Germany may sweeten Opel bid August 19, 2009 Germany could provide ¤4.5bn euros (£3.9bn) in state aid for carmaker Opel if General Motors chooses Canada’s Magna, Berlin’s favoured suitor, as the buyer, a minister said. The last-ditch offer would see the federal government and German states with Opel plants split the initial aid bill without waiting for other European countries that have GM [...]
HEATHROW TOP DOGS READY FOR A GRILLING August 18, 2009 YESTERDAY marked the first working day at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 for philosopher Alain de Botton, who’s spending a week as “writer-in-residence” at the airport while scouting for fuel for a new book. The tome, “A Week At The Airport: A Heathrow Diary”, is due to be published in September and will feature conversations with passengers, [...]
CITY EYE August 18, 2009 THE imposing ceiling of the Grand Hall at the Old Bailey, featuring murals by Victorian painter Gerald Moira. Run by the City of London Corporation, the court opened in 1907 on the site of the notorious Newgate Jail and has witnessed the trials of Dr Crippen, the Krays, Ruth Ellis and the Yorkshire Ripper.
LCG’s profits fall but client numbers rise August 18, 2009 SPREAD betting firm London Capital Group (LCG) yesterday reported its first drop in profits since it listed in 2005, as lower interest income, higher costs and tough trading conditions took their toll. For the six months to the end of June its pre-tax profit fell 37 per cent to £3.8m from a year ago on [...]
Knight Frank sees upturn in property August 18, 2009 THE property downturn has now reached the bottom, according to Knight Frank derivatives head Richard White. Property derivatives are investments that allow investors to speculate on rising or falling values without having to purchase the asset. The UK commercial property market has fallen by 44 per cent since its peak in Summer 2007 to July [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 18, 2009 REGUSPanmure Gordon downgraded its recommendation from “buy” to “hold” as the firm’s shares inch towards the broker’s target price of 81p after a strong run. The company will come into focus next week when it reports its interim results and Panmure expects pressures to emerge in occupancy and pricing, and is tempted to lock in [...]
CITY MOVES Who’s switching jobs August 18, 2009 RBC Capital MarketsThe corporate and investment banking arm of the Royal Bank of Canada has hired Phil Halper as a director in its Scandinavian rates trading team, based in London. Halper joins the firm with 15 years of market experience, having most recently worked at the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he was a senior [...]
The recession is not going to put an end to the online free-for-all August 18, 2009 IF you have spent most of your working life championing the web, it must be hard when it turns against you. But type the name “Chris Anderson” and “plagiarism” into Google, and it provides 50,000 results, most of them from the blogsphere. It seems the editor of Silicon Valley bible Wired and author of cult [...]
Tesco’s rivals eat into its market share August 18, 2009 TESCO, the UK’s biggest retailer, is continuing to lose market share, according to new figures, despite relaunching its Clubcard. The supermarket recently beefed up its loyalty card scheme, offering shoppers two points for every £1 spent, as opposed to just one. It had hoped the tactics would stop customers shopping at rivals like Asda and [...]
WILL TESCO’S CLUBCARD STOP IT FROM LOSING MARKET SHARE? August 18, 2009 KEITH BOWMAN HARGREAVES LANSDOWNI’m sure it’s being done as a way to fight back against the competition. There are groups of shoppers who chase the cheapest deal, so this may encourage more customer loyalty. NICK BUBB PALI INTERNATIONALIt’s Tesco’s trump card. Whether it will attract away from the competition is another matter. WM Morrison doesn’t [...]