Best of the Brokers for 25 September 2015 September 25, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com MICRO FOCUS INTERNATIONAL The most recent statement from Micro Focus, a software firm, reminds analysts at Panmure Gordon that the growth genie continues to elude the firm – and there is little to suggest its new division structure will release it. Yet Micro [...]
UK house prices: High first-time buyer confidence heats up the housing market in August September 25, 2015 The market for new buyers, who have been boosted by government schemes such as help-to-buy, has had a strong summer. First-time buyers sales climbed 11.9 per cent in August compared with the same month last year to match July’s eight-year high of 30,200, figures released today by estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains (YMRR) [...]
Demand in US for new homes jumps in July September 24, 2015 New home sales in the US climbed strongly in August, indicating that the housing market is strengthening and that consumers are in a confident mood. Sales rose at an annual rate of 552,000, up 5.7 per cent on July, according to figures released by the commerce department yesterday. The annual rate is now the highest [...]
City Moves for 25 September 2015 | Who’s switching jobs September 24, 2015 LIONTRUST The fund management group has announced the appointment of Antonio Forte to its international sales team. He joins from Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, and has also held positions at Luxgest Asset Management and Philip Morris International. PWC Andrew Claymore has been appointed director in the professional services firm’s financial services corporate finance team. He was [...]
Intellectual property crime falling in the UK – but social media has soared up to become a major market for counterfeit trade September 24, 2015 Social media is becoming the new market for intellectual property crooks, as new government figures released today show that intellectual property crime is falling in the UK – everywhere except social media. Some 2,272 IP crimes were reported to the independent charity Crimestoppers, a decrease of 7 per cent compared to last year. Auction sites [...]
City Moves for 24 September 2015 | Who’s switching jobs September 23, 2015 ALLIANZ GLOBAL CORPORATE & SPECIALTY Brian Kirwan has been appointed chief executive of Allianz’s UK corporate and specialty insurance business. He joined the company in 2011, and was most recently regional unit London head of market management and communications. Kirwan has also previously held executive positions in the Allianz risk transfer division. LEGAL & GENERAL [...]
Why London needs a rebrand for its 21st century life as a megacity September 23, 2015 With London’s population set to top 8.6 million this year, overtaking the previous record set in 1939, there’s been heightened debate on the big challenges for housing, education and transport in the capital. But relatively little discussion has focused on the crucial matter of how we help Londoners to connect with and develop a [...]
Tooting property prices: A fun, if a little pricey, area to buy a house on the Northern Line September 23, 2015 Not only does Tooting bear one of the most charming names out of all of London’s precincts, the Zone Three area has pretty good connections to the central London thanks to the Northern Line. A largely residential area, the rows of terraced housing have recently proven popular with the hordes of young professionals that [...]
The future of the FTSE 100: What next? The quarterly reshuffle has changed the complexion of the leading index September 23, 2015 The Bloodbath continued yesterday as mining shares plummeted further and the FTSE dipped below 6,000 points. Glencore, whose shares fell by 10.63 per cent yesterday, only graduated to the elite index in 2011, but the commodities supercycle has come to a juddering halt, depressing the internationally exposed FTSE. This week also saw one [...]
BT promises faster and wider broadband internet coverage as fight kicks off between TalkTalk boss Dido Harding and BT CEO Gavin Patterson September 23, 2015 A war of words broke out between the UK’s telecom firms again yesterday, as TalkTalk boss Dido Harding accused BT chief executive Gavin Patterson of “grandstanding” with a series of pledges to improve broadband service unveiled yesterday. The BT boss said the company wants to “forge an ultrafast future for Britain and stand ready to [...]