British Land back in black after property market picks up May 18, 2010 BRITISH land has returned to profit after the value of its property portfolio increased. The developer and landlord posted profits of £1.13bn for the year to 31 March. The company had suffered two years of heavy losses, including £3.93bn in the previous year. Its property portfolio, which includes the Broadgate Estate in the City, rose [...]
Pru in urgent push to seal AIA takeover May 17, 2010 HARVEY MCGRATH, Prudential’s experienced chairman, describes the group’s intention to buy the largest pan-Asian insurer for tens of billions of dollars as a “shock and awe” deal. London was indeed stunned when it awoke to weekend reports of a $35.5bn (£24bn) swoop on AIA. But since then it is Prudential’s management that has looked shellshocked, [...]
My corporate jet is easyJet: meet the platform boss taking on the LSE May 17, 2010 HE TALKS LOUDLY and moves fast. Alasdair Haynes, the chief executive of the pan-European trading platform Chi-X Europe, cuts a larger than life figure. The boss of the trading platform, which has grabbed a 30 per cent share of FTSE 100 trading from long-established rival the London Stock Exchange (LSE) since it was set up [...]
LIAM BYRNE BOMBS WITH TICKING MESSAGE TO TREASURY SUCCESSOR May 17, 2010 HOW poor old Liam Byrne must now be regretting his decision to leave his successor David Laws a sardonic little note of welcome in the office of the chief secretary to the Treasury. “Dear chief secretary,” the note read, “I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards and good luck! Liam.” Within minutes of Laws [...]
How Herbert Smith’s new boss will take on the big boys of global law May 16, 2010 THIS WEEK Jonathan Scott takes up his five-year post as senior partner for venerable City law firm Herbert Smith, and many observers bet that somewhere on the desk of his fourth floor office at the practice’s Primrose Street headquarters there is an A4 sheet of paper with just two words on it – overseas expansion. [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS May 13, 2010 POST OFFICE HAS NEW GROWTH BOND The Post Office has just launched a new growth bond, which offers one-, two- and three-year terms and with rates up to 4.10 per cent AER. The Growth Bond Issue 12 has a minimum opening deposit of £500 and a maximum of £1m. But additional deposits aren’t allowed and [...]
Model citizens can get the best deals May 13, 2010 THE turmoil of the past two years has been unforgiving for first time buyers. In the boom times they were falling over themselves to snap up properties before prices shot up further, fuelled by a plethora of mortgages that offered 100 per cent borrowing and sometimes even more than that (thank you, Northern Rock). By [...]
Deutsche Post upbeat for 2010 May 11, 2010 Deutsche Post delivered an upbeat 2010 outlook after improved shipping volumes and restructuring helped turn around its express business in the first quarter, leading to forecast-beating earnings. “We had a very good start to 2010 and we are on our way toward reaching our 2010 targets,” chief financial officer Larry Rosen said yesterday. Europe’s biggest [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK May 9, 2010 PLENTY of food for thought for these eight accountants on Friday lunchtime, as they headed to Farringdon’s Vivat Bacchus restaurant for a post-election discussion of the results and possible implications for British politics. Our connoisseurs fed their debate with foie gras, asparagus and ostrich carpaccio for starters, rack of lamb, springbok, beef and sea bass [...]
A Lab-Lib deal would be terrible for Britain May 7, 2010 AMONG all of the uncertainties of our first hung Parliament in 36 years, a few definite trends can now be discerned. The first, and most important, is that we are now in coalition talks. Gordon Brown wants to cling to power and do anything he can to create a coalition with the Lib Dems and anybody [...]