Women now make up a quarter of new FTSE board members March 12, 2012 A QUARTER of new FTSE 100 board hires made in 2011 were female, research will reveal this morning, in a new record that highlights a dramatic change at the top of Britain’s largest companies. Of the 190 appointments made to FTSE 100 boards during 2011, 47 were women, boosting the total number of female-held directorships [...]
FTSE closes higher after Euro chiefs reassure on debt crisis September 14, 2011 BRITAIN’S leading shares closed higher yesterday after Europe’s top bureaucrat said plans for a common euro bond, seen by many as a key tool to help end the regional debt crisis, would be presented shortly. A common bond would give the weaker peripheral countries access to cheaper funds, backed by core Europe, although regional paymaster [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 3, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES M&S ASKS SUPPLIERS TO AID STORE REVAMPS Marks and Spencer has asked its top clothing suppliers for a multimillion-pound contribution to its store revamp plans and a step-up in advertising. At a gathering on Friday of M&S’s top 60 clothing and homewares suppliers, Marc Bolland, chief executive, asked them for a one-off contribution [...]
FTSE 100 dragged lower as fears of fresh slump weigh on bank shares March 29, 2012 HEIGHTENED worries over global economic growth, after more disappointing data from America and the UK, dragged Britain’s leading shares lower yesterday, with energy and banking stocks taking the biggest hit. The FTSE 100 index closed down 66.96 points or 1.2 per cent at 5,742.03, extending its falls into a third straight session and reaching a [...]
Weir stock is most shorted on FTSE 100 February 15, 2012 ENGINEERING firm Weir has become the most shorted stock on the FTSE 100, as investors bet the company’s share price will be dented by weak demand for specialist mining equipment. Information provided by Data Explorers showed that 13.48 per cent of shares are out on loan – double the amount that were shorted only three [...]
FTSE slips as oil price fears take toll February 27, 2012 THE FTSE edged down in early trading as surging oil prices cast a shadow over global growth and a G20 meeting failed to provide reassurance about international help to crisis-struck Europe. Rising tensions between Iran and the West are triggering rapid oil price rises as supply fears grow. Brent Crude marginally dropped in price this [...]
Michael Spencer raises a glass to wine investment December 6, 2011 ICAP chief executive Michael Spencer took his self-confessed “irrational passion” for wine way beyond the odd bottle of his much-loved Petrus yesterday, becoming a shareholder in and chairman of fine wine merchant the Bordeaux Index. Spencer has made a seven-figure investment in the online trading exchange, which was set up 15 years ago by former [...]
Michael Spencer raises a glass to wine investment December 6, 2011 ICAP chief executive Michael Spencer took his self-confessed “irrational passion” for wine way beyond the odd bottle of his much-loved Petrus yesterday, becoming a shareholder in and chairman of fine wine merchant the Bordeaux Index. Spencer has made a seven-figure investment in the online trading exchange, which was set up 15 years ago by former [...]
Hedge funds short M&S shares amid retail gloom January 3, 2012 MARKS & Spencer has become the latest high street retailer to be targeted by hedge funds betting that its share price will fall, new figures from Data Explorers show. M&S has seen demand to borrow its shares – a sign that hedge funds are taking short positions on it – rise from 3.9 per cent [...]
Look East to the new destination for pilgrims who shop September 13, 2011 BORIS Johnson reached for the cultural high notes at the opening of Westfield Stratford City: boasting that the new shopping centre would trigger regeneration not seen in East London since the Middle Ages, he quoted Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in which Madam Eglantine the Prioress spoke French “after the school of Stratford-at-Bow, for French of Paris [...]