Selling price and sales dip at Persimmon July 5, 2011 BRITISH housebuilder Persimmon yesterday said its sales had slipped in the first six months of the year but expressed optimism about the prospects for the housing market. The company said it sold 4,439 homes in the first half of 2011 compared to 4,659 a year earlier, a drop of five per cent. Revenues also dipped [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 29, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES WATCHDOG HITS OUT AT BANKS OVER GREEK DEBT Some European financial institutions should have taken bigger losses on their Greek government bond holdings in recent results announcements, according to the body that sets their accounting rules. the International Accounting Standards Board criticised the inconsistent way in which banks and insurers have been writing [...]
Tate & Lyle is off to sweet start to year July 28, 2011 BRITISH sweetener and starches maker Tate & Lyle said it had made an encouraging start to the new financial year and expected another year of profitable growth amid growing demand for its speciality ingredients. The London-based group, which makes sucralose zero-calorie sweetener Splenda, was giving an update for its first quarter trading ahead of its [...]
Virgin could prefer Rock bid to Lloyds July 11, 2011 VIRGIN Money has submitted a bid for some 600 branches being sold by Lloyds, but could drop the offer after it sees Northern Rock’s sales document this week, City A.M. has learned. The information memorandum detailing the Rock assets on sale is due “imminently”, according to a source familiar with the situation, after George Osborne [...]
Varde in deal to take Crest Nicholson on August 7, 2011 HOUSING firm Crest Nicholson will be taken over by a US distressed debt specialist within the next few weeks, a source close to the firm confirmed yesterday. Minneapolis-based Varde Partners has been working for months with advisers Lazard and Bingham McCutchen to assess the options for the firm, which became 90 per cent owned by [...]
London defies slow UK real estate market July 4, 2011 GROWING demand for office space and a booming London market are offering some hope for the UK’s ailing commercial property market, a new survey revealed today. And while the residential property sector continues to slump across the UK, house prices at the top end of the London market are expected to rise by nine per [...]
Eurozone needs to cut out the rot before it’s too late September 7, 2011 WHEREVER one looks, the signals are bad. The S&P 500 is down 14.5 per cent from its highest point of the year. The Vix, a measure of market turbulence, rose 9.4 per cent yesterday. Bank stocks tumbled everywhere. The Swiss franc went nuts when the authorities took the dramatic step to peg it to the [...]
Eurozone needs to cut out the rot before it’s too late September 6, 2011 WHEREVER one looks, the signals are bad. The S&P 500 is down 14.5 per cent from its highest point of the year. The Vix, a measure of market turbulence, rose 9.4 per cent yesterday. Bank stocks tumbled everywhere. The Swiss franc went nuts when the authorities took the dramatic step to peg it to the [...]
Aegis snaps up MediaVest in £95m deal July 11, 2011 LONDON-LISTED marketing group Aegis has bought media planning and buying agency MediaVest, in a deal valued at about £95m. The communications firm has acquired 75 per cent of the company and has an option to buy the remaining 25 per cent it does not own from 2016. Aegis paid an initial £27m, which gives consideration [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 30, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES DISPUTE ERUPTS OVER CONTROL OF LIBYA’S $65BN SOVEREIGN FUNG A dispute has erupted over control of Libya’s $65bn (£40bn) sovereign wealth fund, as the national transitional council attempts to maintain stability in the nation. Several NTC members have contested the authority of Mahmoud Badi, who is probing corruption at the Libyan Investment Authority. HONG [...]