose the most draconian curbs on bank bonuses of any country in the world, as he launched a last-ditch fightback to save himself from humiliation at next year’s general election. The Prime Minister, who spoke at the Labour Party conference in Brighton yesterday, was under intense pressure to rally the [...]
Prime homes get a lift in the commuter belt zones September 27, 2009 COMMUTER belt properties are continuing to outperform the rest of the UK, with the average price of prime country properties around London rising two per cent in the third quarter of 2009, according to the Knight Frank/City A.M. Prime Commuter Property index. In comparison, similar properties in the rest of the UK only saw their [...]